August crops

The heavy rain over the last couple of weeks was very welcome after such a long dry spell.  The allotment is looking good, very green and full of produce.  After the hard work of making sure we got  seeds and plants in the ground at the right time, it's great to be now picking produce every time we visit the plots. In fact this has become a job in itself which we have to allow time for. Weeding is another big job, if we hoe round the beds every time we go it helps to keep them under control. A couple of weeks without weeding allows them to take over again.

Last week we pulled the onions and they are now drying out in the sheds on both plots. we noticed that the onions grown in the raised beds on plot 10b were much bigger than those grown on plot8. This is probably because there is some shade on plot 8 whereas the onion bed on plot 10b was in almost full sun.

We have been picking peas and broad beans for a few weeks now and there are still more to come.  The dwarf and climbing french beans are flowering, but no beans yet.  The salad bowl lettuce finally went to seed and grew to an enormous height, so that has gone on the compost heap. That's what comes of planting too many.  There is still some freckles lettuce and red salad bowl, and plenty of spring onions both red and white.

The cabbage frames which Richard built seemed to have defeated the cabbage white butterflies, but some of the cabbages have been attacked by slugs. They are still edible, just need a good wash first. There's nothing worse than slicing through a slug. Oh, well perhaps eating one would be worse--ugh!

I'm quite pleased with the celeriac, which has started to swell.  The swedes are also swelling and we will soon be able to pick the first ones. Carrots have been a bit of a failure, but then they always are for us. We've sown them in deep tubs this year to try and deter the root fly, but there is only one tub which looks anything like having carrots growing in it.

It's good to see that we will have a continuous supply of veg coming through now which will keep us going into the winter. Once the peas and beans come to an end, we will still have brassicas, leeks, swede, celeriac, beetroot and  fennel.

Along the canal at Skipton

Last weekend our daughter and family who live in Bedfordshire came to visit for a few days. They were looking forward to some good family days out. It was unfortunate that the weather decided to change just at that point from warm sunny days to cooler, cloudy conditions, so as we thought about where we would like to go we had to think about somewhere to go if it rained. After much discussion and changes of destination, we finally decided on Skipton. There's something for everyone in Skipton--shops, market, castle, walks and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.  We decided to have a canal boat ride in the morning whilst the weather was fine and then if it rained later we could visit the castle or look at the shops.

As we queued up for the 30 minute canal boat trip, our son-in-law had a better idea and disappeared for a while returning with a booking for a 2hour boat hire. Both he and my daughter have driven a canal boat before so we hoped they knew what to do, although he did get some instructions from the boat hire man.

We just had enough time to whizz round the shops to buy food and drink for a picnic to take on board with us.  We had a lovely 2 hours sailing slowly along this lovely, picturesque canal, relaxing, eating, watching the other boats, looking out for wildlife.

Later back on dry land we walked along the canal towpath towards the castle. The path then took us along the bank of the river and through Skipton Castle woods. We've been to Skipton many times but never done this walk before. It's an easy walk and very scenic. We didn't complete the walk as we had to get back home, but it was very enjoyable and a place we will return to soon, I'm sure.

Heysham Head

We've been looking after the grandchildren this week, the first week of the school holidays.  It's probably the best week to have to look after them, before they get really bored and argumentative and you're wishing they were back at school. We've had a few outings and activities planned, both indoor and outdoor and none of these have involved any great expense.

We decided to make the most of the warm weather on Monday as the forecast for the rest of the week was not looking as good. We headed off to the coast to Heysham Head, which is just south of Morecambe.  Richard and I like to visit here from time to time and thought the children would enjoy it too.

The quiet little street of Heysham village is lined with old stone cottages and pots of bright, colourful flowers. There are one or two cafes and a pub, but that is all. The street leads down to the beach, but the tide was in when we arrived, so we walked up towards the headland and the church of St. Peter. This beautiful old church is set in a stunning location overlooking Morecambe Bay.

The oldest parts of the church date from the 8th century and there are some very interesting features.The church was really quiet, but I found a man eating his lunch in the choir stalls. I think he was as surprised as I was. He was apparently 'on duty' so he proceeded to tell us about the church. He pointed out a Viking gravestone and the children sat on the floor whilst he explained the story behind the symbols. I was worried they might be bored but they were quite entranced by his story telling.

Back outside we walked up to the top of  the headland to the ruined St. Patrick's Chapel. Here the views across Morecambe Bay are wonderful. The area around here was once a burial site. An interesting feature  is the eight stone coffins. This area was excavated during the 1970s and skeletons were found. The skeletons were dated around the 10th century and the bones have now been buried in the churchyard.

I have heard this place described by one of our diocesan bishops as a 'thin place'. This means there is not much to separate the heavenly from the earthly. It's an expression used to describe 'spiritual' places. Richard and I have always felt there was something  about this place which was very special. It's a place where you feel very peaceful, very close to God.

We found a place to have our picnic, then we followed a path which led down to a little sandy beach.  We had to do a bit of scrambling over rocks to get down there but it was worth it.  The children loved playing on the beach and paddling in the sea. Beautiful as it is, Morecambe Bay is a dangerous place with strong tides and quicksands so we didn't allow them to go far.

We made sand castles as always and of course had an ice cream before we went back home. The general opinion from the grandchildren was that they had really enjoyed the whole day, but the best thing was the beach.