July and August

 July started with with continuing warm weather. I often found it too hot to be out and about doing much, but spent time inside keeping cool. 

The month started though with a visit to Hopton Hall to see their beautiful Rose Garden. I was determined to not miss this array of wondrous flowers sitting on an elevated site near Carsington Water in Derbyshire.

Then a trip out to Calke with its mix of formal lavender, closely guarded vegetable patches, and  natural lawns.  

Time then for another short break - this time trip to North-east Yorkshire, visiting Brodsworth Hall on the way and the coast at Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay, and Sandsend - all places which were new to me

Then it was home for my elder daughter's birthday and celebratory pizza (this is me btw, not her)

At the allotment blackberries started to ripen, broad beans and courgettes to fruit, but it hasn't been a very productive summer.

If we didn't do much in July, in August we seem to have done even less! 

A month of doing very little. Once schools had broken up for summer, the weather took it's traditional nose-dive - good for the gardens, fields and reservoirs but not for going out. We went to Kedleston Hall our closest National Trust property twice - first with grandson for Summer of Play, and back to hear a talk by Sam Dalrymple on the five partitions which shaped post-colonial India 

At home, I picked the first blueberries and windfall apples, and tried to get back into my rhythm of pickling and preserving. I made a couple of batches of lazy cider (it's supposed to turn to vinegar but I generally drink it before that stage), chopped mint leaves for sauce which will keep into winter, and at last cleared the ironing mountain and found the bottom of the laundry basket! Not grand achievements but they felt like positive moves.