As part of the garden project the front of the house has also been tackled. The small island border has been removed and re-turfed. The euonymus has been relocated to the back garden and the daffodil bulbs are temporarily in a pot. I like the new look

Whilst working on the front garden I noticed that we had a new neighbour. For a few weeks I had seen him flying around with two companions and was surprised to see that he had taken up temporary residence in what looks like a very uncomfortable position!

I have had visitors to stay over the weekend.  I was doing a mad rush round getting the housework done before they arrived on Friday.  I didn’t quite get it finished because they arrived early.  We chatted for a while before ordering a Chinese takeaway for dinner after which we had a small family get together. The get together was in advance of my mum’s official birthday lunch (with family and friends) which followed on from last weeks birthday celebrations.  Following the lunch we took the scenic route (off road rallying springs to mind) to my Mum’s house where we spent the afternoon with her and stayed for tea which she had insisted on doing all by herself!!

We had a lazy start on Sunday and then set out for a ’small’ lunch at Benthall Hall which turned out to be a very interesting place to visit.  I intend to go back when the gardens are more in bloom.  We were also told that the little church next door to the hall will be opening to the public later in the year, which is another reason to go back.  After the visit we returned home for a pre dinner sherry and a roast pork dinner.

I have spent today finishing off those jobs from Friday and reading.  A nice relaxing day

Lustau have changed their distributors and my local wine supplier doesn’t deal with the new distributor.  On the plus side they have promised to get samples of similar Sherries from their new distributor.  I will let you know

In the meanwhile a good discussion on fine Sherries can be found here.

PS: I couldn’t resist posting this after seeing the fernery that featured in my post yesterday

The picture in yesterday’s post is a detail from the Dome Fernery.  It is one of the follies that can be seen in Westonbury Mill Water Gardens.  The dome is made from sunlit wine bottles that are cemented together to provide this extraordinary structure.  From the inside it is quite dazzling as you can see.

This folly appears in a book entitled ‘The Follies of Europe‘.  The book states that:

Following publicity about his folly-fueled exploits, and elderly man telephoned Pim to offer eighty-five blue bottles, the outcome of the glass of sherry consumed each Sunday by his wife as she cooked lunch.  Friends have christened the folly the ‘blotto-grotto’, and continue to toast it with empty bottles.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out Whistlestop PhotoHunt.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.