A Lot Meant an Allotment...

....ahem.....as I mentioned before....despite having no discernable interest, skill or ability in growing anything other than impatient, I obviously decided it would be a good idea to take on a full size plot of a seriously overgrown, historically proven to be non-productive, allotment......it makes perfect sense.

A fortnight's flurry of back- breaking jungle clearing activity on my part utilising a series of rapidly breaking, ill-suited, hand-held garden shears (where an industrial strength powered strimmer and military grade flame-thrower might well have struggled, ) finally resulted in me being the proud landlord of a 20m x 20m patch of unkempt grass/weed patch of sloping earth which I would be transforming into a small-holding of soft fruit, vegetables and meadow flowers and a haven of a wild-life garden to boot, in a blink of an eye.......wouldn't I.

Nice spot, over-looking the river, with an un-interrupted view of the gently flowing water and it's lush banks, and my 'plot' itself partially shaded by a serene silver birch and edged with a family of sycamore....

I consulted with, and took considered advice from, many an experienced "allotmenteer" about what was the best thing to do with my particular piece of land.......but I decided to carry on with it anyway....

I invested in a range of nice shiny tools so at least I could look the part, and I readily adopted a suitably quirky wardrobe of 'special" clothing including a range of hats that should never ordinarily be sported in public. It seems quite the thing to do judging by the appearance of my neighbouring allotmenteers...

I double- dug ( and no, I didn't know what that was either before I Googled it ) an arrangement of troughs, beds and selected areas that I percieved as the optimum placement for my various produce, and painstakingly removed the thriving resident colony of well-rooted weeds and un-wanted flora to eventually leave me with a patchwork of nicely turned over soil. I had inherited with the plot a couple of well established apple trees, which I left proudly standing in what I now regarded as my Orchard Terrace.....as opposed to my Soft-fruit Terrace, my Vegetable Terrace and my Meadow Flower 'nature' garden Area. I entertained thoughts of opening my grounds to the public in the summer so they might marvel at the profuse abundance of my horticultural expertise.

Pleasantly, throughout this time of my labours in preparation for my future harvest, though back bent and head down, I still noticed that I had the welcome company of the usual suspects of feathered friends......Robin, Blue and Great Tit, Jackdaw and Wren etc....Mr Heron was also often spotted indulging in a spot of fishing nearby...
So....

I am led to understand that this is what Raspberry canes look like....

Quince.....

Rhubarb.......

Gooseberry...

Meadow flowers....

However, presently, my versions look like this.....

.......I could post some pics of Robins, Tits and Wrens etc......as I mentioned previously.......but I suspect you all know what they look like anyway..... so instead, I shall try to figure out why I started this allotment in the first place...

Repeated Repetition....

I know......it's been a while....I haven't felt the urge to make with the virtual pen and paper for some time. No particular reason......just haven't, that's all.
However that doesn't mean to say that I haven't been 'out and about' .....
There have been many memorable mentionable moments in the meanwhile, but by not making mention of these moments at the moment of their happening ....mention now means a rather muddled memory of a mish-mash of memorable moments...many meanderings amongst my much frequented ' on the doorstep' natural locations......gladly and repeatedly walked, many times over. The woods, river- banks and pathways that surround my home location, seemingly unspectacular, and rather ordinary rural environs, continue to offer me many an hour of quiet pleasure in their well known, familiar, but ever changing natural settings.

I've lost count of the number of times I've wandered the same circuit around my local woods, farmland and river-bank as an extended diversion to the otherwise short walk to the nearby supermarket. The immediate mundane requirement for milk and toilet-paper prompting a very pleasurable hour or so amongst the beech, birch and oak of a riverside sojourn.

The extensive grounds of a well known nearby N.Trust locale was visited one fresh, chilly day.......and it's normally somewhat busy visitor status was quitened and made all the more pleasant by a frosting of falling snow......and a power cut.

'The Lakes' were severally visited of course, as ever, with the ever usual blissful day-time wanderings in typical lakeland weather, and resultant evening-times spent in the ever usual blissful partaking of hostelry sustainance.....(new year's eve being particularly sustained)...

The beatifully wooded and laked local nature reserve providing it's welcome respite amongst it's surrounding suburban sprawl....a quick but gentle wander within it's confines always a pleasure...

A blustery, extremity-enlivening visit to a wildly deserted and stunning sweep of north-eastern coastline to launch and fly (hang onto) a soaring 'power kite' in the rather insistant prevailing offshore "breeze"....

Many an armchair-based but immersive literature adventure courtesy of John Muir, P.L. Fermur, McFarland, Gibbings et al....
yes, in reality, the body never moving,  but in mind, many a place experienced due to the power of the pen.....always a plus....

If I were to be asked today, what I want to be when I grow up, my answer would be now as it was when I was little ......." I wanna be a nexplorerer"...…
Oh well (*sigh).....one day...