Days in Our English Cottage Garden

June is the noisiest month of the year in the garden, from the first light birdsong fills the air giving a true sense of the garden being alive. Thrushes & young Blackbirds are abundant especially after a heavy shower of rain, they scratch about beneath bushes & the large Magnolia tree looking to see what may be found there.

Sweet little Sparrows & young Starlings are everywhere too, along with the young rabbits they give George many hours of amusement at the windows.

The sun barely seems to sleep in June & all through the short nights there is a deep shine to the sky.

We have been in the garden, this time of year there are many tasks to keep us all busy, we feel blessed to have worked a full day & are ready for our beds by the end of the day.

The Gooseberry bushes are doing so well & we have just harvested our first of the year.

Life is wonderfully full at the cottage & I give thanks each day for it.

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A shady spot under the Old English Walnut Tree.

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One corner of the vegetable garden.

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This beautiful climbing rose weaves it's way through one of our apple trees.

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A beautiful day spent gardening & playing in the garden.

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Our special Arthur Bell rose bush.

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The Lupins in full bloom.

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Foxgloves so remind me of Jemima Puddleduck.

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Beautiful sunshine.

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Playing ball, I love how they all play together.

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Sweet Lilly of the Valley.

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Fresh Wholemeal Bread.

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We harvested our first gooseberries from the garden.

Over 7lbs of them from three heavy loaded bushes.

6lbs have gone in to the freezer until I get time to make jam.

Rhubarb as well has been going in to the freezer ready for warm puddings over the Winter.

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The other gooseberries went in to a lovely oaty crumble for tea.

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The Peonies are blooming.

So much is flowering in the garden at this time.

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Ox Eye Daisies flowering around a purple rose I planted last Summer.

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The scent of garden roses.

The yellow rose is called Arthur Bell, everywhere we live we plant one of these roses as both our Grandfathers were called Arthur.

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Mary stirring Date Bread.

The twins love to have a wooden spoon in their hands.

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Date bread ready for Sunday tea.

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Sponge cake with fresh cream & English Strawberries for tea.

This is the basic sponge recipe I use all the time, it is so versatile.

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Special gifts.

Our sweet daughter Amy made this beautiful cross stitch for our wedding anniversary, I am looking for an antique frame to put it in, it is such a special handmade gift.

Another special heart I received was my first Susan Branch book.

Cathy from Morning Musings entered me in her give away & I was so happy to have won this beautiful book.

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I finally finished this 1940's jumper, with being unwell it had been put aside for a few weeks.

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Two little vintage buttons used for each shoulder.

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Thank you my dear readers for your lovely comments.

Fondly Michelle

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Linked with

The Enchanting Rose

&

Home Making Monday's

A Sunny Day at Belton House

It was set to be a wonderfully sunny day last Thursday so we decided to take a picnic to Belton House a National Trust property.

Belton is about a fifty minute drive from us, such a pretty drive through the Lincolnshire countryside. All along the road sides & in fields were bright red poppies in full bloom & so many pretty farms & cottages along the way.

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This is part of the courtyard at Belton House where the old stables were.

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Sitting down for our picnic on the green at the back of the house next to the Orangery & Italian garden's.

The girls were excited as this was the first outing for their ladybird chairs in a bag.

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We had a guest for our picnic & such a gentle well behaved & mild mannered lady too.

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No pecking, she just waited nicely.

I was a little worried when I saw her walking our way but she made our lunch so special.

The Orangery is in the background.

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Saying good bye.

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This is beautiful little garden near the church in the grounds.

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This area with the roses and Sweet Pea's was my favourite garden.

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Inside the Orangery.

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Walking to the beautiful Italian garden, there were more ducks enjoying the cool water at the fountain.

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The path leading to the gardens from the back of the house.

This is a very formal part of the gardens.

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Daisy, Kitty & Mary on the back steps.

With it being a Thursday the grounds & house were quite quiet.

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This is the front of the house.

They play cricket on the front lawn sometimes & there are deer running around but today they were under the trees in the distance.

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On our way towards the lake.

There was some wonderful old tree's to enjoy.

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Mary blowing bubbles.

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An abundance of Buttercups.

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The beautiful lake with geese, the lake of shining water came in to my mind on such a sunny day.

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Back to the courtyard area of the house.

We just had time for a quick look around the house before travelling home to our animals.

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One of the many beautiful bedrooms.

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A gentle sitting room with such pretty fabric on the sofa & chairs.

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The dining room with hunting picture's hung all over the wall's.

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The study, the had old time music playing in here.

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I hope you all enjoy seeing our visit to Belton House, we had such a special day & a well needed break.

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At the gift shop I bought this lovely book with some birthday money, it was on special offer.

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Thank you all for your kind caring comments on my last post.

Fondly Michelle 

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Linked up with

The Art of Homemaking Mondays

Roses of Inspiration Link Up

Celebrations

May ended with celebrations for us at the cottage with our 25th wedding anniversary, some wonderful news & my birthday.

Thankfully we were over the worst of the illness that had affected myself & the twins for over two weeks. It is wonderful to finally get back to normal life & catch up with things.

The garden has not been touched for two weeks apart from watering so we are now catching up with weeding & general gardening.

June is bringing so many beautiful blooms to the garden & the fruit trees & bushes are laden with fruits.

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Andy's parents sent us these beautiful flowers for our Anniversary.

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A beautiful celebration for our 25th wedding Anniversary & my birthday.

Us with all our children & Bobby wanted to join in.

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Myself with our four girls.

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The family bought us a special cake & organised a family picnic.

Due to Mary still being a little under the weather we decided to have the picnic in the garden rather than go out.

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Opening gifts.

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We had such a special day celebrating with our family.

Amy  & Dan told us we were to become Grandparents, what a special gift they have given us our first Grandchild.

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Our Viburnum tree in full bloom.

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The gooseberry bushes are laden with berries.

I can't wait to use them in jam.

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Pretty Lupins I added to the garden last year.

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The borders at the church end of our cottage.

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One of our potato patches.

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Our old Walnut tree is starting to spread it leaves.

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Morning sun in the kitchen.

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Oatmeal raisin cookies, Andy & Sidney took over the baking with me being ill.

They made me a special birthday cake with little roses on it too & chocolate chip cookies.

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Sweet Williams, another thing that makes May special.

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Thank you dear readers for your comment, I do love to hear from you.

Fondly Michelle

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