OK, so perhaps I shouldn’t encourage the tree rats, but I do rather like them. I do not however like the way they chew the bird feeders to try to get to the peanuts. They also deter the birds who have better manners. Anyway, I thought I would try a squirrel feeder, which also looked great fun as the squirrels learn to lift the lid to get the nuts. I put it up yesterday and there is no sign of interest yet- however I also haven’t seen the squirrel at the bird feeders, perhaps they got fed up with the constant interruptions and have moved away !!

Update- the squirrels love it, although they are not very good at queuing and tend not to share, so sometimes the less dominant ones have to resort to the bird feeder nuts while the rival selfishly sits on the ledge guarding the stash. The only other problem is filling it often enough and tipping in the nuts without also tipping them all over my head *sigh*…

While digging at the weekend, I unearthed concrete foundations near the patio. I suspect they were either for a shed or for the ubiquitous greenhouses in this area. Apparently according to locals, when the railway was here, local families would all grow fruit and flowers in their gardens. A man would come each afternoon on his wagon and collect what the householders had and then take it to the station for transfer to Cambridge and/or London. As my dad would say, ‘necessity is the mother of design (or is it invention?)’; something like that ! So I plan to put cobbles over the concrete pads and create a sort of dry pond bed and put my leaf bird bath on top.

I have never removed so much turf over such a large area and dug until my arms were like spaghetti, however I am determined to create large cottage-garden style borders near to the house, with plenty of flowers and interest all year round. Hard work but worth it years to come I hope.

The saying ‘grand clearance’ is a well-known saying in my family. My mother Imogen was brought up in a house with a large garden in Kent. Every Spring the family would be set to clearing the beds for the new season. Her paternal Grandfather, William Henry Hulf, living with them at the time, would come to pass judgement; “you’ve made a grand clearance!” . My mother tells me that as a young girl she was so proud. I certainly got the gardening bug from my mother’s side of the family and now my brother David is also a gardener in the grandest surroundings at Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire. It’s in the genes, and the encouragement!