My in-laws gave us a witch hazel shrub hamamelis sunburst as a wedding present. My plan is to plant it in a new bed near to the back of the house where we can enjoy it from the window. I shall underplant it with snowdrops which I will take from the area underneath the weeping beech tree where they cannot easily be seen from the house and which will be disturbed when we remove the tree.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Sonia and I spent a happy morning gathering evergreens in the garden and then creating an idea of simple and natural centrepieces for our wedding. This was our final favourite design with 4x sprigs of yew, 4x sprigs of evergreen oak, 4x sprigs of laurel and 4x sprigs of some grey/blue spruce leaves as well as some fir cones which came from a  huge sack gathered by the previous owners.

The plan is that next week I go out and gather what we need, including as much trailing ivy as I can get which we will use to twine up the pillars in the room. It is very exciting to be able to sue all this free material which comes from the garden and will also be completely natural. Like bringing home to the hotel….lets hope it works on the day !!

Well no snow here- it was bright but bitterly cold. The ground which didn’t get touched by the sun remained frosty all day.

Walking in the woodland area I found I was walking on the small shoots of snowdrops and when I looked closely they were all around- mostly on the right hand side of the woods under the trees. I took some pictures of the shoots but they weren’t good enough to publish. I shall post some when they are in flower.

In the last 3 days we have had regular visits for a spotted woodpecker and a pair of jays. The woodpecker loves the peanuts. We also have many many great tits, blue tits and a couple of robins. It is so lovely to watch them at the feeder all day (indeed it is hard to get off the sofa and get anything done). Sadly no goldfinches yet , maybe I need to get some niger seeds.

Yesterday was so grey, gloomy and cold that taking a walk in the garden was not a very tempting offer, however, I needed the air so I ventured out. The garden was full of birds, long tailed tits, jays, blackbirds, great tits and at least one pair of robins. There are more near to the house now, but also many in the open middle of the garden and the woodland at the end. I also saw a green woodpecker sitting briefly on the ground in next door’s field. I was keen to take some photographs but could never get close enough.

Cordy’s advice paid off. I moved the feeder very close to the apple tree and was rewarded with many visitors today- great tits, blue tits, chaffinches, a robin and two jays. I would have taken pictures but they won’t let me get even a little close. Looking forward to many more visitors over the winter once word gets out.