Halfpom

Franglo wedding

I was lucky enough to attend a lovely wedding last weekend - the bride is French & the groom English - therefore we have a Franglo wedding. It was held at The Fleece Inn, a beautiful pub in the village of Bretforton, near Evesham in Worcestershire, owned by the National Trust.

Weddings are held in the Barn but, fear not, regulars are never turned away thirsty as the pub stays open..

 

What a lovely setting for this happy day - the bride looked gorgeous (as we knew she would), the friends and family were lovely and the weather played ball (after a bit of a dodgy start)!!

 

 

The happy couple...Ben & Karine...

Yummy nibbles & champagne to keep us occupied whilst the photo's were being taken...

A delicious barbecue for lunch - just right for a summer's day...

and a truly wonderful dessert of profiteroles made by Karine's brother & father......heaven on a plate!

 

A few helpful tips for the non-French speakers amongst us...ie yours truly..

As this was a country wedding we had to have suitable entertainment.....here the ladies are trying to guess the size (sorry... weight) of Ben's marrow....say no more!!!!

 

  

and then the Morris dancers arrived...

  

 

Took far too many photo's of the Morris dancers...

 

Here's Ben trying to set the cake alight..

 

And finally.... a truly wonderful day was brought to close by a ceilidh with enthusiatic participation (with varying degrees of success) by all.

FELICITATIONS (that's French for congratulations) & MERCI to Ben & Karine!!!!

An English summer..

Summer is in full swing and actually it hasn't been bad this last month or so.....a few days of rain but very welcome as it keeps the garden watered. We'll start with this years favorite.....the hollyhock...

 

The next nominee for best flower is on my list every year...the old English rose.. The one that particularly caught my eye is called The Generous Gardener from David Austin - those luscious whorls of petals on petals and above all the heavenly scent. Pity we can't do scratch & sniff on this page??  

 

Isn't it gorgeous - just that one bloom perfumes a whole room....

 

 

The next contender reminds me of home where the cosmos lines the summer roadsides of the Free State & Kwazulu Natal in huge swathes of colour...

 

The one thing I dislike about gardening in the UK are these loathsome creatures...Now I'm not normally that squeamish but slugs manage to do it...especially when they are out en masse of an evening and you happen to go outside with bare feet (as you do when you are South African)...ughhhh...I've put a pound coin down so you can see how humungous this one was..it took all my nerve to retrieve the coin again..

 

On to something much cuddlier....Clarissa...a gardener's companion (or maybe that should be supervisor?)...Favourite game: trying to catch the moths that come out in the evening...

Flower of the week..

 

Today at 34 minutes and 56 seconds past 12 the time and date will read

12:34:56 07/08/09

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This won't happen again for another thousand years !!

It's Sunday & Primrose Cottage is being constructed...

A glorious day on Sunday after a decidedly lacklustre summer.....they promised us a barbecue summer...how wrong they were.....unless of course you're using the barbecue as a birdbath!! Had a lovely walk to Newstead Abbey in Ravenshead....the birthplace of Lord Byron for those interested & coinciding with a brilliant programme on BBC2 on Byron presented by Rupert Everett...v good!

Passed a wheatfield that looked like a giant hand had ruffled it....

Purchased an ice cream & watched a game of cricket....such a quintessentially (my word for the day) English scene...

 Before heading home to start construction on Primrose Cottage.....no, not my new home....I'm still looking.....no, this is for the rabbits that are to be the new additions to the Tucker household in a couple of weeks!! Of course, being the UK, it comes flatpacked - arghhhhhh!! The instructions seem to have been translated from Chinese to Japanese, then to Russian and Swedish so by the time it comes to the English translation you have to use your imagination a bit to figure out what the final product should actually look like. The construction site looked fairly professional though....

 

 

Man with drill......

 

 

 

And finally .....after one false start & much cursing & swearing, I give you Primrose Cottage....

 

Looking good....I'm tempted to evict Flopsy bunny & Cottontail & move in after all!