You wouldn't get much tea though. I couldn't resist this bargain dolly's tea set...all bright, spotty and perfectly formed. Isn't it dinky? And I love the little hamper with it's red gingham lining. Milk and sugar?

A Ladybird book I'd wanted to get my hands on for ages arrived in the post this week. At the summer festival in Much Wenlock there was a book fair in the Priory hall and I asked for a copy of The Farm. So here it is at last.
I like this particular book because of the Tunnicliffe illustrations and it's one I most remember from childhood. Isn't it wonderful how certain books, the pictures and being read to stay in the memory so clearly...to the point of being able to recite the story practically word for word.

These were planted in pots last year, and are just beginning to ripen. I suppose you can have a little taste of home-grown, even if you do not have a garden - which seems to be the "on-trend" message! Oh, how I hate current sayings..."on-trend"...yeuck!

Like many people I absolutely love wild roses; we used to know them as dog roses, for some reason. They are so sweetly-scented and seem to be everywhere at the moment.

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In our book this has been put in the winter section, but what the heck?. With the best sausages from the butcher and some stir- fried or steamed vegetables, it is serious comfort food!

1lb good sausages
4oz, 110g plain flour
Pinch of salt & pepper
1 egg
275ml milk

Preheat the oven to 220/425/Gas Mark 7. Make the batter by sifting the flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Beat the egg, and using a wooden spoon, beat well into the flour. Gradually incorporate the milk. Put the sausages in a dish and place in oven. Cook the sausages until brown, turning ocassionally, (about 15 minutes). Remove the dish from the oven and pour in the batter. Reduce the oven temperature to 180/350/Gas Mark 4. Bake for about 30 minutes until the batter has risen and turned a golden brown. Serve immediately.

Every year when the well dressing takes place in Litton there's a garden open to visitors. As you can see it's a riot of colour, bursting at the seams with all my favourite plants. It's only tiny, no lawn, but a quintessential cottage garden...must have a very enthusiastic gardening owner.

Like many Derbyshire (and some Staffordshire) villages, Litton, in the Peak District near Bakewell, holds a well dressing every June. It's Litton's turn this week and we always try to make it to the dedication held on Sunday.
Such skill goes into the decoration of the wells...the colours are amazing. Isn't it beautiful?

2 lapwings have hatched out and we hope they survive - I am keeping the dog away! If you look carefully you should be able to see this one...though it is very well camouflaged.

Margaret and I visited this lovely Shropshire small town on Saturday - it is well worth going to see.

We have had some little lapwings hatch out in one of the meadows. I wonder if there's any chance of getting a picture? I'll try...

...is a bright pink bag with red flowers and stripes. It's kind of bucket shaped, with a pink spotty lining, a pocket on the front...oh, and a big red button.

Yes, bravely struggling through the weeds are our potatoes. Isn't it strange how the trend for growing your own has been followed by this so-called "credit-crunch". Maybe a need rather than a trend then, perhaps

I can't quite work out why it is, but slugs and snails seem to ignore this particular group of delphiniums but decimate others we've got - or more precisely, used to have. This year though we keep seeing a thrush in the garden...there's plenty of food to come for, that's for certain. I've planted some more delphiniums so here's hoping for more like these.

I'm having fun at the moment (well, in my own little way) working out what I can make from tea towel fabric - it's good quality cotton generally. Lots of snazy patterns and colours as well. This is one of my efforts...a cushion...guess you can see that! More to follow.

We've just had this tart for tea with some buttery potatoes and a green salad - so I can confirm that it's very tasty...great for veggies.

For the tart base
6oz self-raising flour
3oz sunflower margarine

For the filling
2 red onions finely sliced
6oz Stilton cheese
tbsp olive oil

Make the shortcrust pastry by rubbing the sunflower margarine into the flour. Draw together gently to form the pastry and place in a plastic bag in the fridge for about 30 minutes to chill.

Gently fry the sliced red onions in the olive oil for about 15 minutes until soft. Grease a large loose bottomed tart tin and roll out the pastry to fit. Spead the onions in the tart tin and crumble the Stilton cheese over the top.

Bake at 160C, gas mark 3 for about 25 minutes, until golden.

Some ox-eye daisies in a meadow rich with clover, lady's smock, vetch and many other wild plants. Isn't nature amazing? Brian tells me that this photo is especially for Kathyann and the girls - hope they like it.

It's been a busy day - all morning sweeping, tidying, last minute weeding, more sweeping - then all afternoon chatting to visitors doing the rounds of open gardens in our village...very enjoyable though. There's such a lot to learn from more experienced gardeners.

At the Gardeners' World exhibition my sister bought me a couple of plants as a very early birthday present, one of which is called indigofera. It's very pretty with finely cut leaves and pink flowers - looks a bit like vetch. We'd never seen it before. I read the label and pronounced it indigo (like the dye) fera...until one obviously knowledgeable lady who visited today talked about the indi gofera. Glad she said it before I did!

After the gardens closed at 5 we walked along to see how the well is dressed...something that has recently been started in the village, but keeps with the Derbyshire and North Staffordshire tradition of dressing wells.

To make this I washed and halved some strawberries and put them in the bottom of the dish. I then whipped a small carton of cream and added some natural yoghurt to it. I then added the juice and grated rind of a lemon and a little fine sugar (you must taste it, until you get it right!). On top of this I crumbled some of the lemon biscuits which were made the other day. Nice summer dessert.

It was a fascinating experience to catch a little bit of the filming for Gardeners' World yesterday, and then tonight to see it on the TV. Certain family members are unable to fathom my preference for a gardening programme over the football...really, I only wanted to see if I was on the tele. Neither were they impressed by my close brush with celebrities and pretended they didn't know who I was taking about. Huh!

My sister rang and said she'd the offer of some tickets to the Gardeners' World exhibition at the NEC from a friend who was unable to go, and did I fancy it. Did I? ...you bet! So that's where we've been today - and this is one of the show gardens - very pretty.

We're both mad about plants so spent most of our time in the RHS floral pavillion. The stands are breathtaking...the most gorgeously scented sweet peas and roses, spires of delphiniums in all shades of blue, and unusual varieties of all the cottage garden flowers that are my favourites. Of course, we had to buy just a few - the temptation was so great. Just the challenge now of where to plant them...and how to improve the state of my tired feet.

9oz, 250g plain flour
pinch of salt
teaspoon (sparing) baking powder
4oz, 110g butter
4oz,110g sugar
Juice & grated rind of a lemon
1 beaten egg
Rub butter into mixed flour, salt, and baking powder. Add sugar. Mix in lemon juice and rind. Bring together with the egg. Work into a dough. Roll out, cut with biscuit, or scone cutter. Bake in a fairly hot oven for about 10 minutes. Very simple!

Sam's favourite question at the moment...'what's that?' He's fascinated by our water feature and keeps himself amused by throwing my pegs into it, getting absolutely soaked in the process.

I love it now the water is flowing from the lion's head again (we turn the pump off for much of the winter)...Brian, Noreen's husband, made the stone trough for us when we decided to fill in the pond. It works really well and adds some interest in what would be a dull corner. Sam approves as well.

At the weekend, we went to an open day on Irish Moiled cattle (never let it be said that we don't know how to enjoy ourselves!). Some years ago only a handful of these remained in the world. Now, thanks to some enthusiasts and the rare breeds society, numbers have increased. And, yes, we might just buy one.

Local events like Bring & Buy sales, Fetes and Fairs are a great source of plants. I got this lot on Saturday, for just over £1 - better do something with them now!

I'm a day late with this task, as it's often been said that trimming of box should be done on Derby day...ah well, better late than never.

I quite like doing the job actually (I always use scissors)...obviously a hairdresser in a previous life. Or maybe not. At least the box balls can't complain about a poor cut.

I'm not so keen on sweeping up the trimmings afterwards though!

This was one of the attractions at our village fete today. I have to confess that these fellows spook me a bit!

It stays light until late in the evenings now, so it is good to have a drive around and maybe even take a few photographs...

Not our garden, that would only take a minute, but the garden of the private estate where Les works. I've always wanted to do this, being naturally nosy, so I jumped at the chance when I heard that they were open.

They're just as I imagined - some formal herbaceous borders, but mainly large expanses of lawn edged with the brightest yellow and orange azaleas and deep pink and scarlet rhododendrons.

Previous to this I was going to take a photo for the blog of the one bog-standard mauve rhodo in our garden...but I'll show you one of the hundred beauties I've just seen instead. Sigh!..it's no use longing for a few acres...how would I mow it with the Flymo?

It's a bit of a jump from vegetarian lasagne to home-cured bacon, but there you go! Having had this again the other night,from our neighbours, I just wanted to try it in a slightly different dish. The mushrooms were fried in the bacon fat. Some of the salad leaves I had grown. We had it with wholemeal bread and it was seriously delicious...

I've come across some gorgeous summery fabrics just lately...they make me think of seaside holidays and get all nostalgic for buckets and spades and sand-filled sandwiches on the beach.

The ladybird fabric has a wipe clean surface, ideal for aprons and bags for the little ones when they're playing with messy stuff or looking for real ladybirds. They do like our water trough outside, but get absolutely soaked, as you can imagine.
Noreen and I both fell in love with the chidren on the beach theme of
the other fabric so I've made a dinky little bag with it to match the cute fabric.

This is really nice - whether or not you are a vegetarian

Bechemal sauce
1oz, 25g butter
1oz, 25g plain flour
2oz, 50g grated strong cheddar cheese (a little over for top of dish)
about 500ml warmed milk

Melt the butter, add the flour, beating continuously. Slowly add the warm milk, beating all the time. Heat gently, until sauce begins to thicken. Stir in grated cheese - set aside.

3 large mushrooms (or about a dozen button mushrooms)
100g pitted black olives
3 large tomatoes
dash of Worcester sauce
small tin chopped tomatoes
some dried or fresh, torn basil
black pepper
good glass of red wine
A little extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

lasagne sheets

Chop mushrooms and tomatoes, roughly. Heat olive oil, add garlic. Add the other chopped ingredients and fry for 2 minnutes. Add the Worcester sauce, tin of tomatoes, and wine . Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the basil. Layer with pasta sheets and sauce. Bake for about 20 minutes in a moderatley hot oven.

Just one of the many lovely things about this month (as well as eating outside, light evenings, picnics, Well Dressings, strawberries and cream, and so much more) is being able to find early summer flowers to pick.
It doesn't take many to fill this old Denby jug...I love the acid green frothy flowers of alchemilla mollis with bright pink valerian and heuchera...all very common, but make a pretty arrangement.

Think I've just about managed to cut the washing hanging on the line off the photo...everybody's smalls not such a pretty sight!