Garden glimpses.

We have been wishing for a small conservatory for a while.

At last it's here!

A place for us to sit, chat over coffee, watch the birds feeding and just enjoy the garden.

My big French terra cotta pots get filled up every Summer with geraniums. The white one is from cuttings we brought back with us.

Things are happening in the Greenhouse!

A Courgette (zucchini) flower.
Sadly the courgettes don't live up to the promise of the flowers.

Runner beans are starting and we have a picking for lunch most days.

I planted Clematis 'Dark Eyes' this year and she is showing promise of being rather lovely.

This Clematis gets bigger and better every year as it soars up the old apple tree.
As it was here when we bought the house, I have no idea which variety it is, but its pale lilac flowers make my heart sing.

That was just a quick look at my garden today.
It will soon be time to begin cutting things back, and preparing for Spring and Autumn bulbs.
Summer goes too quickly.

A meeting and a mine.

Way down almost at the furthest tip of Cornwall is a place very popular with visitors.

In a tiny village called Pendeen lies the largest preserved mining site in the country, Geevor mine. It is a Cornish Mining World Heritage site.

The mine worked from around 1911 through to 1990, producing tin and copper. There is a huge amount of history which can be found on this link.

Tours of the old mine workings are popular, and although I couldn't bear to go underground a large group of people were heading that way this morning.

One of the group, who chose not to do the tour was Brenda.
Brenda has a blog called It's a beautiful life, which I have followed for years.
I was so delighted when she told me that her month long tour of England was in Cornwall for a day. and we immediately made arrangements to meet.
I drove down to Geevor which is about an hour or so further West, and while Brenda's husband explored the mine, we sat in the delightful cafe overlooking the sea.

Sometimes you meet someone that you feel you have always known. We had much to share, our Christian faith, our stories, our homes, and nearly two hours galloped by before the coach had to leave. I have been in touch with Brenda since the beginning of my blog writing life, in about 2008, and it was such a privilege to meet her.

She graciously brought, all the way from Canada, some delightful gifts...a bottle of real Maple syrup, some Saskatoon berry jam and other lovely things. It was almost like being back in Canada for a moment!
Thank you Brenda for being so sweet, it was such a pleasure to spend time with you.

A Dartmoor stay.

I've had a few days away with a girl friend, while my husband has been cared for in a very nice Care home near Newton Abbott.

We stayed in Tavistock, on the edge of Dartmoor, a lovely market town with a daily covered market in which all sorts of things can be found.

This was our hotel, from where we could walk into the town easily, so the car stayed in the carpark.

We did a little shopping, a little sightseeing, and wandered across the Moor, avoiding sheep, ponies and Highland cattle.

Cream tea at the Two Bridges hotel?

This is the sister hotel to ours and is set right on the Moor, with a little river running through the grounds.

The Moorland is wild and rugged, stretching for miles.

Cattle wander the roads. It's best to wait for them to move!

Dartmoor ponies are everywhere.

They are extremely tame and will come up to people , hoping for food.

Back home now, but I'll be driving up again next week to bring my husband home. We miss each other!

Pendennis.

The sun came out today.

We packed a picnic and headed to Falmouth, to Pendennis Point to be exact.

Here is one of Henry V111's fortified castles, opposite St Mawes which has a similar castle.

Right at the tip of the point is a car park where you can look over the water, watch shipping, or if agile take a hike around the cliff paths. We didn't do that.

I suppose, with the Summer we are having, we should not have been surprised that the rain came down just after we found a spot overlooking the bay.

Looking down over the cliff one can see some of the old gun emplacements built in WW2 to defend the shores from Torpedo fire, and remains of walling.

In between the showers I managed to take a few shots of the area.

 We wondered what the two tugs were doing as they steamed purposefully out of the Falmouth Dock area.

Then realised that the big tanker which had seemed to be stationary was in need of help or direction.

The two tugs, like little puppies nipping at the heels of a bigger dog, busily shepherded the boat, met by a third tug, and stayed with it till it was safely in the dock area.

The weather wasn't so good.

The rugs we had taken in case of a walk were not used.

But the picnic was enjoyable and gave us something interesting to chat about.

For further information on Pendennis castle, click here.