Two girls in a Mongolian Yurt

As a birthday treat my darling friend Gaby booked a weekend retreat away in a yurt at Forest Garden, Shovelstrode, just outside East Grinstead. The idea was to have a couple of days of chatting, crafting, reading and sussing out yurt living. Kushti is a Mongolian yurt with traditionally painted poles and a crown wheel with the stove in a central position, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere. Yurts are, however, fairly dark inside, and arriving on Friday evening in the dark with the rain thundering down, it certainly was cozy, but quite difficult to cook or see anything in candle light. Gaby had luckily prepared the fish dish at home, so we had a lovely meal, complete with champers and apple cake! Lots of chatting ensued over the following couple of days, interspersed with flower crocheting, reading craft books, a quick trip to Forest Row to stock up on torch bulbs and a light fitting, and lots of yummy eating.

Sunday morning breakfast with Gaby's porridge and home-made berry compote!

The first evening in the dark! Many, many candles did little to illuminate the yurt :o)

Gaby settled into yurt living very quickly, and we both dreamed of having our own!

The allotment in the Forest Garden, complete with three bee hives in the orchard

Inside the yurt, equipped with traditional furnishings

Yarn, crochet hooks and books galore!

We had the fire on a lot, which kept it warm during the chilly weekend. Lavender twigs gave it a lovely smell too!

The owners of the Forest Garden also run courses on traditional crafts, such as Art in the Woods, Green woodworking, Spoon carving, Foraging for fungi, and Jams, jellies and preserves.

Yarning twigs, I picked colours to complement the lichen

Crochet daisies, the making of a xmas pressie

After lunch on Sunday we sadly said goodbye to Kushti, and headed over to a vintage and craft fair near Ardingly. There were lots of stalls selling handmade items, different food stuffs, plants and a few stalls had vintage items too.

A huge thank you and much love goes to my special friend, Gaby, for a fun and inspirational weekend, which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the rain, the night-time rave next door and our friend, Clive, the aging cockerel, who delighted in waking us up at 6am!

A big thanks also my wonderful husband, Steve, who bravely looked after home and boys whilst I was away

Love you both lots XXX

FlowerScapes at the Floral Fringe Fair

Last weekend saw the Floral Fringe Fair at Knepp Castle. Our company FlowerScapes advised event-goers how to plant nectar and pollen rich flowers to help our declining insects. The fair was a great success and had a lovely mix of wildlife, vintage, yummy food, plant and craft stalls. Knepp Castle is privately owned by Sir Charles Burrell, and has been in his family for 220 years. Until recently most of the land on the Estate was devoted to traditional arable and dairy farming, but in 2001 they shifted their focus entirely, and embarked on a series of regeneration and restoration projects aimed primarily at nature conservation and a less intensive way of meat production. This method of re-wilding has been successfully introduced in Holland.

Strange and unusual plants being sold

Knepp Castle

Our FlowerScapes stall, before being prettied up with flowers

Not just vintage cars but people too.

Vintage bus

View of the castle and fair

Willow weaving

Lots of plant stalls

Vintage brocante

Steve in action at the FlowerScapes stall

Although there was a constant stream of people, because the stalls were spread out, the atmosphere felt relaxed

I want one!

Wood and willow weaving stall

Restored camper van, yep, want one of these too!

A nice event and the event goers really nice too, all very interested in creating more insect-friendly planting.

Seedy Sunday

Seedy Sunday is the UK's biggest and longest-running community seed swap event, held in Brighton each February. In return for a donation or in exchange for seed they have saved, growers can choose seeds from dozens of traditional varieties of garden vegetables, to take home and grow. It is also a campaign to to protect biodiversity and protest against the increasing control of the seed supply by a handful of large companies.

We've been meaning to attend the event for a couple of years now, but for various reasons - mostly to do with a lack of organisation -  we have never managed to get there. Until this year, when FlowerScapes finally managed to have a stall, manned by me, your guest blogger for the evening, Kattegat's hubby.

The FlowerScapes stand, with our new jars of seeds

 At the heart of the event is, obviously, the seed exchange, where members of the public can bring their spare seeds to exchange for something new and different. But around three-quarters of the hall was taken up by other, related stalls - allotment societies, Friends of the Earth, a mushroom producer, the Brighton & Lewes Beekeepers, community composters, even a cooperative pub!

 

Being Brighton - home of the UK's first Green MP - the turnout was fantastic; over 3,000 people came through the doors, more than twice as many as in 2012. And the atmosphere was great, everybody very interested and friendly.

I was given an early slot to off-load my wares - 8.30 in the morning - and had the stall all set up by 9.00. That gave me an hour to wander around, drink thermos coffee and recover from the early start. But once the doors opened (there was a queue outside, apparently) at 10.00, I was on duty, on my feet and talking to the Great British Public for the next six hours solid. During that period I had maybe 2 or 3 minutes at the most without someone to chat to.

Before the hordes descended

By mid afternoon I had run out of 5g packets of seeds, had given out dozens of leaflets and was starting to flag. But the visitors kept coming, and right up to 4.00 people were still stopping to chat, even as I was packing away.

Everyone I spoke to had something positive to say about our work, and the new range of seeds in honey jars attracted lots of complements.

All in all, a very successful - if exhausting - day.

Of boats, boys and bonfires

The good thing about living close to a showground is that you can, at short notice, decide to visit an event held there. And so today we found ourselves at the Boat Jumble. And very interesting it was too. It started out with a walk with Zaf and ended up with a nose around the varied stalls at the Boat fair.

We were a tad naughty and didn't come home empty handed. In fact it felt rather a long trip back carrying these heavy items that took our fancy!

These two corner lanterns on shelves caught our eyes. They were from a trawler, and are marked 'Port' and 'Starboard'. They need a little attention to make them glow again, but it shouldn't be a big job.

And everybody needs a bright red Fire bucket, don't they?

 Of course, a pair of oars always come in handy when one heads off for Henley!

A lovely wooden pulley, not sure what that's for yet, but Steve has plans I know!

We decided that it was a good afternoon to get out in the garden for a few hours to clear away, ready for spring growth.

Meanwhile BB joined us for some fresh air, and found a stick to whittle!

And at the end the afternoon a little bonfire which is an activity my boys (big and small) do love...

Hope you all have a lovely week