Ravendale House

One day while i was working in the picture gallery i'd started on a shoestring about ten years earlier i just decided i'd had enough of shopkeeping.

The truth is, i'd always wanted to live in the countryside with a bit of land to call my own and the chance to "do my own thing" -- in other words, be able to come out of my door without an audience -- make a nice garden -- play loud music -- grow my own food. You get the idea.

goodbye gallery     hello ravendale house    the house    potted primulas

So i was delighted when five years later i found myself the proud owner of Ravendale House, a renovated 19th century cottage out-in-the-sticks. With a completely lawned front garden and a small field attached, about ¾ acre altogether, it was a blank canvas.

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Earlier in the year the flowering cherries were an absolute picture. Their white blossoms shone out to herald the arrival of my favourite season, Spring.

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I never thought I would be happy with a public house at the bottom of my garden. It’s not that we don’t drink, it’s just that the perception is it could be disruptive to quiet rural living.

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Well I got away with it a couple of nights ago. The frost came but the geraniums survived intact, and are still flowering their socks off.

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‘They’ said there is going to be a frost tonight. According to my last years gardening diary our first frost in Autumn 2008 was 27th October, so do I believe ‘them’?

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Err, that’s it really.

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Today I cleared the last of the tomatoes out of the conservatory and brushed it out ready for it’s annual clean with Jeyes fluid.

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It’s just 12 months since we took delivery of our shed Billy. I’m pleased to report that he has survived his first 12 months in fine fettle.

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Today we cut the remaining hedges. When I say ‘we’ Peter does the cutting, and I do the clearing up, an equally important job given the wicked disposition of hawthorn hedging.

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Today we gave ourselves a day off and visited the annual open day of the Lincolnshire Trust For Cats, which is held not far from where we live. I love my garden as you know, but my first love is actually cats.

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Well it’s that time of year again. To paint or not to paint, that is the question. The outside of the house that is.

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