The weather is amazing at the moment ( slightly cooler today) for this time of year, so I have been hurridly getting my gardening done! Last weekend I put some plants in and used some of last years compost, only to discover,to my horror, about 70 vine beetle lavae squirming around in the soil!! Arrrgh!!! Beasties!!...these guys absolutly love climbing plants, of which I have planted a veritablet ton of! So I had to carefully scoop them out and Iam not so sorry to say they ended their short lives as birdy snacks on my bird-table. Not cruel!!Just giving nature a helping hand and the birds are feeding young at the moment and will be greatfull for the extra protien in the lavae!!
On a lighter note my tomato plant seedings have just broke the surface and sprouted, to my delight. But I am still waiting for the billion other seedlings I have propagated in trays in the garden,they should only be a few days behind. They are nearly all hardy climbers including sweetpeas, black eyed Suzans, and Morning Glory (blue/purple trumpet) as I intend to get them to climb over the consevtory as a kind of floral camoflage and for added privacy. I have already added a bamboo curtain for privacy, but I think it will look nicer with the plants.....And its not all gardening either!! Today I am sorting out my black slate pyramid garden fountian (water feature, but I hate that term!) and it will spend the summer on my patio next to the open doors of the conservatory. My collection of garden birds which briefly departed during the construction of said conservatory, have now returned in abundance and are enjoying feeding, drinking and bathing at the back of my garden. The blackbirds and a couple of the Wood Pidgeons have been hopping up to the conservatory to have a closer look out of curiosity I think.
When the weather is nice during the summer(and I do say "when") Derek and I eat alfresco in the garden either on my garden dinning set or picnic syle on a blanket on the grass. However, I have to be carefull though as I have a nasty allergic reaction to garden grass! But for the Royal wedding ( a week tomorrow) mum is coming for lunch and if the weather allows, we shall eat outside. Why not BB-Q I hear you ask???? Well thats simple!!I FREAKING HATE BARBEQUES!!!!!!!! They stink, fumes give me asthma, and under cooked food causes food poisoning!! and yet much to my annoyence as soon as blue skies appear we get the stink of barbeque fumes wafting down our avenue!! and unfortunatly my immiedate neighbours are huge fans of said smelly, offensive outdoor cooking!! ...I just dont get it!!! Its far easier (and less smelly for others) to cook your food indoors and then eat outside!! Makes perfect sense to me!! and besides, who in their right mind wants hot food in hot summer weather anyway??? Salad is the thing for summer, methinks!! and Derek makes a wonderfull mixed salad!! and I make my own homemade potato salad and bingo!! The perfect summer lunch!! mmmm...... smoked salmon tureens with cream cheese are bouncing to mind here, as is warm, crusty French bread and a crisp white wine!!
*is making self hungery*
If you are planning a barbeque, please be considerate!!
Not everyone is a fan of barbeques and if my neighbours "spark up" while I have fresh washing on my line I will end up with a full load of washing stinking to high heaven of bbq fumes and will have to do the whole lot again!!! I would love it if my neighbours would just pop around and warn me of impending bbq session so I could bring my washing in and close my patio doors...but sadly the only warning I get is loud voices, squarking kids and the inevitable drifting of fumes and smoke into my garden.
*calmly sips tea as moan over with*
Really looking forward to my hot tub tonight!! *grinns* x

Heck!!!
Has i really been a week since we came back from Dorset???
Dosen't time fly??
Well the week in question was not very eventfull...it saw me back at the dentist have a check up and x-rays (I have had so much radiation recently I am glowing!!) only to be told to stop smoking (Yeah right!!!) and I need 7 fillings, a root canal and a possible extraction of one of my back molars! Lovely!!! and all this is to be done in a space of 3 months of 3 appointments. Emmm somtimes I wish I had false teeth!!....and I was back at the dentist yesterday but this time with mum who was having a new plate fitted for her dentures. Also it saw me and mum doing a drug swap with my left over ulcer tablets and some buscopan for half a box of zopiclone!! Hehehehehe!! not many folks can say they do drug deals with their 77 year old parents!! ...anyway, later we had a brief trip into the Weston Favell centre and then got the bus back to her house where Derek was waiting for us in the car.
In other news, I am getting very impatient for my conservatory to get tiled so I can fianlly set up my garden spa room!! Sadly, I must wait another 3 weeks for the consevatory to "settle" but I dont see any harm in taking a trip to the tile showroom today and pick out the ones I want and ask if they can recommend a local tiler...Now as I have a spacific look in mind for my spa room, I wanted lots of plants, but unfortunatly chlorine fumes kill plants so I am looking now at getting some flase folieage. I was not prepared, however, for the huge cost of false folieage!!! for some reason I was thinking it would be rather cheep but how wrong I was. Just for a med sized false tree type plant I was looking at £50!!!!!!! so I may well have to re-plan. I have begun to used jasmine spa oil in the tub and it zapps the chlorine smell wonderfully but I suppose real plants would still not like the fumes. I managed (stupidly) to kill a Bamboo plant I had when I placed it next to my spa!! Oh well, lessons learned and all that.........
back soon! x

Finally time came around to the holiday. Our holiday to be precise, which I have been whittering on about for at leat a year, both on here and on facebook....I had chosen our cottage about a year previous, from a website called "Classic Cottages" with the main attraction being the fact this one had a whirlpool bath and its very own private, heated swimming pool. Coupled with these things and the fact that I spent 2 days at the Thermae Spa in Bath, brought me to the conclusion of what I should call this entry, as I have never in my whole life spent a holiday emerced in so much H2O at any one time!!! Ok so we have stayed in some pretty awesome places with pretty awesome swimming pools (Bali, Indoniesia, bounces to mind here!) but frankly the places we visited were far more interesting than lounging about in some hotel pool all day! This holiday, however, was certainly a break from the norm, and I love every second of it!!
We took a lazy drive west on that Friday morning and dident reach our cottage untill about 5pm. Situated between the sleepy villages of Chetnow and Lewis, this place was idyllic! I kept telling myself that I would take lots of photos and video of the place, but sadly, I forgot, as it was so lovely!! It was a split level barn conversion with a very spacious lounge and open plan kitchen upstairs and the bathrooms and bedrooms down stairs...we were met by a jolly, weathered looking lady called Carol, who kindly showed us around and explained that she owned the 3 surrounding fields so Sirius was practially free to walk anywhere!! The upstiars living area also boasted its own wooded balcony which afforded lovely views across the countryside. It was gorgeous and I felt instantly at home! When she left us, Derek took Sirius for his long awaited walk while I sorted out our stuff and put the kettle on as I was gasping for a cuppa....Our drive had taken us through some of the lovelyist countryside I have seen since Derbyshire, and Derek had also took the route which brought us to the majestic Cheddar gorge. A place I have not visited since childhood.
This is a short, if albeit rather boring video of our drive through Cheddar gorge. I must appologise for the sound quality of the annoying car stero! My old phone picked out sounds better than my new Blackberry! Also ignore me singing at the start, but I was in a very good mood.
Also....lets play spot the Dalek!!!



Did you see my little black Dalek???

We had a cuppa when Derek and Sirius got back, and we continued to settle in. That evening I slipped into the whirpool bath, but was quite surprized at how gentle it was. The jets barely rippeled the surface of the water, but it was soothing and relaxing all the same and I added some fresh jasmine bath salts for a bit of aromothearpy touch to it. Lets face it though, I am very spoiled with my home hot tub (spa) and I had to keep it firmly in mind that this was indeed a whirlpool bath and not my home hot tub, with its hot, power bubbles for the massage. While in the whirlpool, Derek brought me a large glass of red wine and finally I was in Heaven!! I savoured it slowly, while I soaked and it was exquisite!! When I got out, which must have been nearly an hour later, I sat on the bed and phoned mum to let her know we had arrived safely, and we had a good chat...
The nex day after breakfast we headed to Sherbourne. A Pretty town with an Abbey and a small open air market. Derek went with Sirius to take some pictures and I browsed at the shops, finally meeting up together and had a slow wander back to the car. Our drive then took us to Glastonbury and again Derek and I split up as he went off to take piccies and I had a browes around the awesome shops in this town. My credit card was parted from me more times than I wanted it to be, but the things on sale we absolutly delightful. I got a Wiccan wrought iron Pentagram tea lightholder for the conservatory, several rocks and minerals to add to my already huge collection, and a gorgeous Kaftan (I wear these alot at home) with Egyptian gods and godesses on, with Hyrogliphics (need them translated) which came in very handy for my nightly trips to the heated pool back at the cottage....Now I wont go into massive detail of the week in great detail as it involved a huge ammount of driving and we took in Bournmouth, Southampton, Stonehenge, Portsmouth, Cerne Abbas (practially on our doorstep!) and ofcourse Bath....I had read up on the new Thermae spa baths in the city centre and they looked wonderfull, so I had very much anticipated this visit, and I was not dissapointed. My first session was just the basic two hour session, just to try it so to speak and on entering the changing rooms I very quickly realised how humid it was in there. Background music was coming from somewhere, which sounded like Nero plucking his harp!! But I got changed and locked my stuff in a locker with my electronic wrist band. However the changing rooms were rather like a rabbit warren, and when I finally managed to get out I could not find the lift up to the roof top spa pool, so I shrugged and took the steps...all 8 flights of them!! By the time I got to the top I was huffing and puffing like a good 'en (very unfit) and peeled off my large Ed Hardy towel, as well as slipping out of my flip flops, I turned and gazed in mild awe at this beautiful spa pool, glittering brightly in the afternoon sunshine. Gingerly, I slipped in down the steps and the water was delightfully warm and step by step I got further into this warm water. I stopped breifly and sat halfway down the steps, taking in the sun, and then just floated off into the pool in earnest. Its not a place to go diving as the pool is only just over 4 foot deep, and I could easily stand up in it. But dident want to, I floated over to the jacuzzi area and staked a claim nearby so I too could have a hot, mineral bubble session. As I looked about me I noticed a lot of people had these long blue tubes wrapped around their bodie's and floating about. At first I thought I would have to pay extra for one, but people were just exiting the rooftop pool and leaving them lying about only to be picked up by a new bather. So I spotted an unused one at the side of the steps and beant around my upper body and WOW!!!!!!!!!! What a brillaint boyancy aid this was. I now found that I dident need to swim to get about!! I just kicked my legs and floated on this simple tube. This, coupled with magnificent vews over the roof tops of historic Bath, well I thought it was paradise!!! I just bobbed about on the gentle bubbles, hot in the sun, with not a care in the world. Very soon the 2 hours was up though and I reluctantly made my way out and back down to the changing rooms, with a firm thought in my mind!! "I MUST come back tomorrow!!" Outside I hung about waiting for Derek and he appeared shortly after, and we began the drive back at about 4pm. Derek had taken a hundered photo's while I was doing my cork bobbing on the ocean impression, but my skin felt very smooth and I was positivly glowing! That night though I realised just how glowing I was! I had got sunburn on my arms knees and chest, and it was very painfull....the next morning I dident feel at all well, having hardly slept and my skin was creeping, hot and cold. For a time I was actually thinking of giving the spa a miss for this, our last full day in Dorset! But no!!! NOW WAY!!! I headed back there for a 4 hour session which included massage, steamroom, foot spa and hot stone thearapy, where you get your back massaged with hot stones. Sound painfull??!! No! its wonderfully relaxing. Also I got to take a dip in the indoor "Minerva" pool too, which was warm and the same depth as the roof top one, but thankfully less busy, so I just floated away in compleate bliss. At 4pm however it was a very reluctant yours truely, who hauled herself from the rooftop pool, to take the lift back to the changing rooms. I was so glad I had gone back to have the full spa expierence and when I walked out, rummaging in my bag for my ciggies, I fel like a million dollars!!
All in all a superb holiday (only blighted by the sunburn) and I am sorry this one has not been as detailed as my previous holiday blogs, but I have tonns to do today, and have not completly finished unpacking...perhaps, deep in my heart I dont want to unpack!! I just want to pack up and go back to Dorset, and my tranquill barn cottage in the countryside!!
Me waiting for Derek in the car at Bath!!!