Latest News from Kirkstead Old Mill Cottage B&B Woodhall Spa

Dreams can come true

Those of you who know me well, would probably agree with the observation that I always like to have a project.

Well, to explain the one that came to fruition today, I need to take you back to 1974 (the year of the three-day-week) and the year that the Hodgkinson Family undertook the renovation of "Old Mill Cottages" in Kirkstead, Woodhall Spa, most ably supported by the carpenters Norman Melton and his mate Colin, both from Horncastle.

But first, go back a little further to 1972, the year in which I completed a three-year teacher training course, visited in early August my friends Val and Graham in Stixwould (a village slightly north of Woodhall Spa) and persuaded my husband to purchase what he saw as little more than a heap of bricks that hadn't been occupied for about six or seven years.

To be continued:

Bird watching

This morning instead of eating one of Charity's beautifully cooked breakfast in the kitchen, we both joined our solitary guest in the Breakfast Room for over an hour and a half of enjoyable conservation, interrupted regularly by the appearance of a variety of birds on the web cam.  The light this morning was ideal for showing us the details of a bossy robin, a great tit, a pair of blue tits, a male great spotted woodpecker, two tree sparrows and a "flutter" of up to six long tailed tits clustering around the slab of fat stuffed with seeds, who caused us to laugh with delight.

If you know the collective term for long tailed tits, please let me know what it is.

Spring really has arrived in Kirkstead, Woodhall Spa

This morning I at last walked to the bottom of my garden, which I hadn't reached since late November 2010, just before the snow arrived.  There has been a dramatic change in the weather over night.  The gale force wind has gone and we are bathed in sunshine; I think the difference would be unbelievable anywhere else in the world!

The blossoms on the snowdrops that Tony has planted over the years are increasing daily, and those that Reg and John planted a year ago in his memory are going to make a lovely first showing on the grassy bank beside the drain.

White crocuses are poking through the lawn just in front of the Catalpa tree, and John tells me that the first Iris appeared yesterday in front of the house, so I'm hoping to take a photo of it for you.

In spite of the wind!

I apologise for this lengthy gap between my "posts".  My energy levels have been somewhat reduced, perhaps due to not being able to be very active.  I'm still not allowed to drive but, my efforts to master using the sleep apneoa machine, indicate that the restrictions could be relaxed in a month's time.

For weeks, while the garden was covered in snow or ice, I only ventured outside when Reg came to work here for the day.  He took me shopping, to the hairdresser's and for medical appointments.  Changing daily doses of Aspirin to Warfarin has been undertaken gradually, and I am now consuming a regular amount, which will not need checking for a month, instead of weekly.  Hopefully, I am now less at risk of having a stroke, and being a right nuisance to look after!

In between running me around in the Volvo, Reg has planted, or repotted, hundreds of bulbs for me to have diplayed in the garden in a couple of months time, or to sell in order to raise some funds for the Marie Curie Care charity.  For several years now we have been able to regularly change our floral displays with the minimum of effort, because there are over seventy 2 litre plastic plant pots sunk into the ground, around the single storey extension and along the length of the raised bed under the long pergola.  Hundreds of daffodils and tulips are now settled into dozens more 2 litre pots, awaiting their turn to brighten up my world.  Daffoldils choose to bloom over a period of several months, and hopefully I have selected four different varieties that might flower in succession, though "nature" doesn't always co-operate.  Last year the Pinkeen tulips that should have appeared after the daffodils matured together, due to bad weather delaying the Narcissi. 

When I last posted news, back in January, the first flowers were just appearing on the Witch Hazel that is in front of the window by the kitchen sinks.  It is now a blaze of yellow and orange, the loveliest it has ever been, but you'll have to wait until this wind abates before I can take a photo of it.  (I am particularly thinking of you, dear Dan, over in the States, as I write this.)

"In spite of the wind" Tony's much-loved snowdrops are appearing in more and more clusters along the bank.  It was just a year after his death when I received the first excited 'phone calls to say that some of the snowdrops that mourners had taken home after his funeral to plant in their own gardens had flowered.  I thank those thoughtful folks for sharing their feelings with me. 

The past fortnight has been a struggle, but I am supported by such good friends and I want to particularly mention Valerie, whom I have now known for over forty years, as we met in 1969 when we joined a training course for mature students who wanted to become qualified teachers.  She has kept in touch with me every day over the past year - a real life line.

I will sign off with this little card that my webmaster Mike made for me so beautifully a year ago.  My family helped me to attach one to each of the little pots of snowdrops that my youngest granddaughter Daisy gave out after Tony's funeral on the 15th of February 2010.  We all had a lovely, memorable day, recalling the life of a remarkable man that we had had the pleasure of meeting.