The second half of the willow fence:

It is woven together; Fergal has used 16 different varieties of willow, so we should have colour the year round. Peas and broad beans are planted and flourishing, and will grow against the woven willow as a support:

The bare patches are the old beds which are now re-seeded with grass. It is so exciting to see the garden come into its own; every day there are new seedlings bursting into life. 

Our table on Christmas morning… the cake was a delicious Victoria Sponge (how dreadfully un-festive of us!!) decorated with a doily with a Christmas tree shape cut out of the centre.

I then dredged it with icing sugar, it is such a simple and effective decoration!

Today we spent the morning planning the garden for 2010, it’s such an exciting time of year!

Fergal has been emptying our compost bins and spreading it out on the dormant vegetable beds in preparation. The polytunnel needs clearing out, and even on these freezing days it is really pleasant being in there. But even more pleasant is when we are in the kitchen planning and baking!!

We went up to dear friends of ours for a truly delicious New Years Day dinner and  came home with a few dozen duck eggs- aren’t the blue ones just gorgeous?

So I baked and baked today- currant buns, bread, fairycakes, scones- exactly what we needed after a week or two of biscuits and chocolate!!