Peter, Val (and Bob)

 Saturday 5th June The sun came out by lunchtime & we enjoyed a lovely afternoon with Paul & Gilly. Pizzas for lunch cooked in our pizza oven, in the garden. We shared 3 savoury, then a dessert of chocolate and banana pizza with homemade Greek yogurt. Prior to lunch they tried Peter's electric Brompton. Thumbs up from Paul, but not from Gilly. After lunch we all enjoyed a stroll round the 'horse field'. Only one horse could be found though, even our little friend, who we had often fed in the winter, had disappeared. Sunday 6th June. Another lovely day meeting up with Paul and Margaret at Anglesey Abbey. The first time we'd met up since 6th August last year. We chatted over coffee, walked around the grounds to the mill, but they are still not milling flour. Then we chatted more over lunch and visited the plant and gift shop. Of course we bought a plant, just a small daisy this time, plus an ornate bell windchime.  Home for eating pizzas, to use up the leftovers ...

 Friday 4th June. Overcast and a little cooler. 9 a.m Off for a pre-booked appointment to get 2 new rear tyres fitted. All done by 9.22. Good service! Aldi then home. Made tomato sauce and garlic mushrooms for tomorrow. Peter added some more to the irrigation system. New TV delivered by John Lewis. Peter was busy setting it up. Old TV collected 30 mins later, en route to Romania! Made sourdough for the pizzas. (Peter made the starter). My first encounter with sourdough (apart from eating it!). Rain started but we had a quick walk round the block. Home made spicy bean and tomato soup with sourdough. Watched the new TV!

Warm but slightly overcast. Made dough for practice pizzas. Walk from Hellesdon Mill to Drayton and back (Marriott's Way/Walsingham Way), with a rest at the Red Lion for a cold drink in the beer garden. (All ordered on the app). Detour to Taverham garden centre on the way home, irrigation tubing and a gently watering can rose. Home to bake ham & mushroom pizzas and try on new green clothes!

Another beautiful, hot sunny day. We went to Taverham garden centre for more parts for the garden watering system, lawn shears and 2 gooseberry plants to occupy our empty pots. Peter made further improvements to the irrigation system and rearranged the patio plants. There is more room around the patio table and the plants make a better display. I then finished the kimchi & left it to ferment for 2 weeks, pottered in the garden & went to Sainsburys for salad. After some bike riding it was time for more pottering in the garden before our first barbecue: mackerel with salad and new potatoes. 

A lovely walk in Gorleston, lots of people enjoying the sunshine, but still plenty of space on the beach. Back for an afternoon of cycling, sourdough making, kimchi making and making a spicy bean soup.

Still warmer (low 20s). Garden pottering then another short stretch of the Walsingham path, from the start of Marriott's Way to Hellesdon Road, 2 miles, then back again. Although it's a walk that we have done many times, we hadn't done it recently & it was lovely with the spring weather and vegetation.  On the way back we discovered a nursery in Costessey that we hadn't visited before. We spent a pleasant afternoon in the garden, in the company of our neighbour,  Ashok. We were glad of our new gazebo with canopy to provide some welcome shade. 

Supermarket shopping and some pottering in the house and garden. In the afternoon, the weather was again perfect for our meet up with Alice and Chris for a Stody Lodge open day, complete with classic car rally. The rhododendrons and azaleas were at their peak. 

The temperature is up a little more! We have an aim of tackling some of the longer Norfolk walking trails this year and the Walsingham path, recently launched, seemed a good place to start. We covered familiar ground, between Norwich Cathedral and the start of Marriotts way, as we were in Norwich anyway.  First meet up with Paul and Gilly, since their wedding in December 2019! They have recently moved to Horsford. We were keen to revisit the Grosvenor for fish and chips. Sadly the Bird Cage closed down during lockdown so we ate on site, in the 'basement!  It tasted just as good.

 Friday 28th May Finally a warm and sunny day, with more forecast! Perfect for a bank holiday weekend, plus lockdown restrictions eased further on 17th May so pubs, cafes and restaurants can serve customers indoors and we can meet with up to 6 people in our homes. After work, it was straight out into the garden to sow cornflower seeds, trim the lawn edge and tidy up some pots and flower beds.