Vampyres

"Yesterday I came here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move. I waited here all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors garlic, which the Un-Dead cannot bear, and other things which they shun." Dracula. Chapter XV1. Bram Stoker. 1897.


We live close to the eery,  cliff-top ruins of Slains Castle, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Some say that the Vampyre still stalks the corridors and towers of the castle.  Surely, that can't be true? But just in case we always keep a stock of garlic in the house, especially now that the nights are lengthening. Up to now we relied the Spanish variety from Tesco (on the right of the photograph). But this year we have brought home, from France, bigger and better bulbs. We should sleep well this winter!