Examining the blossoms on our cherry tree

An absolutely amazing day with friends Bob and Sue at the Rent-a-Cherry Tree Farm open day to see the cherry blossom on our tree (and all the hundreds of other cherry trees on the farm)

For Christmas I bought my Susan an annual subscription to rent a cherry tree. This was the first opportunity to see it in all its glory. The extra shows the blossoms rather better than the main shot which shows Susan and Sue examining the blossoms.

The idea came from one of my colleagues from the railway posted their harvest last year where they picked 33kg of cherries. I’d be happy with 20kg! We get to go again at the end of June for the harvest. As the cherries grow the rows are netted to protect from the birds. We enjoyed a hog roast bun for lunch, bought some local cheeses, a jar of, what else, cherry jam and 4 cream teas for later.

We then drove to Bodiam Castle where we parked to check out a Railway Walk from Bodiam to see if the instructions were still correct. It was a lovely walk along the Rother Levels then up to Salehurst and back to Bodiam. We had our cream tea sitting on a bench outside Salehurst Church, not 20 yards from the Salehurst Halt pub, from where the cream teas were made!

It was a good job we checked the walk as there was a notice to say the route was closed owing to damage to the banks in recent flooding. I ignored the notice and ploughed on to find a breach in the dyke and a collapsed footbridge across the channel. Fortunately, it was dry and we were able to scramble down the side and clamber up the other side to continue the walk. The railway will have to suspend advertising this walk until the damage is repaired.

Pleased to report no side effects from yesterday’s second vaccination.