Blue skies

Saturday was very damp and dreary, but  I had a lovely evening celebrating my birthday with nearly all my immediate family. Sadly Chris couldn't join us because of a very pressing work deadline. We feasted on a leg of local conservation lamb, cooked slowly with pomegranate molasses and garlic, accompanied by a salad of watercress, red onion and pomegranate seeds, Persian scorched rice and flatbreads. Lizzy brought a starter of mozzarella salad, and Sarah and Ben provided a dessert of citrus syllabub with passion fruit accompanied by cardamom-scented shortbreads. After dinner we played games, and even managed to persuade Pete to join in!

Today was all blue skies and sunshine - ideal for a good walk round Old Sulehay, though some parts had to be taken slowly thanks to the very slippery mud. Not a great deal about, but I spent some time just appreciating some of the special trees, including this circle of Small-leaved Limes - almost certainly originating from a single ancestor that was coppiced repeatedly, and probably well over five-hundred years old.