Andrew and Lenny's garden, shed and house

At about midday Woodpeckers and I drove eastwards up the Golden Valley to the next village, Chalford. Helena had spotted that a special quilting workshop was being held in the local church hall, which is sited at the bottom of the steeply sided valley beside the main road and the canal. I dropped her near by and then drove on through the terribly narrow road through Chalford Bottom village, where its old centre remains. I had arranged to drop in to have a coffee with Andrew and his wife, Lenny, who live at the far end of the village.

I managed to squeeze the car through the single track lane without meeting any other cars which is highly unusual. I also managed to find a space for parking close to their house, which is also unusual as space is at a premium here. I walked around the back of the house and knowing andrew had been in the shed when I phoned earlier I shouted out to him. He popped his head out of the shed and I joined hi to have a peek inside, and it lived up to its promise.

We then retired to their back patio to drink coffee and catch up, as we hadn't met up for many months. Andrew and I are the same age and are lives have followed similar paths off and on, with a common interest in music, although he manages to play music too. We have many mutual old friends as well but we didn't actually meet until relatively recently.

One of our points of conversation was whether their older daughter Jessie was still moving into our street, but sadly the purchase may have fallen through. What a shame as we were looking forward to having her company. Perhaps it will still happen. As we chatted, the back gate opened and Woodpeckers appeared crossing the small bridge over the stream. She had sadly arrived for the workshop a week early! So instead she joined us round the table for coffee and chat too.

I then took the opportunity to go down to the bottom of the garden with my camera and crossed over the two small wooden bridges that Andrew made to allow access to the towpath of the old canal, which runs on the far side of the two stream beds that run through the garden. The stream is really the River Frome in its early stages, before it flows on four miles further to Stroud and then another seven miles before flowing into the River Severn at Framilode. The washing on the line is on the island between the streams.

The valley in this part of Chalford is very narrow, and yet it c0ntains the railway line to Cheltenham, the road to Cirencester, the Thames and Severn canal, the river and the road through the village all passing through a space that is no more than fifty yards wide. I took this picture with my back to the towpath, looking across the two streams and the small island between them. Their house is on the right and I can just make out the heads of Andrew and Helena chatting. The houses all face south to catch any available sunshine, with many more spread along the valley sides and only accessible by zig-zagging footpaths, which used to be served by donkeys as carriers of goods.

Eventually Lenny and their daughter Elsie returned from their walk and came across the footbridges bearing large fallen tree branches, which will be added to the wood pile for winter warmth. Andrew's fine shed can be seen painted blue and to the left in front of the somewhat hidden stonewall is their fine vegetable garden that Lenny loves and tends with great success. It was lovely to see them all again. It is even possible that Andrew might become a blipper, which would be very good. I shall be sending him some more info and links.