The wrong side of the fence

This is Broadway Tower from t’other side of barbed wire fence.

I took lots of photos from “the right side” but preferred this as the wild flowers were so pretty.

This afternoon we drove up to Snowshill Lavender Farm – only to find it had closed for the summer. We knew that the lavender fields would be closed to visitors by now, as the lavender was going to be harvested at the beginning of August, but thought that the shop and tea rooms would be open. We wanted to buy some lavender plants for around the front of our house to replace the ones that are there now, as they are now far too large and very woody.

Because the lavender farm was closed, we continued on to Broadway Tower which is only a couple of miles from the farm. Here we partook of a coffee for Mr P and an Earl Grey tea for myself.

Last night the pooches sampled toad-in-the-hole. For those Blippers not familiar with British culinary delights, “toad-in-the hole” is actually pieces of sausage or sausage meat, cooked in a baking tray with batter, and is quite scrumptious. However the toad-in-the-hole that the pooches sampled was actually a toad. In a hole.

There was a lot of commotion going on in the garden at about 10pm – banging and crashing and such-like. We had let them out for a run about a few minutes earlier. When Nikonabike went to check he found them both trying to pick up a toad which was outside, under the table. We think that they had found him in the wood shed as we saw them ferreting about in there earlier.

Toads excrete a substance which tastes very nasty in order to protect themselves, and both dogs had received a good helping of this – Ziggy more than Hector. It looked as though they were both foaming at the mouth, and there were copious amounts of foam being exuded from their mouths and nostrils. They’re both ok today, and hopefully will leave Mr Toad in Toad Hall in the future.