Far Lands

I am now in the middle of stage 3, and the best bit, of the cordon line. Planting. After we had erected the posts, and added support struts to the end posts, I then added the 4 wires (2.5 mm gauge) which are held by straining bolts. I got a bit carried away with straining one wire and bent the post! And this week I have been planting the unfeathered maidens that I grafted (whip and tongue) last March. I am planting them at 75cm intervals, diagonally. My plan this year is to plant 6 trees and so leave plenty of space for future grafting projects (our fridge is already full of this year's scions!). My varieties are:- James Grieve, Katy, Laxton Superb, Rosemary Russett, Jupiter and The Big Purple (my wilding from Reading). Time will tell. (Exciting isn't it!)

We're just back from a week in Scotland, munro-bagging from a hideout in Fort Augustus. This is a remarkably sheltered lunch spot at the top of Sgurr a Mahoraich , 1027 metres. But chickens - unlike my toy soldiers, lego and fuzzy-felt - couldn't be put away in a cupboard until I got back. So, I arranged for chicken-sitters.  And here they are. Not only did they look after the chickens, but they built an enormous snowman. It's still here!

V cold here yesterday - it was -5C overnight and did not get above zero during day. Pyjamas, dressing gown and hot water bottles at night! (Sorry if that's too much information.) (The fact that I've got Paddington Bear PJs, now that would be too much information). Anyway, we've also got 15 inches of snow, and had run out of pellets (down to our last couple of bags). But the pellets came; a superstar of a delivery driver. And as a man who has Paddington Bear on his PJs, I not only made the driver a brew but sent him away with a jar of marmalade.