The Distancing Diaries - 13th & 14th May, 2021

Thursday started in the usual fashion, a wander around the garden, my Wii Fit workout and a breakfast of fruit & yoghurt. It was the day of our postponed National Trust visit so, Jon made sandwiches, filled the flask as we were travelling in the work's van as opposed to Gilbert, and off we went.

Nestled in an Ice Age valley in the Cotswolds lies the beautiful sandstone 17th Century Upton House, home to Walter Samuel, the second viscount Bearsted, and his wife, Dorothea. Renowned for their philanthropy, when Lord Bearsted acquired the estate in 1927, the midst of the Great Depression, he wrote the local community, where unemployment and deprivation ran high announcing that Any Man who presents himself at 9am on Monday morning shall find work there.

Lord and Lady Bearstead were the heirs of the co-founder of Shell Oil and recognised that great wealth brought great responsibility. They both made sizable donations to charities which included children's societies & hospitals, seamen's missions, cancer charities and Jewish schools. Walter gifted the grounds surrounding his late father's estate to the people of Maidstone in Kent whilst Dorothea supported the Bearstead Maternity Hospitals (founded by the first viscount) and during WW2 personally helped with their supervision and management.

The garden was designed by Kitty Lloyd-Jones, one of the first female gardeners. Born the 9th of ten children to a Welsh doctor, she gained a diploma from the Royal Botanical Society and was the first woman to take a horticulture degree at Reading University in 1924. Before the Bearsteads the garden's main purpose was to provide food for the house with little thought for pleasure and recreation but, with Kitty's fresh ideas and enthusiasm, she set about transforming the garden for leisure and pleasure. 

While the house has its attractions (the stupendous Art Deco bathroom, which I wrote about HERE), the highlight of Upton is the garden. A lawn, with 350-year-old cedar trees, sweeps gently down from the house and below is an extensive terraced garden. The garden features a series of herbaceous borders and a large lake with water lilies in a small valley. The terracing, unseen from the house and on a first visit unsuspected, contains the National Collection of Aster. In use since the 12th century, the gardens include a rare Bog Garden on the site of medieval fish ponds.

A Rheum palmatum went straight to the top of our must-buy list.

Thursday was mirky and damp with bursts of torrential rain but, surrounded by such beauty, both wild and cultivated, that we hardly noticed the weather.

Wandering through the untamed woodland, with huge clumps of bluebells, cow parsely, periwinkle and cuckoo pint we were more inspired than ever with our plans for the wilderness at bottom of our garden.

Trevor Eve had a humdinger of a fistfight in Upton House's glamorous 1930s swimming pool in an episode of Waking the Dead. 

There were only five other vehicles in the car park when we got back to the van. The miserable weather had obviously put a lot of people off although Upton is rarely busy. The majority of visitors seem to prefer the neighbouring Charlecote Park (a bit too formal for our tastes). After a lunch of Glastonbury cheddar cheese and pickle sandwiches on date and walnut bread we returned to Walsall (an hour's drive away) passing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the way back, who it turned out were visiting Wolverhampton.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering around the garden, drawing up plans and doing research - National Trust gardens never fail to inspire. After tea, we finally finished our epic catch-up of Waking the Dead, all nine years of it!

On Friday morning, after a wander around the garden & booked next week's National trust adventure, I put the kitchen plants in the utility room sink for a soak and mopped the kitchen floor before my final Wii Fit workout of the week. After breakfast, toast as we'd run out of fruit, I wrapped the eBay sales. 

When we'd got back from Upton House yesterday a parcel from my friend Lynn was waiting for me packed full of Craftivism goodies. A flick through the book gave simple instructions for cross stitch so I ordered some fabric and embroidery silk from eBay so I could have a go. Cross-stitching twee things like owls and country cottages have never appealed but sweary banners? Totally up my street! 

Stephen was due at the vet for his blood pressure check so, while the lads were out I got to work on the garden. Today was the turn of the area outside the gates. As you can see, it's an utter disgrace. I'd mentioned sorting it out on a blog post a year ago but we never go round to it. Rather than procrastinate a minute longer I decided to clear the area, dig up the remaining ferns in the rockery next to the wall and radically prune the Hawthorne, after checking for nests first and got stuck in right away. Working outside in the street means that everyone stops and chats and it was lovely to talk to people I normally only wave at. Both an older chap and a woman my age stopped to tell me that they remembered me from the 1980s - one recognised me from seeing me at college and the other from my crazy house-share days, I thought I'd changed a lot in almost 40 years...I obviously haven't! 

Jon came back to drop off Stephen. The vet was very pleased that his blood pressure was down and that he'd put on weight. After he'd done the post office run and supermarket shop we had noodles and then he helped me outside. By mid-afternoon, we'd filled four sacks of waste and the area was finally clear.

In stark contrast to most houses in the neighbourhood, we're hoping to replace the gravel with grass, maybe with clover or wildflowers to make it more attractive to pollinators. We'll also need some kind of barrier to keep the dogs with irresponsible owners off our lawn. With a wet weekend forecast, we can spend time researching the best option. 

I'd managed to dig up another five ferns which we replanted elsewhere in the garden before downing tools and retiring inside for a mug of tea. 

We've got pizza for tea and apparently, BoJo's got a press conference scheduled for 5.15pm. I think I might need a glass of wine. Later it's Gardeners' World, rum and a replacement for Waking the Dead, that's if I can stay awake long enough.

See you soon!

The Distancing Diaries - 5th & 6th April, 2021

 I had every intention of getting up and doing my Wii Fit workout when I woke at 6am on Easter Monday but decided I couldn't be bothered and waited for Jon to get up. He brought tea back to bed and I read until 8am. We had banana porridge for breakfast, I did a load of washing and hung it up outside just in time for snow, which thankfully didn't stick. After a quick sweep of the stairs, kitchen & downstairs rugs we lit the wood burner and worked on Jon's family tree until midday. We got as far back as the early 18th century and discovered that part of his Dad's branch of the tree came from The Cotswolds (a possible road trip for the Summer?)

An ancestor closer to home was Jon's great-grandfather, Alfred Baker (1854 - 1930), a master carpenter. He married Julia Ann Bibb (1857 - 1898) who was recorded as being unable to read or write. She was born in New Street, Walsall, which ran adjacent to St Matthew's Church and on our regular litter-picking route. It had remained virtually unchanged since Mediaeval times until the slum clearances of the 1950s (the photo is from the 1890s). Her father, Arthur Bibb (1836 - 1908) was, according to the 1861 census, a whip maker. She died at the age of 42 in Richmond Street, two streets away from the house where Jon grew up, the cause of death given as Morbus Cordis which used to be the term used when there was sudden unexplained death from natural causes. The Bibb family can trace their lineage back to Thomas Mills who was born in Walsall on 10th March 1650 and has a family crest.

After noodles we braved the outside - it was lovely with the sun on our backs but bastard freezing out of it. I planted my Chinese lanterns, tied up both the clematis which had a bit of a growth spurt in the last few days and emptied the last of the pot plants on the patio to make room for the olive tree when the danger of frost is over (which won't be any time soon). 

I don't even remember planting this candytuft in one of the old chimney pots Grandma hauled out of a skip back in the 1960s when everyone was getting central heating fitted and bricking up their fireplaces and it comes back year after year.

Jon gave the front of the house a tickle with masonry paint while I swept the patio. We had a posh coffee al fresco but scurried inside to warm up soon afterwards.

Of course, my new kediya needed an outing. I wore it over my vintage embroidered maxi dress. My hair was a disgrace after sitting next to Adrian & Liz's firepit on Saturday afternoon so I tamed it by plaiting and pinning it up.

After thirty minutes of self-care (which included a hair wash), we watched BoJo's announcement accompanied by a glass of wine. We had a paneer curry with nan bread for tea.

Later we caught up with Grayson Perry's Art Club and a couple more episodes of Waking The Dead although with the last couple of days of gardening I was struggling to stay awake.

On Tuesday I did my Wii Fit workout and wrapped the weekend eBay sales. We had toast for breakfast as Jon hadn't been to the shops since Thursday and we were down to a solitary orange. It was a bitterly cold day although gloriously bright and sunny. Jon popped to the post office and did a supermarket run and was back just before the snow started. I continued with the family tree, researching my maternal grandma Joan's branch of the family, managing to get as far back as 1708. 

This photo of the Coppack family of Chester has always been in my family, I'd always assumed they were distant cousins but it turns out that Sarah Ellen (1841 -1903) & John (1841 - 1898) were my great-great-grandparents. They were near-celebrities in Victorian Chester having fourteen surviving children. Evaline Maud (1875 - 1944) was my great-grandma (mother of my grandma). Here is she with her mother and six sisters, Annette, Mary Ellen, Isabella, Agnes, Florence and Mary.

If you've ever visited Chester you may have seen the Blue Coat Hospital School on Northgate. This was founded in 1717 as a charity school for poor boys, the first of its kind outside London. In 1854, a statue of a Blue Coat boy was placed at the front of the building, after an appeal raised £25. The model for this statue was my great-great-grandfather, John Coppack. His father, also John Coppack (1812 - 1856) was a shoemaker in Northgate Street, his mother, Mary Greenway (1814 - 1853) had died before he'd enrolled in the school.

This framed print has hung in Stonecroft since my grandparents lived here. 

The council's fortnightly brown bin (garden waste) collection was due to restart after the winter break so after our noodles, we made sure it was filled to compacity and wheeled it out ready. I planted more sunflower seeds whilst Jon did radishes, Greek beans and courgettes.

Jon bought these secondhand black denim Levis' before lockdown but despite them being the size he always wears, he couldn't do them up. The last time I wore this vintage Alpnani block printed tunic a couple of people commented that it would look good with jeans. As the Levis' are destined for the charity shop when it reopens next week (yay!) I thought I'd give them a try (they're massive round the waist but okay with a belt), confirming the reason why I don't wear jeans....life's too short for boring clothes.

Vintage 1960s suede coat (Cheryl), Fry Campus boots & Alpnani tunic (both eBay), me-made pompom hat

It might look like Spring outside but the weather is more akin to January.

The rest of the afternoon was spent indoors. I started another craftivism banner after more posts about them on Facebook but had to rush to the Kinky Shed in the snow to retrieve a garment a TV company needed for a shoot on Friday (a 1960s gents raincoat).

Tea was a posh quiche (from the bargain section) with salad. Tonight's crime night, a catch-up of 24 Hours in Police Custody, we hadn't realised there was a new series.

Now restrictions have been eased we're off for our first National Trust visit in 4 months tomorrow. By the look of the weather forecast, it looks like we'll be wearing thermals! 

Stay safe & well and see you soon.

The Distancing Diaries - 1st & 2nd April, 2021

The weather had reverted back to the usual dismal, cold and gloomy Spring we're more used to when I got up on Thursday morning. Thanks so much for the Never-had-a wedding anniversary wishes, the amazing virtual card (Catmac!) and many congratulations to Mary (30 years), Martha & Carole R (31 years on 2nd May), too!

After my Wii Fit workout, I swept the rugs in the lounge and wrapped my eBay sales. After breakfast, Jon did the post office run a day early and called into the supermarket before popping round to Tony's for a coffee in the garden. I tidied the spare room, putting my bikini tops back in the summer suitcase and kicking it back beneath the bed, then and caught up with blogland.

A first outing for the unworn £8 1960s embroidered kaftan I'd won on eBay last week and had spent Friday morning altering. It's made from that deliciously thick Indian homespun cotton (Gandhi's cloth!) and combined with my bodysuit, Cheryl's vintage leather jerkin, 80 denier tights and lace-up boots it was lovely and cosy - what a difference to the bikini top and factor 30 I'd worn the previous day. 

We had a potato, cheese and onion roll for lunch and while Jon played around with Gilbert in the cold, I stayed indoors and embroidered another couple of craftivism banners.

Once I'd finished my sewing we donned our big coats and went out for an hour's sign-bombing and litter picking. A girl in her late teens even stopped and asked if I'd like any help, which I found really sweet. I'd have been happy picking for longer but Jon had come out without his hat and his ears were starting to fall off. It was so chilly that we could even see our breath!

We managed to gather half a sack each, the contents mostly being discarded bags of dog sh@t, energy drinks, masks and sweet wrappers although I also retrieved a stained school sweatshirt someone had tossed into a bush. We do celebrate our anniversaries in style, don't we? This time last year I cleaned the kitchen!

I'd found someone selling crowns of Victoria rhubarb on Facebook and messaged her asking if I could buy a couple from her. It turned out that she lived near Liz & Al (and was also a member of the litter volunteers) so we arranged to call round tomorrow before visiting Liz & Al.  On the subject of gardening, my Dahlias have sprouted, I can't wait to watch Gardener's World on Friday and see how Monty's are doing.

Tea was a vintage cheddar cheese quiche with salad. Later I cracked on with some crochet. Gill, who I regularly chat to on Facebook, had mentioned a new series of Italian thriller series Thou Shalt Not Kill but when we investigated further I realised that we'd only watched a couple of episodes before abandoning it as we weren't keen so stuck with what we liked and watched Waking The Dead instead.

On Friday morning after I'd seen to the lads, I booked a National Trust visit - the first since the instruction to stay local was introduced back in December. The garden we're visiting is only 45 minutes down the road but it already feels like an epic adventure. I did my final Wii Fit workout of the week, misted the plants and had breakfast with Jon.

Being atheists we don't do Easter and the only time you'll ever hear me exclaim He has risen! is when Jon gets out of bed before 8.30am. I do love the dapper rabbit on the delightfully daft Aldi advert who dances around to the 1967 Latin boogaloo tune, I Like It Like That by Pete Rodriguez so we decided we needed to recreate it in our own inimitable way.

My dapper rabbit is dressed head to toe in his charity shop finery (a vintage Mr Harry dinner suit and a Hawes & Curtis paisley shirt).

Rabbits aren't solo creatures. Here's his girlfriend. She's in vintage Anokhi.

I've no idea why our neighbours think we're a bit strange.

Keeping with the Easter theme we had hot cross buns for lunch, the first in over a decade. They were slathered in butter and utterly delicious.

We took Gilbert for a run, picked up the rhubarb which the lovely seller had left in her porch for us along with a handwritten note with planting tips. It had been ages since we'd been out in Gilbert and I'd forgotten how visible we are in him, I love that everyone waves at us and gives way.

Liz and Al were delayed and came round to ours instead. Al was the recipient of last night's crocheting - I hadn't forgotten the pom-pom, he's just not keen on them. The sunshine had finally made an appearance although it lacked the heat from earlier in the week. Our magnolia has finally burst forth - I'm just waiting on the tulips now!

Tea was wine (we abstained yesterday) with pizza and blinged-up jacket wedges. Tonight we'll be tuning into Gardener's World, drinking rum and trying to stay awake later than 10pm. 

Stay safe and see you soon!