It would be correct to say that my cottage and the lane are surrounded by wall,s very old walls,some over five hundred years old. Our orchard wall is one of these and was built I believe around the time of Henry111V. It is a beautiful mellow red brick wall, mossy with age and it is the home of many insects such as Masonry Bees hibernating butterflies and some very large spiders. Between our cottage and next door there is another ancient wall and it was over this that my neighbour called to me this morning to see if we has the kettle on, code for please make me a cup of tea which I was very glad to as he had been working in the garden for hours by then.
Along this same wall squirrels make their way to the kitchen window to tap on the glass when the food trays are empty and my tame robin sits there for the same reason, we could not forget them if we tried. The whole length of the lane is bounded by a wall of similar age on the other side of which runs a shelter belt of mixed deciduous trees, these are, at the moment flaunting new leaves and on the horse chestnuts the candle shaped blossom is opening to the delight of every bee in the parish.
I observed this morning that the beech trees are also loaded with flowers so this could be one of the special beech mast years when thousands of nuts are produced, I do hope so, it has been a while since we saw any beech mast in this area.
These old walls are some of the most highly protected structures in London I am told and yet we are fighting to prevent them from being breached in several places to provide access for cars , garages and car parks and the land behind them unspoiled since the Domesday book is the target for the builders of expensive flats and houses. The current trend is to go ahead and make the hole in the hope that no one will notice and if they do these people are rich enough to pay the fine, its shows a complete lack of respect for the rich history of this area. Henry 111V's funeral courtage stopped here over night on its way to his burial at Windsor. His fifth wife Katherine Howard was imprisoned here for four months while she awaited trial and execution. It was here that Jane Seymour learned that she was to be made queen and just across the River was the old Sheen Palace. Our village played host in the past to the artist Turner and also to Vincent van Gough. Until recently not much has changd for many years, now however the property developers have moved in. While they are advertising the area as unspoiled that is exactly what they are doing, they are ruining the very things which make this place so special. These things should be left for all to see and not demolished or fenced about for the only the chosen few to enjoy. England's heritage belongs to us all and should be maintained for the benefit of all. Our history is the reason why millions of tourists come to this country and we destroy it at our peril!
Time for me to dismount the old soapbox and tell you about the days events. Actually apart from a little entertaining this morning and a lot of gardening this afternoon there is not much to tell. The cat has enjoyed herself immensely stalking mice in the orchard all through the afternoon. I have sowed the spinach, beetroot, chard and kale and planted out the early peas at last. The first early potatoes needed earthing up today which I was not expecting for a week or two yet and the flower garden needed watering so badly that I put on the auto sprayer for three hours in the early evening.
The tiny solar glow worm lights with which we marked Charlie,s grave looked very pretty last night and were still glowing as the dawn broke.
I have made myself very tired today but I have enjoyed every moment of my time in the garden,there is plenty of time to do house work when the weather is foul so I mean to make the most of this fair weather. Tomorrow I shall make a large batch of biscuits and then if all goes well I shall again go back to my garden, it's where my heart is.
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