Another indication of the time of year as the chimney brushes and the old Dyson are dusted off. I tried lighting the fire last night, but had to put it out after a minute as it started belching smoke into…

It’s that time of year again when we take a break from the little silver skin pickled onions that are the only ones we can buy and prepare our own. I only took care of peeling and jarring. The creative…

We popped to Pepe’s this lunchtime to discover the tables have their winter blankets over them and the charcoal brasseros have been lit. This is Kate’s foot under our table. I think we were the only ones taking photos.

With great sorrow we had Bentley put to sleep. He was a lovely great friendly giant, 99.999% of the time. However very occasionally he would be aggressive to the others, and because of his size, he had the power to…

Pixie trying to join in the kitty bed time scrum!!

I looked up from my laptop to discover that it was Teatime. They didn’t look like they were interested in discussing the matter.

After several weeks of intense competition, Dumpling has finally emerged as the chair champion. Alfie has not taken it well!

Here is our finished pickle.

We went picking acorn caps last week, however I’m really not sure of acorn etiquette. People eat acorns here – as well as giving them to pigs – so we decided to go further afield to get the caps so…

Ian hidden under a pile of dogs and cat.