The outdoor life

Apart from the occasional day we've been spoilt by fantastic weather in recent weeks and any spare time we have is spent outdoors. I hope you're not bored with all these garden photos but we are pleased with our efforts this year. Yes we're still battling with marestail (not sure how to spell it) but they don't seem to choke the other plants.

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The garden boxes we bought in early spring have been a great success with splashes of vibrant colour adding interest to the patio. We have several lemons on the tree that Joel and Martin gave us last summer, and they are delicious.

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And look, our first carrots, dug up to thin between plants. We had a few more the other day and they are getting bigger. Our crop of cherries this year has been magnificent and we have shared them with neighbours and family. Tine even made a bit of jam last week. We're just pleased that the birds left us some this year!

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The front of the house tends to be rather barren as the soil (sand!) is very thin there. However beautiful red and California poppies seem to love these conditions and their colour is so strong. They spread very easily so we might just leave them to it!

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We've been on a bit of a health kick recently, successfully losing quite a few lbs (kg!) This tasty courgette and mushroom salad is courtesy of my food guru, Nadine. We've been using this little table for our lunches of late, the parasol shielding us from the sun. Hope you notice the rosé - some habits die hard!!

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Finally Martine had a go on our new pressure washer last week. It works very well but it's a bit laborious. Must get back to it...