Cayke on Tuesday!

Last Tuesday we met up with a friend at the allotments - she has a plot not far from the one Mum & Dad had.  We had a quick look at Mum and Dad's old plot - someone else is looking after it now - that's our magnolia tree.

It's looking very leafy!!!  It might not be there for long though as the Council (who owns the land) are                             going to starting enforcing the rules that say all trees on allotments have to be producing trees.  Magnolias don't "Produce" - well they produce pretty flowers but not fruit, which is what I think the Council means.  Poo on the council!!!

Afterwards our friend took us for tea and cayke!!!  I had a cappucino and the last slice of toffee apple cayke!!  It was proper yum!!!

On the way home, we saw Cat again!  We like Cat!!!

Another unexpected trip!!

Today we had another surprise trip!!!  Andrea's parents had given Extra Instructions for A Lotment so we were going to go sort it out!

There's our bus stop down there!

...and we're off!  I like going on trips!

We stayed on the bus an extra stop to last time and got off here!

We didn't have so far to go for A Lotment, which was handy!

Then it was just down here.....

We spotted some blackberries on the way!

Here we are!

We'd been told to prop open the doors on both sheds.  This is the big one with rat poo everywhere.

Then we got the rusty old wheelbarrow and put all the gardening tools in it.

We put a couple of luggage labels on them saying they were free if anyone wanted to have them.  It's a shame that we're not coming back to use them ourselves, but Andrea can't look after such a big plot all by herself and her parents are just - well, too old and worn out to do all the weeding!

We got all the tools from the little shed, and then had to hoick the wheelbarrow down the bumpy path.

We left the wheelbarrow here by the entrance gates we came in at.  That was Andrea's Mum's idea.  That way, people see them as them come into A Lotment and can take what they need on the way to where they garden.

But it's still sad that we're not coming back.....

That's the little shed with all the spiders webs in.  We had to use the watering cans to prop the door open.

We cut lots of bayleaf off the bayleaf bush tree and then said goodbye to the roses.  We hope they continue to be happy here.

This one grew a new bud since we were here Monday!

We said goodbye to the Magnolia Tree and hope he'll continue to be happy here too.

He's got some interesting markings on him!

Bye.....

We decided to leave some floppy discs before we went home.

Goodbye A Lotment.

Then we went a bit further up past our plot and left another floppy disc.  Hope they get found!

We left another book on this wall!

Ooo holly tree!

Left one on this fence too!

Then we went back the way we came ........

.....and decided to go past the main gate and down a bit further!

We left one here too!

And then we met Duck!!!!!

We left him a floppy disc too!!!

Gosh it's so peaceful here.....

There's so many A Lotment plots!!!  LOADS of them!

Oh that's pretty!!!  Wonder what kind of flower that is.....

And then we got back to the main gate again.....

And it's time to go home.........

So we went down to the main road....

And then went this way.....

And that's our bus stop over there!!!  We had to wait a few minutes though.

And we're off!

And then we got off here!

And then just had to walk down here....

And we're home!

What a lovely day out!

We had an adventure!!!

Today Andrea said we were having an Unexpected Adventure!!!

I haven't have one of those for MONTHS!!

Wonder where we're going though - don't usually come this way.....

We got on a number 5A bus and Andrea remembered to wear her mask.

And we got off here.  We've got to walk to where that Bloo Bus is going.

That's a Co-op supermarket over the road.  Andrea says it used to be a pub - her and her Mum used to have drinkies in there after spending time at a place called Allotment.

What's Allotment?

We're going down here now - got to go through those gates.

And then down this way.....

And over that bramble bush is Allotment that Andrea's parents have.  Well, they've had it for about 25 years now, and paid the rent on it for this year but because of lockdown haven't been able to get up to grow stuff.  So because Andrea's got the week off, we got the keys so we can come and check it over.

Except I've never been here before because Andrea's too busy working or too knackered at weekends!

That's the Allotment!

It's a big field...... they used to grow tons of stuff here!

It's very overgrown now though - but we found pretty purple flowers!

And more pretty purple flowers!

And some heather!  Andrea says that's the first thing she planted when we got the Allotment all those years ago!

That looks like an old sunflower....

And an overgrown artichoke?

Up the other end of Allotment were some rosebushes - Andrea says those were the second things she planted!  And this one has buds on it just about to come out!

Some rose hips on the other bushes!

Oh, there's a frog pond there!!

That's Andrea's Mum's Little Shed.  It took us a while to figure out which keys worked the lock but we worked it out in the end!  There's lots of spiders in there though. 

Big ones.

Size of dinner plates.

That's the wheelbarrow.  We rescued that from the overgrown brambles when we first got Allotment 25 years ago!!

That's the Big Shed that we got to replace the falling down pile of wood shed that was originally here 25 years ago.  There's lots of rat poo in there.  Bit whiffy.

Didn't stay in there long.

And that's the pear tree - with flowers on top!

We chose Allotment because of this pear tree. 

It's all old and gnarly just like a Van Gogh painting!!

This is a bayleaf bush tree next to the Big Shed!

And there's a Holly Bush next to the pear tree!

The one on the right is the Magnolia tree.  That was the third thing Andrea planted 25 years ago.  She's not sure she's seen it flower though......

That little tree in the middle there ...... we did a bit of pruning on that because the branches on it were getting mixed up with the magnolia tree branches.

This is a rosemary bush tree (next to Basil by the Big Shed).  We pruned this a bit as well!

We did quite a bit of pruning.  Cut back some brambles too.

It's been fun coming here - hard work though!

This is a Bramley Apple tree.  Andrea had to look for apples to take home to Mum but there weren't any.

Somebody else might've pinched them though....!

Gosh, there's a lot of work to do here.... Andrea's mum & dad don't think they'll have the energy to start all over again, when Covid's gone.  It's a big Allotment with a ton of weeding to do.

But it's been fun to look around the place and tidy up a few bits....

We cut some of the roses to take home but left this one.....

And then locked up the sheds, got our stuff and said hello and goodbye to Stanley the burner.

Goodbye Allotment.  It was fun to meet you just the once to see what Allotment is!

I hope the Magnolia tree is happy there, even if we didn't see it flower.

Bye

And then it was back the way we came, through the gates....

And back to the main road to get the bus home.

Here we go.....

And we got off here and then a short walk home!

And put the flowers in water straight away - well, we washed paws first, of course!