taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com
Tales from Hazel Cottage: Summer Solstice musings
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2015/06/summer-solstice-musings.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Sunday, 21 June 2015. Today is the longest day of the year, the height of summer light and sunshine. I've already heard the jokes about how we are now heading towards winter, but it isn't quite like that yet. The roses are at their most luscious and fecund. I've brought several into the house today, the red roses are just stunning at the moment. I'm not even sure the pictures show how deep and velvety the red is. Sadly you will have to take my word for it! A swarm of bees! A Spr...
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Tales from Hazel Cottage: Little star and Little brown one
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2015/04/little-star-and-little-brown-one.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Sunday, 12 April 2015. Little star and Little brown one. Now that it's spring, all kinds of birds that visit our garden here at Hazel Cottage are making more noise, and there is no bird noisier than the common starling. We have been watching them closely and we have heard some quite remarkable sounds! I never realised how much they mimic other birds - we heard a bird of prey followed by the quack of a duck today which sounded rather funny. Dunnock in a small hazel sapling. We li...
taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com
Tales from Hazel Cottage: July 2015
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Tales from Hazel Cottage. Friday, 17 July 2015. We termed Wednesday, 'Flying ant day' as hundreds of ants, flying and otherwise were everywhere. I expect it was the same in many other places this far south. The weather has been warm and close for a while, but with not very much rain. Mr C took some pictures of the flying ants. This one is of them mating. Sadly it seems after mating, the drone then dies. We found this one above, inside the house on some roses, but put it back outside. Read All About It!
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Tales from Hazel Cottage: Dales diary...
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Tales from Hazel Cottage. Saturday, 6 June 2015. I'm afraid this blog has been somewhat quiet again of late. For several weeks life has simply got in the way. Last week we went away to the Yorkshire Dales, an utterly beautiful area that I had never seen before. And then, finally when the sun comes out, the effect is quite magical. The artist Turner came to the Dales and painted this lovely place, I like to think he appreciated the wonderful light and gentle wilderness . He stayed at the King's Arms H...
taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com
Tales from Hazel Cottage: January 2015
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Friday, 23 January 2015. I used a River Cottage recipe, which was a whole fruit method. I started with my lovely fragrant seville oranges. I then simmer the oranges in water for an hour or so until they are soft. The pips are taken out and the peel is sliced into small slivers. The peel, sugar and water are added with any juice and slowly brought to the boil whilst stirring until the sugar has dissolved. After a lot of boiling, finally I have twelve jars of marmalade. I've only ...
taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com
Tales from Hazel Cottage: April 2015
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2015_04_01_archive.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Sunday, 12 April 2015. Little star and Little brown one. Now that it's spring, all kinds of birds that visit our garden here at Hazel Cottage are making more noise, and there is no bird noisier than the common starling. We have been watching them closely and we have heard some quite remarkable sounds! I never realised how much they mimic other birds - we heard a bird of prey followed by the quack of a duck today which sounded rather funny. Dunnock in a small hazel sapling. Today...
taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com
Tales from Hazel Cottage: Hedgerow in spring
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2015/05/hedgerow-in-spring.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Monday, 4 May 2015. I always find hedgerows fascinating. When you come across a proper English hedgerow, six foot high and three foot wide, it is a thing of real beauty. We explored such a hedge last weekend in Devon, it was mainly made up of hawthorn, hazel, holly and oak. At this time of year, the trees and shrubs are growing very rapidly, the ferns and bracken are starting to unfurl and a huge number of wild flowers are scattered through the hedge. Some kind of fly. Picture W...
taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com
Tales from Hazel Cottage: September 2014
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Monday, 1 September 2014. We have wanted to make sloe gin for a while now, having tasted how lovely it is when other people make it. We found a great source of sloes the other week and froze several pounds. So this weekend we defrosted a pound of sloes. And it created a strange brew that will sit in our larder for three months before we then strain it and bottle it. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom). Read All About It! The life of an eccentric English booklady. A June Day at Cranborne.
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Tales from Hazel Cottage: December 2014
http://taleshazelcottage.blogspot.com/2014_12_01_archive.html
Tales from Hazel Cottage. Wednesday, 31 December 2014. St Cross to Winchester on New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve, the year is nearly at an end and frost lays heavy on the ground even this far south. Perfect weather for a winter walk from St Cross to Winchester. The ground was hard underfoot as we set out from Five Bridges Road past the farm alongside the River Itchen. The wintry sun sat low in the sky, just warm enough to slowly melt the morning's frost, drip, drip, drip from the skeletal oaks and beeches.
