SUMMER’S LONG GOODBYE

Last few joys of the season. A spectacular day out at Great Dixter at their Autumn Fair buying a last few gems for the garden, a visit to Charlotte Molesworth’s exhibition, packed with paintings, metal sculptures and pots, and a huge bunch of garden flowers. Wonderful how the Michaelmas daisies all carry on despite the weather.

Now I need to stack my wood store with logs, bed the garden down with a snug layer of compost, batten the hatches at the beach hut and dig out some warmer clothes. Buying, preparing and eating food suddenly seems to take up a major part of my time, and it’s not entirely due to a week’s visit from Max, down to finally get his beach buggy on the road (strange timing – but at least it will be ready to go next year). The change of season heralds an increase in appetite, and waistline. I crave rich autumnal tastes.

Am also starting to source goodies for my Open House at Christmas (this year on Sunday December 7th) and have joined forces with a great band of local makers. I shall be taking books to a Christmas Craft Fair Bethersden for the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral on October 16th (email me if you’d like more details), and joining the judges for this year’s batch of entries for Gardening Against the Odds.

Twitter lessons may result in a bit more activity on that front, so do follow me @FrancineHens if you have time.