A month's gardening... in one day!

My one aim for today was to get our garden, back and front, into order. I had taken part in "No Mow May" but decided that we had to cut the grass this morning as the weather was perfect, and it was very long indeed! I attempted to count the flowers in a one-metre square section of lawn and found we had abundant daisies and one cluster of forget-me-nots. I had been hoping for more, and when I reported my findings, the site came back and said that our garden was below the national average for flowers that feed bees and other pollinators. Oh well! This, of course, didn't take into account the other flowering plants we have - namely, our lavender plants and a lovely blue flower that suddenly appeared by the garage door, and which the bees go mad for - but I was a bit disappointed.

While I cut the lawn, Keith did some bush trimming and was quite restrained! He helped me trim the edges and I turned over the soil in the border by the fence to make it a lot neater.

Work in progress

A well-deserved treat!

As the morning wore on, the cloud burned off, to be replaced with sun and blue skies. It was heavenly and so great to see the garden transformed. I agreed with No Mow May but it was lovely to see the garden looking a lot neater, and the birds seemed to appreciate it as well!

We still need some colour in our borders!

After we'd finished in the back garden, we made our way to the front and tackled the grass verge and the overgrown bushes at the front. It was hotter here and hard work! Again, when we'd finished I was very pleased with our efforts!

I was very relieved that Keith and I were going out for a meal this evening, so all I had to do was have a long soak in the bath, and get ready. After my soak, I lay on the bed and watched the end of Manchester By The Sea, a disturbing, but thought-provoking film.

Before we drove over to The Saracen's Head in Little Brington, we called into our local for a drink. People were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and inside the pub was quiet. It was very pleasant to sit and relax and chat with Ian. This was my first time in the pub since November - really quite hard to believe!

I had booked the table at The Saracen's Head for 7.30pm and we had a glorious drive over. The Northamptonshire countryside was looking its stunning best in the evening sunlight. Everything has bloomed in the last few weeks, with all the rain we've had this month. Sadly, one of our favourite pubs, The Althorp Coaching Inn was still closed, and we've learnt it's up for sale with a price tag of £1.7 million!

When we arrived I was informed, very curtly, that our table had been booked for 6.45pm... absolutely not! I would never book a meal so early! We were shown to our table, and I found the confirmation email saying it was 7.30pm. I made sure to tell a member of staff! 

Keith and I perused the menu and he chose sardines to start, while I opted for asparagus served with hollandaise sauce and a poached egg. Keith was pleased with his first course, but my asparagus was under-cooked (almost to the point of being raw) while my egg was over-cooked...

Our mains consisted of an expensive sirloin steak for Keith and a chicken burger for me. Keith's steak was a bit chewy and certainly not worth the £24 price tag, but I was happy with my burger. You can't really go wrong with that!

We skipped dessert, as we were both full, and emerged into the evening sunshine to drive home. It was only 9pm but we were both tired after our day's exertions!