Things are coming along on the house fine – although every time we visit the builders we have to correct something (too late for all three north facing doors which inexplicably are not quite in the right place…) and today we stopped the downstairs loo being the same size as the study. There seems to be a (healthy?) disregard for the plans which lay abandoned on a large wooden barrel along with some beer bottles.

We did a quick tour of the garden to see how things were coping from the recent deluge and it was lovely to see tiny signs of spring growth on all the fruit trees we have planted, they all seem to be working. But the biggest surprise, nay astonishment, came when I looked under the potato cloche. I have now planted two groups of Jersey Royals (although they can’t legally be called that now), the first lot less than three weeks ago and the second lot last Friday, and the first lot have sprouted – already! In just over 2 weeks! Now I am sure (Richard not) that some of you would like to see the proof so here they are on Feb 5 and then again Feb 24:

Mmm, I can smell them boiling in a pan of minted water already…