Insects and Allotments

A gathering of a multitude of flying insects including wasps, bees, hover flies and others I don't know was causing consternation as people thought it was actually a wasp nest, in fact it looked like that until we peered closely. Fortunately an we were lucky enough to get the advice of a friendly entymologist who lives nearby. He told us the insects were all feeding off the sugary excretia of aphids that had been attracted to the willow tree. So we set about spraying with slightly soapy water to disperse the insects safely.
John and Bobby performed a little ceremony to put up the plaque that Bob has carved with the name 'Tom's Field' This was a lovely summers morning.
We went to The Langton Matravers Allotment Association open day on Sunday. Sunshine, bunting tea and cakes in a beautiful setting, rows and rows of beans, cabbages, chard and so on and so on.

Red Arrows

The Red Arrows came to Swanage today to mark the end of carnival week, a fine day but blustery but they put on a fine display. We walked up to Ballard Down and had the planes zooming in from behind us.

Carnival

The carnival procession was excellent and the weather fine and sunny, this took place on Sunday the celebrations having started on Saturday night with fireworks. The big event will be The Red Arrows on Saturday 7th night.

Don't forget, if you come camping , to keep your food in a sturdy container and off the ground as the badgers have been known to rob tasty finds from your tent!

People have been using the herbs on the terrace, these are flourishing more this year although hasn't reached my rather over optimistic description of herb garden that I gave it a couple of years ago!

A reminder, there are some excellent workshops at Burngate Stone Centre just up the road from us.

Camping hits the press

This weekend the Saturday Telegraph did an article on camping and featured Tom's Field!
So here is a link to some great pictures of people enjoying 'the simple pleasures' of camping at Tom's. I do like the iconic picture of the tree on the plateau, loved by many is this particular spot on the site.
Here, too, is a link to a description of the area that appeared in The Observer in 2007. I think it captures the magic of Purbeck.

Also a picture I took this week on the terrace where the herbs are flourishing! The old may tree has died so it is decorated with some solar lanterns and bunting. A great area to sit and enjoy a coffee from the new, and very whizzy, coffee machine.

Next week is carnival week in Swanage, this promises to be even more extra special this year.

Hotting up

Today was so hot, Purbeck to be seen at it's most glorious. I spent the morning on duty at the Purbeck Artist and Stallholders event in Worth Matravers. This will now run each day in the village hall which has been wonderfully decorated with bright pink bunting so not easy to miss!
The ducks were happy in the sparkling water.

As for the campsite we would put out a plea to people to try to come with one vehicle only to prevent it becoming more like a car park. Keep it simple!

Mid summer plus plus

It has been beautifully hot and therefore pretty busy on the site. Jerry Burden and his building team have been busily installing solar panels, This is a progression from the homemade system of hose pipes on the Nissen Hut roof.

The Artist and Stall Holders Event starts next Saturday at the village hall in Worth Matravers, this runs daily for 5 weeks and is an excellent place to stop by at for a coffee , tea or ice cream before or after a walk.

We look forward to all our summer visitors arriving in a couple of weeks and fingers crossed for good weather.

I have been fighting an infestation of blackfly on my runner beans by blasting them with a hose of water or soapy water not that they take much notice.

Catching up

Purbeck Art Week[s] is over, It is quite a long haul needing us to be sitting in on the exhibition for three weekends and two weeks, but we met a great many people and enjoyed it, thank you to all who came to see us, it started very drearily and damp. I visited some studios with a friend early on in Worth Matravers and this is how it looked!

The bluetit family have flown the nest. There were at least 6 and we all had some excellent views of them in the nest before they left and the staff switched the t.v. on to the football to some mixed reactions!!

The site is looking lovely and summery at present , the wild life patch is recovering from being nibbled by rabbits until we covered the poor plants with some netting for the time being