Donny and Arabella at home

Donny and Arabella very cleverly decided to spend their summer break at the Mount House in Kent with Donnies vibrant, well-mannered and exuberant son Achie. As is usual with the Don-meister food and liberal amounts of drink are the order of the day (every day) and day one when I arrived back from Nice started with a bar-bar-que and champagne. The mould was hence set for continues grazing while lounging in the garden with unbounded hedonism creeping up and taking over. This could be a tough 3 weeks. The nadir for this debilitating period will be the annual summer party in the gardens on the 13th of August. Preperations are well under way with a trip to Calais yesterday to buy champagne and wine.

Brasted Summer

Back from Nice for a long weekend at home in Kent and the English summer was at its best. The garden was looking fantastic with the trees coming into leaf and a real sense that summer is once again on the way. The English summer still surprises me every year. It's as if you forget it exists. After a long cold winter when the first buds of spring burst from the branches it always seems a miracle, as if you didn't believe it was going to happen. The loveiest moment of the year and one that still delights and tantalises of things to come. Granny and Miri helped with the laughter quotient of the weekend with their own particular brand of irreverant conversation.