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Phew, it's hot here in Devon, not that I'm complaining, I love the summer and look forward to it  every year ,after the colder winter months. I live in a small, very small Mid Devon village in the heart of the countryside. We have lived here for 20 years and have grown to love it. However in the past few months we have come to truly appreciate what a privilege it is to have a garden and long country lanes to escape to. I look out at the rolling hills, the high hedges and  green lanes .Devon is a lovely...

Hello again , a lovely sunny Thursday in Mid Devon. It has seemed a blessing and a curse to have such glorious weather throughout this time of isolation. Who knows how we would have felt if it had been grey and dull, I am sure I would have felt much worse. However this sunshine reminds me of sunny days with family and friends, sipping a white wine in a sunny beer garden, messing about on the beach, all things we cannot do just now. A small sacrifice for the greater good, but all added together they make this time seem...

Hi it's Thursday again so it's blog day again, a chance to put down my paintbrush and get my brain cells working. The weather here is still lovely, but as we were warned it is a touch on the chilly side. Time to run around the garden in the evening with a fleece or some old bubble wrap and tuck up my precious bedding plants. I always plant them out too early and hope for the best. However I have resisted planting out my runner beans and courgettes , they are still keeping me company in my studio, twining around...

At the risk of sounding xenophobic there is nothing quite like an British bluebell. We have a rough and wild cottage garden and the Spanish bluebells have taken over.   But a short walk down my lane and I can be surrounded by the  real deal, a bank of deciduous trees and lovely native bluebells.  The sunshine has returned, the Spring is melting into early summer, sitting in my garden i can pretend ( for a while at least ) that the world is normal. I think in reality we are all anxious about what the coming weeks and months will look like.How...

Hi all it's Thursday so it must be time for a new blog. I am sitting in my garden studio looking out on all the weeds growing and seeing all the jobs in the garden I could be doing. But as usual for me painting takes priority , there has been a lot of discussion that during this quieter time, we are all taking more notice of birds, and nature. I think that painting really heightens your sense to colour , the more you paint the more you see of the world around you. I saw my first swallows last...