Halloween creates almost as much excitement as Christmas nowadays, for weeks shop windows have been packed with witches, broomsticks, pumpkins and scary masks to tantalise the kids. Our grandchildren and their friends can’t wait to dress up in witches attire and ghoulish rig outs to frighten the life out of their neighbours and extract a [...]

This year we have had our best crop of aubergines ever in the greenhouse. Our Black Pearl and Falcon plants from Vitalis Organic Seeds have produced with a vengeance. Aubergine plants grow to a height of about 2ft and have beautiful grey, g
reen leaves, and pretty purple flowers.
Aubergines are not a vegetable that appeal to [...]

I haven’t been to Wales for so long; I’d forgotten how easy it is to get there. Just throw a few things into the car, pack a picnic and head for Rosslare. The ferry to Fishguard takes three and a half hours, and even
though it’s quite a short time it’s worth considering taking a cabin [...]

September was all about school books, bags and uniforms and trying to find digs. Children were apprehensive and excited, parents usually relieved and comfortable to be back into a routine. For many it’s the most expensive time of the year, the following weeks feel a bit like January where everyone tightens the belt for a [...]

I always had a great fondness for Keith Floyd, the flamboyant TV chef who tore up the script and did it his way. What a breath of fresh air he brought to cookery programs adlibbing instructions to his long suffering TV crew. I first met him in the mid 80s when he bounced into the [...]