Diary Notes From A Slightly Soggy Week

It's been a dismal grey week, until today. Most of the week autumn was lurking just round the corner. We had un-seasonal high winds and quite a lot of rain. The solar thermal panels are not much use without sun so we lit the Rayburn a couple of times for hot water.

On Monday I had a light bulb moment. We have cylinders full of gas for the hob already paid for so if we go back to using a kettle on the gas hob instead of the electric kettle we could save some money, it's not as quick as electric but that doesn't matter. Of course once we are lighting the Rayburn everyday we will use that for the kettle. We have a big Aga kettle that we use on the Rayburn  but decided it would be a good idea to buy a little kettle just for 2 cups. The only tiny kettle in Saxmundham was £6.99 and very lightweight, I was a bit dubious and was proved right - it BURNS the water - honestly - it tastes awful unless used on the smallest gas ring and heated up slowly which was not the point.

 During the week Col has delivered more things that we sold at the yard sale and a couple of bits of machinery that have now been paid for so a little more money for winter.

Today we got the old raspberry canes in the fruit cage cut out and the new canes fixed between the wires, it looks lovely and tidy.

 What else has happened this week?
The ride on mower stopped while Col was cutting the campsite and I had to tow him back round to the workshop. He rang a man to ask about fuses and got instructions to find a hidden one that was soon replaced.

Something ( no idea what and how) hit the bathroom window, smashing a small hole right through. It's double glazed, plastic framed so will need the whole thing replaced - Damn.

I'm waiting for the third thing.

 August Bank Holiday weekend always used to be our busiest weekend on the campsite, but in the last few years, although we've been full with 5 caravans, we haven't had tent campers turning up on the off chance. One year we opened up part of the hay field to give people more room. Now almost everyone books in advance. This year, probably because the holiday is right at the end of the month, we are not even full with caravans.

Not a very exciting week really.

Back Soon
Sue

An Acorn conversation and plum jam

Apart from delivering the other chicken shed, we had a quietish weekend and I spent quite a lot of time enjoying the sunshine that covered our part of the world. The campsite was busy including 7 small children, which was why it was quietish rather than quiet! I sometimes quite fancy the idea of being an Adult Only campsite.

Conversation with two small girls as I went to clean the toilet/shower block..... they are in the washroom...  Me  "what are you two up to?"...... Them "we're washing acorns, 'cos they're all sticky -yuck".... Me " what are you going to do with them when you've washed them?"..... Them " put them down here to dry " - laying them on the mat on the floor...... Me "what are you going to do with them when they're dry?".... Them " put them in our nest!"..... Whereupon they gather up acorns and tell me they are going to get some more to wash. Me" if you want to wash more acorns you can do it in your caravans because I'm now going to do all the cleaning" Them " but this is the washing place!"
No answer to that is there!

Our son came over on Saturday afternoon to get his dad's help with car things and then took Col down the pub to watch the England/France Rugby friendly. I stayed at home and half listened on the radio - a very poor game apart from the last 10 minutes. Col said they were in one room of the pub while an aging             (60+, long hair, big bellies) rock band were warming up in another - glad I stayed at home!

As I thought, the plums are being attacked by wasps and plum moth maggot. Last year I froze a lot  but they didn't seem very nice once defrosted - (They went in pink and sweet and came out brown and sharp) so we are eating them as quick as we can and I made yet more jam, just half a dozen jars. One thing no one could complain about here is lack of choice in the jam cupboard.

Thanks for comments on Saturday. No one need commiserate with me about moving and missing this place as personally I can't wait to be off!

Back soon
Sue

The end of March and the beginning of April

Goodness me, what an expensive month March turned out to be.
 We had a holiday which included several meals out, paid for the cattery bill, bought shoes and clothes for our eldest's wedding, the solar thermal thingy was serviced, electric bill arrived and we paid the campsite/business insurance all in one go instead of month by month over the next year. We managed all this without using a credit card and without dipping into the ISAs. It was done by saving in advance, using money put aside for clothes and  jiggling some money that was available for smallholding expenses and hadn't been used. In both  January and February I underspent on the housekeeping which also helped. One good thing is that our new car ( Hyundai Tucson) uses less than half the diesel of the old Jeep Cherokee.

If you've been reading a while you will know that after several years pet-less, we adopted 2 cats from Cats Protection in February 2014. Polly became friendly straight away but the other one, Mabel, was very shy and disappeared for 6 weeks. She re-appeared but wouldn't come near so  we started feeding her outside and eventually she got friendly enough for us to pick her up, although still she wouldn't come indoors. But a few weeks ago we got the cat flaps sorted out on the two front doors so Polly could go in and out and we now find Mabel coming in for the night and sometimes during the day too, one day she made herself comfy on the old settee in the conservatory. The cats avoid each other and sometimes hiss, which is strange considering when we first saw them they were curled up together in a basket in a Cats Protection pen. I hope they eventually become friends again. Cats are funny things.

So, what's been happening here apart from cat watching?

  I've done a bit of card making

And some baking for Easter treats

 Easter biscuits, a chocolate cake and hot cross-less buns. I'm afraid I can never be bothered with the faff of flour, water and a piping bag to put a cross on top. I've added  the Easter recipes onto the separate page.

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A hat for the wedding, arrived via eBay, I look hilarious in a hat, but needs must!

Seedlings and small plants in the conservatory are coming along nicely.

  Tomatoes, Peppers, Parsley, Aubergines, Basil, Cucumbers, French climbing beans, Nasturtium. Tomatillos, Kale and Chard. Still to appear are courgettes.

 We have frogspawn in the old sink pond

The First campsite visitors of the season arrived on the 1st. I like the start of the holiday season and welcoming new people to the site, although by October and 7 months of interrupted mealtimes and toilet cleaning I know I will be glad to close the gates again! We had 3 caravans, 1 motor-home and a tent on site for the weekend which started with a really grey and misty Good Friday and an equally grey misty morning today, when I was the only person up and outside not long after 7am.

Then when it was just about too late to do anything useful, the sun came out and for an hour or so it felt a bit warmer. The forecast is for temperatures rising over the next week, hope they are right as I'm heartily fed up with the cold winds off the sea.

Did anyone else watch the Eurovision Song Contest thingy last night? It's celebrating being the same age as me and was brilliant to see so many winners from the past - mostly sounding just as awful as they did at the time. Graham Norton has grown a beard - I'm sure it makes him look like someone else but can't think who.

And last but not least welcome to Patricia and Susan who are new followers on Bloglovin'. Hope you enjoy my diary from a quiet life near the Suffolk coast.

Back in a few days
Sue 

March Winds

Well, March really did come in like a lion with some rough weather overnight between Saturday and Sunday and strong bitterly cold winds ever since. One gust on Monday blew over a wheelie bin, a small tree in a pot, a wheelbarrow and an empty water butt all at once - I wondered what on earth was happening!

We celebrated the start of March with our once a year trip up the A12 to the Car Boot sale at Kessingland. (We have to wait 'til Easter for our local car boots to start ). Usually this boot sale is huge but there were hardly any boots there. I bought nothing but Col got a big bundle of sandpaper sheets for 50p. After checking our March shopping list on My Supermarket comparison site I found Asda had several of the things we needed cheaper than anywhere else, so after a walk along the sand on Lowestoft beach we shopped there and saved several £ over Tesco prices. 

My favourite March weather saying is " March- month of many weathers". You never quite know what it will be like, there are bound to be a few days that say spring is here yet on the other hand we could still get some snow. My mum always used to tell us about the March day she got married  back in the fifties when they had everything - snow, hail, rain and sunshine too. Does nature know that we might have snow? The reason I ask is outside in the garden things are just so slow this year. Thankfully the seedlings in the conservatory are doing well except for the blasted peppers, three sowings and only 6 germinated! I've got  50+ tomato ( 4 different sorts) seedlings and 8 Aubergines. I'm hanging fire with cucumbers until later in the month. Col has sown beetroot, lettuce, salad leaves and radish in the poly tunnel and these are the first beetroot harvested this year from the late summer sowing in the poly.

and look what else was spied in the poly-tunnel.............

our bargain strawberry plants in the bargain grow bags, and the first one on flower. ( There's no sign of flowers on any of the other plants so it will be a very small early harvest!)


 This is one of 4 items  found in the jumble sale we went to on the last day of February. Lucky for me that someone bought a new hardback book in 2014 for £16.99 and then put it into a jumble sale, where I came along and found it for 50p.  This book isn't part of his Isle of Lewis crime series but a stand alone novel which I didn't know about. It kept me glued to it through the first few days of March.

( All the books I have read so far this year are listed on a separate page - click on Books Read in 2015 on the header picture)

One of my first March jobs was to sort the chest freezers and squash everything into one. The other is defrosted, cleaned and turned off until fruit growing season. We have also tackled the campsite recreation room/library, it's had a dusting and been swept out and books put back on shelves. I'm waiting for the company that supplies tourist leaflets to email with this years list of what's available. There are just a few jobs to do before we re-open, dustbins to go outside, signs to go up, the toilets/basins to have another wipe-down and loo rolls added. We have 3 bookings for Easter weekend already. Fingers crossed for not too much rain between now and then.

Tuesday was shopping in Saxmundham - nothing exciting - just the stuff that Asda didn't have or things that are cheaper in Tesco. I went in a bit later than usual so as to go to the library which doesn't open until 10. I found another of the books that the British Library have recently published in the British Crime Classics Series and........ great excitement ...........for 30p, off the For Sale shelf a copy of Paths Of The Air by Alys Clare to add to my collection. ( 2 books have been moved to the car boot boxes to make up for this extravagance!)

We always know when our neighbour is away because when her bird feeders don't get filled, all the blue tits and great tits come over to ours. Col hung all the feeders in one place and sat for ages trying to get a good picture ( that man has too much time on his hands!) My camera doesn't really do it justice.

One of the things we definitely decided after Col's  hardly-a-heart-attack last October was to stop keeping hundreds of chickens. Cleaning out 3 big sheds was quite hard work. So on Tuesday, after a friend had the some of the oldest ones we just have one shed of hens left.  Col's job  was to clear up the electric fence and all the other bits and tow the shed down the field ready to be cleared out, pressure washed and then probably sold. There are still so many things about the future that we need to decide - the big one being do we stay here and see how we get on with just the campsite  and a few other bits of income or do we move to somewhere smaller and also buy another small house or flat  to rent out for an income. The best time to try and sell would be during spring/summer, but this year or next? ( I did a couple of posts about this last year and we are no further forward than we were then!)

We will just keep thinking about it for a while longer.


 Welcome to a new follower on Google Friends - DebShireGardener who has a blog called Rustic Pumpkin's garden in the shire and also welcome to Debbie on Bloglovin'.

The weather is supposed to be a bit warmer by the weekend, I hope it is.
Back in a few days
Sue

It's not about the money

A couple of years ago a small campsite like ours opened in Leiston. Then early last spring when all the men were working at Sizewell Power Station they took in more than their allowance of 5 caravans and let them stay for more than their allowed 3 weeks. This upset a neighbour, who had been against their campsite opening right from the start. Which is when some of the men came to stay here on our site. We found it a handy income but a bit of a hassle as the men didn't know when they were moving to work at another power station and often went off for the weekend without telling us, leaving their caravans on site - also something that is not really allowed.
The campsite in Leiston decided they could make more money if they changed to a Listed site which allows more caravans and they don't have to be members of the Camping and Caravanning Club either.  A few months ago we had phone calls from Sizewell workers wanting to stay here, but after last year we decided we wouldn't allow any more to come and suggested the site in Leiston which is where they went. But they are not allowed to stay there for more than 60 days, so last night we had a phone call from the campsite owner asking if we could take in a couple of caravans for a while.
They couldn't understand when we said No. Especially as they are charging the men more than we charge here and we could have charged them the same higher amount. We decided we are busy enough with proper holiday visitors and we didn't need all that fiddling about with men coming and going and not knowing what they are doing.

We lost a family group booking for a 70th Birthday this weekend because when the number of people wanting to come increased, I refused to let more than 5 caravans onto the site. The man told me I was turning down more than £350. They cancelled their booking and went elsewhere to a site willing to take a bigger group. I was left with just one caravan booked in. As it happens we had phone calls during the week and will have 5 caravans/motorhomes here anyway.

Some one we know who we thought was a friend told me last year that the only reason I was friendly towards the campsite visitors was because they were paying me!

Some people don't seem to understand that everything is not about money.

Thank you everyone for comments yesterday

Back Tomorrow
Sue

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE DOGS INTO THE SHOWER!

That's what it says on the new sign  I've just made for the campsite.

Yesterday I had just got started on bread making when I looked up to see a large brown dog bounding into the garden from the campsite. I was a bit concerned as I knew Polly ( our small black cat) had just gone outside and I had no idea what reaction she would have to a dog in the garden.
So I went out and ushered it back onto the campsite expecting to see someone coming from the tent to find out where their dog was.
No sign of anyone.
I called out to say one of their dogs was running around
No reply
I walked right up to the tent and said a bit more loudly
"Did you know one of your dogs is running about the field".
Eventually a sleepy lady emerged  and said " sorry, I was asleep, I thought my husband was looking after the dogs"
No sign of husband or other dog.

I later found out that he had taken their other small dog INTO THE SHOWER WITH HIM! and thought the big dog was safely inside the tent.
Honestly, you couldn't make it up.
Or maybe it's normal to take dogs into the shower on other campsites?


Many Thanks for comments yesterday, I keep forgetting that not everyone shares our sort of Suffolk humour!

An Inspector calls........... eventually.

The Camping and Caravanning Club site inspector was due today at 11.00am. By 11.45 there was still no sign of him so as he had left his mobile number I rang him to find out if we had written down the wrong day. No, he had just been held up and then got lost. I said it was usual for people to call if they were running late. He said he supposed he could have done. Eventually they arrived at 12.30. His excuse was that his Sat Nav had gone wrong and he had followed it to Stowmarket ( which is a town in Mid Suffolk  30 miles away).
There was just nothing I could say without being rude!

Cash in today for three more IBC containers - Handy.
C. delivered two and came back via our friends to collect the picture he had framed for me and some cultivated blackberry runners. You would think that living in the country there would be blackberries everywhere, but last year we had none anywhere close. The hedges are all cut back and the brambles had all been cleared from under the pylons too, and with the dry weather we didn't get to pick any.
He brought home four large clumps and we've put them in a place where they can grow and hopefully not be in the way. C will put up some post and wires later to train them on.

While it was gloomy and wet I got the other two poly-tunnels weeded. We've lost two cucumber plants - something has attacked them at soil level. This is really annoying as the seeds are very expensive and it's getting a bit late to start again, perhaps we'll be able to find some plants at a car boot, although not tomorrow - the weather forecast is not good so it's unlikely the sale will take place. In the other tunnel a couple of pepper plants are looking sad.

We will be watching the Eurovision Song Contest tonight - I don't know why, I doubt UK will get many points, but as it's been on every year for as long as I can remember it's become a bit of a tradition to watch..........and then to go to bed when the voting goes on for so long that we start to fall asleep!

Thank you to everyone for yesterdays  comments about living without a salary. It's Just a case of getting rid of all debts including the mortgage, saving some money for back up and having a way to earn some income that doesn't involve going out to work. Simples! :-)

Back Tomorrow
Sue

We have rain + Campsite info

After more than a month without, we have had some good steady rain today. It will fill up the water butts and seep a good inch or more into the soil.
I made bread and did the ironing ( and all the egg stuff of course) and C spent a short while tidying his workshop ( He needs about three days in there really!), sorted out some bits to mend the broken poly tunnel frame, cut some wood and, in a dry spell, fixed the broken post in the fruit cage so that we can get the net over the top soon.

When people have asked about our campsite via this blog, I've always referred them to our site number in The Camping and Caravanning Club Big Sites Book or on the C&CC website, then yesterday I thought I'd better check that searching via our site number on the web site actually works.Whoops......it doesn't! So I've added a sort of link to the top right of the blog where the address can be copied and will take you straight to the page. One of the Clubs new rules is to stop us advertising our site anywhere other than via the Club book or website so I hope this doesn't break their new rule. ( Ya Boo Sucks to them if it does!)
The C&CC Big Sites book is sent to members of the club every two years and all the bumf for renewing our entry in it arrived in the post the other day. Although we can get a free entry, it is very basic, allowing no extra wording to inform people of whats around about in the area. So I've always paid about £40 to have up to 20 extra words. They've now increased this to £180!! Telling us how many more people we will get to our site if we pay the extra. ( How do they know?) There is even a more expensive package for £345!! I certainly can't afford that. That would seriously erode the profits.

Working out how to say everything in 20 words for the book is difficult. I came up with

Rural location.Good for birdwatching.RSPB Minsmere 5m.On Suffolk Coastal cycle route.Circular walks nearby. Tourist information available.

 However this "enhanced package" allows an extra 150 word on the website. Somehow writing 150 words about our campsite is even harder. I shall need to work on this.

Thank you for all the interesting comments yesterday.
The Weaver of Grass ( sorry I keep forgetting your name which I've seen mentioned somewhere) said that on a new campsite near her farm the owner makes scones for new arrivals. In theory this sounds lovely but here in practice it would be jolly hard work! Sometimes people arrive at  midday, others arrive late evening and some days there are 3 or 4 caravans arriving, sometimes all at once!
Our friend has a holiday cottage on her farm and when they first opened she started baking a sponge for new arrivals. Then people mentioned this in the visitors book and now she feels she has to bake every time, and whereas when they first opened they had weeks empty between visitors, now they have someone there every week. Worst of all is that sometimes she finds the cake in the bin when she clears up the cottage between visitors. People are odd!
Sue at Our New Life in the Country said that on a site near her the owner is going to use shepherd huts  in place of some caravans. The Camping and Caravanning Club have varied the rules so that small Certificated Site owners like us can have shepherd huts or movable pods that can be put on and off the site for visitors to use instead of them bringing their own caravans or tents. Seems like a lot of extra work to me and the cost of these huts or pods is VERY EXPENSIVE! We won't be doing that. I've got enough cleaning to do without cleaning a shepherds hut or camping pod!

I hope what most people want is a friendly welcome, quiet, tidy campsite with short grass, clean loos,  and rubbish bins emptied. That's what we aim for here.

Getting ship shape

I prefer not to leave things until the last moment so, even though there are a couple of weeks before the campsite opens, we have got the recreation/information room sorted. It had been used for storing the wood and roofing for the new toilets ( and for my new shed  ). We shifted the left-overs elsewhere, put the dustbins outside, brushed the cobwebs and swept out the dust.Then I sorted and chucked all the out of date tourist leaflets. Once it was easy to get new leaflets each year, but then the Norfolk based company were taken over and now they have very few leaflets for attractions in Suffolk. Some are on order but I'll have to visit a few places to get them direct. I've got 4 shelves of books for people to borrow, swap or buy, so they were unpacked from store. Darts and chalk ready for the dartboard, the child size  football table was cleaned,  seats and table dusted. Sorted.

I've had a look in the toilets and shower and the main thing to do there is to sweep out all the leaves that have blown in under the doors. I'll leave that for nearer the time.Then I brought all the loo brushes and holders in and dunked them in a sink full of hot water, washing up liquid and a bit of bleach and gave the shower curtain a wash. Another mornings work and we will be ready. Plus I must remember to order two more paper towel holders for the new loos.

Him Outside went off with tractor and trailer to fetch a load of top soil from our farmer friend. He used some to level all round the new gents loo shed, some to level the place where the trench is and then chucked some grass seed down and  finally more soil was used to fill up the back of the beds in the big poly tunnel.

Onion sets  arrived today. I order heat treated ones because in the past we had a lot of problems with an onion virus. Planting them is a long back-breaking job which I'm not looking forward to.

We've still got several cooking apples stored in a box in the shed ( as well as some in the freezer) so, to make a change from crumbles and pies, I made an apple meringue pie for dinner. We will certainly have enough until the next apple season.

The weather changed from warm and sunny this morning to cold and windy this afternoon and the forecast is for a chilly weekend. Oh dear, that's not good news for the apricot blossom.

Thanks to everyone for comments yesterday, I'm glad to have given a few people an idea for another book to look out for and welcome to a new follower - Susan- on Google friends and to Claire, Clare, Helen and Barbara via Bloglovin.

Back Tomorrow

Planting Willow Slips on a Sunny Sunday

It was such a lovely morning that we were outside working by 8.15.
All along one side of the caravan area on the campsite  we've planted a row of willow slips. Him Outside brought them home from the pond clearance work he did at our neighbours last week. Hopefully they will grow into a good sized hedge just like some we pushed into the ground many years ago.You can see how big they are along the fence line in the background. They were also freebies.
Along another side of the site we have a row of young trees all of which were raised from seedlings that I've found around the smallholding. Today we filled in some gaps with a couple more young trees that have been growing in pots for a couple of years.

I've also got the strawberry bed weeding finished, we've lost about half a dozen young plants over the wet winter.

Him Outside went off with the trailer at 11.00 to collect a workbench from Saxmundham for the second home owner who owns the house up the road from us . He came back with a £10 note - every little helps!
Which reminds me that this weekend is the second anniversary of Him being self employed after deciding that the County Council Bridge Inspection job had changed so much that he didn't want to carry on after his 55th birthday.
We had no idea if we could earn enough to live "in the manner to which we had been accustomed"! but as we had always been frugal it has been easier than we thought.

Look at what the temperature got to this afternoon................17.5 degrees C. This is a new thermometer that I got him (us) for Christmas. It sticks on the outside of the kitchen window. Hopefully it will last longer than a year which is all  the last two that we've had have managed. One was a dial  which got water in and the second went do-lally as soon as the sun shone on it. ( we thought we had put it in the shade of the shed roof).

It was so warm that I changed into shorts and sat in the conservatory for half an hour.

I hope you Sunday was sunny and warm too

Back tomorrow

Windy weather on the way

Goodness me, now up to 76 followers. Welcome to you, and I haven't even checked the bloglovin bit to see if there is any one new there.
I'm very bad at remembering to say " Thank you" to people who have commented. I sometimes don't find comments on old blogs until several days later. - Hopeless! It's because I'm always in such a rush to do a new blog.

We were watching the weather forecast which is predicting a change to  much colder weather with strong North winds here from Thursday. So it seemed a good idea to get the best of the cooking apples off the smaller of our two Bramley trees and into a box.  I've wrapped them individually in newspaper and put into a good solid cardboard box. Then I found a flower pot carrying  tray to fit tight over the top. When it gets colder we will wrap an old sleeping bag around the box. They usually last pretty well like this right into February. We've sold all the apples off the big Bramley already and all the decent windfalls are in the kitchen or shed waiting for me to get them into the freezer. There are still quite a lot  to sell from the smaller tree.

Him Outside has been turning a small, cheap, wooden, livestock trailer, bought off ebay, into a moveable chicken shed for our newest 24 hens. Bodging something together with bits of wood is his favourite sort of job. At the moment the young hens are still in half of the hay shed but we want to get them out onto grass as soon as possible. The plan was to get rid of the very oldest hens but as they are still laying a few eggs we will hang onto them a bit longer.

We still have a few visitors coming and going on the campsite which is unusual for October. Sometimes we go dead quiet after August Bank holiday but September was good this year. I do begin to get a bid fed up of looking after the toilets and bins, and will be glad when it's all over for another year.

Not a lot of interesting news today.
Back tomorrow.

The new patio = threequarters done

When we had the conservatory built several years ago we just put down some old paving slabs by the door because we knew that sometime in the future we were going to have to re-do the paths after having the kitchen extension built. So now at last it was time to sort the patio out. We have lots of reclaimed paving stones, Him Outside had enough energy back to lay them and to load the cement mixer, the forecast was good and I was general dogsbody shifting stuff.
Of course the best laid plans never go exactly right here. We ran short of stones because some were more damaged than we thought and the underlying concrete which was done in a hurry was a bit too high in places. So it's three quarters done and now someone has to sort through a giant rubble heap to find some more usable stones, and take some edges off other stones that are a bit too wide.

But by 3o'clock we had both done enough for one day.

Thank you to Buttercup, Pam, Fran and Morgan for comments left  yesterday. It seems that several people may try the sweetcorn relish so I hope it works out OK. Also a special welcome to another follower ' A Suffolk Girl'. I love finding out about other Suffolk bloggers.

Still no sign of the Sizewell men who were supposed to be coming to the campsite yesterday but we have had a booking for the first weekend in October. It looks as if we may have an empty site after this weekend which will be the first time since early June. So completely different to 2012 when we had more nights empty than we had visitors, thanks to the awful weather and the Olympics.

Slaving over a hot jam pan

The weather today has certainly warmed up and it was a bit too hot in the kitchen when I made the Greengage Jam turning these

into this

According to an old jam making book if you want greengage jam to stay green you need to use a copper jam pan, but as mine is stainless steel it went the same colour that plum jam always is. Shame really but I know it will taste OK.

I went to cut the cauliflower for dinner tonight and found there were 3 ready so 2 went out on the stall along with more small pumpkins, squash, greengages and plums and everything sold very quickly. We've finished selling tomatoes, cucumbers and runner beans. Next will be cooking apples. It is all so different to last year when there was not a single bit of tree fruit to sell.

Early in the year we had a caravan on the site belonging to men working at Sizewell Power Station where they were putting up security fencing. Today one of them called in and asked if they could come back on Monday for 3 weeks. They've been working elsewhere all summer but are now back to do more at Sizewell. That will be a handy bit of unexpected income. All bodes well for saving for the winter months when regular income will be down to just the egg money and some for hay.

I managed to 'forget' the ironing again today, so I MUST get it done tomorrow!

September Saturday

Lots of rain during the night, more than we have had for three and a half months and still raining through the early part of the morning. So we decided it was just right for getting in the poly tunnels and having a good sort out. Weeds were removed and tipped in the chicken run, loads of dead leaves from tomato plants were put on the trailer for burning and all sorts of other bits were added to the compost bin. A bucket full of squishy or damaged tomatoes will be fed to the new chickens over the next few days. So a really good mornings work.

I had a cancellation from people due on the campsite - put off by the weather forecast and a campervan booked in for three nights decided just to pay for one and then go home - again due to the weather. There is a caravan due to arrive tomorrow for a week, I'm now wondering if they too will cancel.

Looking through new posts on my regular blog reading list I saw Frugal Queen had one titled" What have you done financially lately?". She has suggested that everyone takes a look at 10 areas of spending and tries to reduce them.
 It  made me smile when I realised that there was really nothing in her list that had any relevance to us at all. Her ideas were
1. Check you mobile phone contract.  WE HAVE PAY AS YOU GO = £10  now and again
2.Paying for watching dozens of TV channels? NO
3.Make sure you get points for petrol. THIS IS ONLY RELEVANT IF YOU LIVE SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU HAVE THAT CHOICE.
4.Don't spend supermarket rewards on food, swap them for other things. THIS IS ONLY RELEVANT IF YOU HAVE LOTS AND ACTUALLY NEED CLOTHES, AIR MILES ETC
5.Share transport to work. WE WORK AT HOME
6.Sell surplus stuff on ebay. TRY NOT TO BUY SURPLUS STUFF IN THE FIRST PLACE
7. Cut car costs by finding a reliable garage.TRY TO DO REPAIRS AND SERVICING AT HOME
8.Swap Energy companies.FEW ARE INTERESTED IF YOU ARE NOT DUEL FUEL. FREE WOOD ANYWAY!
9.Pay off credit card debts. WE DON'T HAVE ANY DEBT.
10.Stock-take food cupboards.I ALREADY  KNOW WHAT'S THERE.

Just confirms what I thought. We ARE frugal! I'm a  Smug B****r too!
   
WE DON'T GO OUT TO WORK

From summer to winter in 5 days

Thank you to Sft.,Sadie, Pam in Tydd, Karen, Attila and another Pam at Winkle Crazy Ideas for comments yesterday. I seem to be failing dismally on the replying front and have hardly left comments on anyone elses blog for days, time seems so short at the moment.
It seems everyone liked the chicken tea-pot cosy which was a present from our eldest several years ago and too nice to keep in a drawer.

  I've been saying all summer we are in the driest part of the country but today a bank of cloud has sat across East Anglia and we have had rain, although not as much as predicted. What we have had though is strong winds and a drop in temperature down to Blinkin' Cold! It is hard to believe that last Thursday we went and sat on the beach. Today its back into trousers and cardi.We lit the wood burner yesterday evening and will again tonight and the Rayburn was lit for hot water.

I've had a couple of  days of tidying, cleaning and odd jobs which has got lots of things sorted so tomorrow I'm going to have a go at Beetroot and Ginger chutney which was on someones blog a few weeks ago ( As usual I've forgotten who it was - hopeless- sorry!).
Apart from the cooking plum tree and the eating plum tree we also have a couple of old greengage trees in the hedge right up the top of the field. They only have a crop about every 4th year and this is one of those years so I'm planning to do greengage jam on Friday.

Not a lot of excitement here again today although I had to turn away a campervan who arrived without a booking because we already have our allocation of the 5 vans we are allowed. I think we have never before in 18 years had 5 vans on site on a mid week night in September.  Our income this year has certainly made up for last years wet weather disaster.

Now a special plea to Buttercup. Sorry I only found your reply re the Penny Pincher letter yesterday. We do our letters by post so you wouldn't need to be too computer literate. Some of us type and some of us write by hand. Now how do we get in touch?
Does anyone know Buttercup? Does anyone know how people contact each other not on public view? How do I find out if anyone has emailed me on my google mail- I can't seem to work it out? HELP!

New Tricks on soon, must do some reading first.
Back tomorrow

The last day of summer?

No holiday for us this year and not many days out so when the weatherman said it would be all change on Friday we decided to make the most of what might be the last hot day and have a few hours on a beach.(Despite living 4 miles from the sea we rarely sit on a beach)

Instead of just popping down the road to the shingle beach at Aldeburgh I decided I wanted to see some sand for a change so suggested a trip out to Felixstowe - a place I spent a lot of time at in my teens, but somewhere we don't go to very often now.This also meant we could come home via Sainsburys in Ipswich and pick up some value bacon bits. So we packed  lunch in the cold box and our chairs ( and my book of course) and off we headed.
Lovely sunshine, a nice little breeze and it was a treat just to sit for a while and listen to the waves swishing.

A good look around Sainsburys resulted in some yellow sticker pork chops and pork slices and several of their value range including pepperoni for pizzas, salmon bits to have in a sauce with pasta and of course the bacon. We may not be at that end of Ipswich again for months so I got 4 packs of bacon which after opening and sorting gave me 7 bags of bacon rashers and bits - 1/2 lb in a bag and 6 bacon chops. Then Him Outside found engine oil with a huge discount of  4L for £4.79.

It was all go when we got home as 1 caravan( pre booked regular visitor) had arrived, another small motorhome turned up without a booking and another motorhome who had been here yesterday had come back for another night. Then there was a message on the phone for another visitor for Saturday.
Washing to get in, eggs to collect and sort, campsite toilets to check and clean, dustbins to empty, and of course the bacon and other stuff  to sort out and put away.

Just need to finish the book now before the library van tomorrow.
Book Photo tomorrow folks!

Naan Bread Recipe and Campers I remember - for various reasons!

Well, I still haven't finished the post about how we budget so instead I shall share with you my Naan Bread recipe which I made today.

Naan Bread
1lb strong white bread flour
1 level tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp instant yeast ( I use Doves)
half tsp. salt
1 tsp sugar
Just over third of a pint tepid milk
1 egg beaten
2 tablespoons cooking oil
(We like plain ones but you could add coriander and garlic if you prefer)

Mix all the dry ingredients together, make a well in the centre and stir in all the wet ingredients.
Mix well and then knead well for 10 minutes.

 Put in an oiled bowl and cover and leave to rise, until doubled in size.
Knead again and divide into 8 pieces if you want big Naans. I make 12 smaller ones.

 Put onto 3 oiled baking sheets and leave for another hour or so to rise a bit.

Pre-heat grill to very hot
Prick each naan with a fork a few times, then sprinkle a little water on each naan on the first tray.
Place under the hot grill for about 2 minutes until golden, turn over prick and sprinkle again.
Shove under grill again usually less than 2 minutes until golden brown again. WATCH THEM!
They burn quickly if you take your eyes off them.
Repeat with second and third trays.
Leave to cool

 Freeze. Reheat in microwave when you want or under the grill for a few seconds.


The reason for mentioning campers I remember, is because the other day Gill at Frugal in Derbyshire had a picture of her Damson Tree on her blog and I commented that I had had a Know-it-all type camper here over bank holiday who had pointed to our Damson and said" Your Victoria Plum Tree looks as if they are ready ". I said " It's more of a damson type plum and they are still quite hard and solid as yet". He said " I'm sure it's a Victoria Plum as we have one near us at home". I wasn't going to argue so I just said Oh Right. There is no telling some people!

This is our very old Damson type tree

 They are sharp and not very nice even cooked, nothing like the lovely plum beside it which I had on yesterdays blog, which probably is a Victoria.

This damson/victoria discussion happened on the campers first day here, and I wasn't at all surprised when he came back to the door several times over the 5 days they were here. The first time he said" what's the best time to come to the door with enquiries?" I wasn't really sure what enquiries he meant as he had already asked me dozens of questions when he arrived. I don't mind answering questions about everything around but he didn't seem to listen to anything I said anyway!

This reminded me of some of the other odd things that have happened in our 20 years of owning a campsite.

There was the man who came running across the camp site to me in a panic when we were having the hay field cut many years ago. He was horrified we were having the field cut in case something flew up and hit his caravan. As he was several yards away from the hay field I didn't think there would be a problem. But he argued for several minutes that it was stupid of us to have the field cut when we had caravans on the adjoining bit.We planted a hedge between the two fields after that, just in case he ever came back!

Then the people whose car alarm went off early one morning and nothing they could do to stop it. It was so loud and the man didn't even know how to open the bonnet of the car. Very odd.

Years and years ago we had some people who would come every year to camp while they went sailing at Aldeburgh. But everyday there would be a line of huge knickers hanging up to dry. Did she really fall in that often and why did she have such huge knickers?

Several years ago, before we had hook ups, a small campervan pulled in to ask about the site. I spent several minutes answering questions about everything and then said it was £3 a night per person. Which was all we charged back then. The man said that was fine and started up to drive in but his wife suddenly shouted at him that £6 was |FAR TOO MUCH and they would find somewhere cheaper. He gave me a look of despair and put the van into reverse to back out again, without saying another word, they had gone.

An elderly couple used to come regularly, but every time they came they would want to borrow a ladder or some tools for mending the caravan. Him Outside was a bit worried about this old boy going up a ladder so it always ended up with HO doing the job for them instead.

About 5 years ago I was in the shed milking the goats at about quarter to seven in the morning when I was amazed to hear two caravans pull in. They had booked but I wasn't expecting them THAT early. We had other caravans on site so I quietly explained where they could pitch and said I was surprised to see them that early. One of the men said they had come down from a site in Norfolk and wanted to avoid the traffic around Norwich. Whatever had the campers thought on the site in Norfolk when they packed up and went at about 4 o'clock? The trouble was they didn't just pitch and settle down quietly. They started putting up awnings, rattling all the poles and shouting across to each other. You should have seen their faces when I went out and told them to be quiet and have some consideration for other people. I'm sure they had never been told off before!

A while back someone came to the door and said they were a bit worried because a man on the campsite was trying to fly a kite. Now normally this wouldn't be a problem on a campsite but we have the Very High Voltage wires not far away so kite flying is a definite No, obvious to most people with a bit of common sense.  So I went out and explained that kite flying was really not sensible.He was another who seemed surprised to have someone tell him he couldn't do something. Eventually he agreed that it would be more sensible to take the kite down to the beach ( only a few miles away). But as I walked away he and his wife started having a huge shouting match, with her saying "I told you not to " and him shouting back that he wouldn't be told what to do and then the son started yelling at them to stop fighting. I crept away quickly!

Thank goodness the majority of people who come are just nice normal holiday makers and we haven't had anything very odd for quite a while.

Getting some work done

After 3 lazy days when the minimum of work was done, it was time to get back to normal.  So I started the day by doing some baking. I made a big batch of currant shortcakes mainly for putting in the freezer for Him Outside.

 SHORTCAKES
8oz SR Flour
4oz Butter
4oz Caster Sugar
3oz currants
1 egg
Egg  for brushing on and caster sugar for sprinkling.

Rub fat into flour stir in sugar and currants, mix in egg.
Roll out as thin as the currants will let you. Cut into squares, oblongs, whatever.
Put on greased baking sheets. Brush with a little beaten egg and then sprinkle just a little sugar.
Bake in medium not TOO hot oven for 10 - 15 minutes until golden. Watch them to make sure the currants don't burn. Leave for just a couple of minutes to cool then use a fish slice to move onto cooling racks.

I also did a plain sponge in square tins. This will also go in the freezer either to be used as a sponge cake or cut into fingers to use  for trifle bases.

My other bake was a packet of the carrot cake mix that came from approved foods when I got the Bread Flour.( Did anyone else take advantage of that offer. I still can't believe I have 12kg of flour in the cupboard for £2 !)
I NEVER usually buy cake mixes but carrot cake is one of my favourites that I don't bother to make very often. So when I saw 4 packs for £1, I thought they were worth a try. They are actually very nice. I was puzzled by the smell of the packet of icing mix - bad feet! It turns out the icing has cheese powder in it to imitate the cream cheese that would normally be used to ice carrot cake. I wondered whether to use it but decided to give it a go and used a few drops of lemon juice to add a tang and that turned out OK too.

I am not converted to ready made cake mixes as I'm not keen on the list of weird ingredients on the packet. But I'm hoping that as a one off ( 4 times!) they will not do me any harm.

After baking it was back to the fruit cage to do some more pruning of raspberry canes. Summer fruiting raspberries have to have all the canes that fruited this year cut out at ground level and the new growth of canes that will fruit next year are gently bent to go up between the wires to hold them in
place. I managed to get to the end of one whole row. So just one more left to do.

While I was baking and it was still foggy outside Him Outside did the downstairs hoovering for me ( he is getting quite handy with the hoover, since he has been helping indoors more so that I can help  him outside with more jobs ) Then he got  busy clearing a veg bed that had finished, covering with compost and turning it in with the rotavator, and finished off the day by transplanting some lettuce plants.

We had three caravans leaving and 3 new ones arriving so quite a busy day on the campsite. By this time next week we will be empty for the first time for months. The September diary is very quiet although we might have a group of teenagers and their teachers coming here while doing their Duke of Edinburgh award.

We had a Once-a-Year dinner tonight!

Pasta, Aubergine and cheese bake.
 For 2 people
1 Large Aubergine or two small.
3oz Pasta penne
3 Tablespoons Tomato Puree in third pint hot water
4oz grated mature cheddar
Salt & Pepper

Cook pasta as usual
Slice aubergine fairly thin and fry in olive oil ( I use rapeseed oil) until browned.
Layer aubergines, pasta, puree mix in a baking dish, with a little cheese, salt and good twist of pepper
Save most of cheese for putting over the top.
Bake for 25 minutes in hottish oven.

Forgot to take picture until we had started eating, so this looks a bit messy but tasted lovely

 The reason we only have this once a year is because it is a bit greasy as the aubergines absorb a lot of oil. Also aubergines are not something I buy as we try to eat only our own vegetables most of the time, so we can only eat this if we've grown them in the first place! Which we did this year and have a good crop mainly to sell or we also roast them in a mixed vegetable roast.

Tonight we will be watching New Tricks. We only "found" this programme about 2 series ago and have no idea why we didn't watch it in the earlier series. I'm interested to see how Nicholas Lyndhurst fits in as he is much younger than the other actors in it. There's also a repeat of Only Connect on in a minute - good brain testing quiz.
Better go and put the TV on and the kettle too I think.

A mini spree at Craft Creations

In the post this morning a £10 gift voucher from CRAFT CREATIONS and the return of my card that I had sent in for a competition ( didn't win a prize) but because it was featured on the Readers Gallery pages I get the voucher. Brilliant.

As you can see it is just a very simple card and that's the really good thing about Craft Creations they cater for people making very complicated paper crafted cards and for un-adventurous  people like me who just do basic stuff.
 I shall use my voucher to get some of their new 3D decoupage sheets and creative papers of birds to use for card making for men - always the hardest to find ideas for. I haven't done any card making for months but will get going on cross stitch and paper crafted cards in the Autumn.

After a  weekend which was full of visitors and too much eating and lots of nattering we are back to normal today. My first job was to skin and then put 6lb of the huge Andine tomatoes into the freezer ready to make chutney or tomato sauces later.

 Next job was to start getting half of the hay shed for some new young pullets we will get at the end of the month. This involved using some shed sections ( which we didn't use for the new campsite shower as it has a concrete floor and a part perspex roof) to divide the empty bit off from the bit where hay is still stored. Some netting has been fixed to the top, just in case a fox decides to climb the bales and drop down into the chicken bit.In the corner of the shed was the remainder of a pile of old pallets that had been stored there ready for  cutting up before we built the other farm building and decided to use that for cutting wood. I suggested moving them to the new shed but Him Outside thought it would be easier to cut them where they were, so for the first time time since last winter out comes the electric chainsaw. Which, because it hasn't been used for 5 months, doesn't want to work. After taking apart, cleaning and putting back together again we are off. He does some cutting and I do the barrowing. It really is a sign of the changing seasons when we start adding to the wood heap ready for the Rayburn and the woodburner. So glad he is feeling well enough too!
The campsite is beginning to get busier as we head towards Bank Holiday weekend. It's been surprising how many people have rung in the last week wanting to come and when I've said " sorry we are already full ( 5 caravans) because it's Bank Holiday" they hadn't realised, as Bank Hol seems earlier than normal. We've also got bookings for the week after too which is good, sometimes things go very quiet then.
Easy meals today mainly featuring leftovers from yesterday.

What if there wasn't a loo to run to?

Thank you to Attila, Sadie and Dc for comments yesterday. For some reason I couldn't leave a reply to Dc - don't know why but the computer won't let me - very strange.

Today has all been about visitors.
First it was getting some cooking and baking done ready for friends coming to see us tomorrow, then several caravanners came to the door for various things, then our elderly friend from the village stopped in for a coffee and just as he was getting up to go some other friends from the Suffolk Smallholders Society called in to find out how Him Outside was getting on. So we ended up having 3 cups of coffee before lunch time and running to the loo for the rest of the day!!

Which links up with the other thing I wanted to blog about today -

The other day Dc at Frugal in Norfolk mentioned the charity Water Aid
find out about them here and by one of those strange co-incidences, what should be in the post this morning but a copy of their newsletter  - Oasis.

 Dc was choosing to give a donation to them this month  and they are one of the charities I support with a small standing order each month. Like Dc I'm writing about this not to appear as a Goody Two Shoes but because they are one of the most worthwhile charities to give to ( In my opinion).
My late mum always said Charity begins at home and was never keen to donate to anything, yet on the other hand she always used to say there is always somebody worse off than yourself. So I'm not sure why she was a bit funny about giving. ( Maybe growing up in Wartime in a family of 6 children with a father who was often ill has something to do with it)
 I've got this feeling that what goes around comes around - is that what they say? - well something like that. So I think if anyone can spare a few quid a month( and with Water Aid even £2 a month can make a difference ) then we should try to help women ( it's almost always women) to be able to give clean water to their children. It's not just water, imagine having to walk for half a mile to find somewhere private to squat to go to the loo and dealing with menstruation with no water to wash with. We don't realise just how lucky we are to turn on the tap and know fresh water is there straight away and to have a loo to run to after three cups of coffee!
Easy access to clean water and hygienic latrines means mothers don't have to spend half their day fetching water, and finding somewhere to go to the loo, that gives them time to grow food for their families and to sell.  Children don't get ill, which means they can go to school. There they get an education which can move them out of poverty. All because of a tap and a latrine in their village.
Brilliant!
Water Aid are starting a big campaign to try to bring clean water to everyone by 2030, it would be better if it was even sooner.

Apologies for going on a bit.
I'll be back to normal(?) tomorrow!
PS You would NEVER believe how many empty shop-bought fancy water bottles I find in the campsite bin. OUR TAP WATER IS EXCELLENT QUALITY WHY ARE YOU BUYING BOTTLED?!!