Cider with Rosie ...and Eddie

Or rather, lunch with Merle (Pea & Mint Soup followed by Apple Brownies). It seems at Pythouse they are ready to make the most of their surplus apples.

Whenever I see an apple press I can't help thinking of the Grundies.

(Archer's fans will be with me on this one)

I started listening to the Archers in my twenties when I used to drive home from my job in advertising in Paddington to my flat in Clapham, just around about 7pm each evening. (I wouldn't like you to think I was working that hard, it was just in the 80s you always went to the pub after work for a drink before heading home - think Mad Men with shoulder pads and a lot less style!)

I found the Archers became addictive - maybe a complete antidote to the craziness of the advertising industry I worked in.

But whatever it was it stuck - despite the raised eyebrows of my children and friends.

(And hasn't Joe Grundy done well since then - 90 not out! )

Rain Will Not Stop Play

At the bottom of the orchard, past the beds of late summer fruits and leaks, the marquee is ready and waiting for the wedding guests.

The weather may be gloomy but it is certainly not going to spoil the preparations or the celebrations.

The lanterns are lit and Ted Martin Flowers has been busy decorating the tables.

Bunting hangs between topiary trees

I love the place names on ivy leaves (and so simple to do).

Dotted along the tables are Ted's signature bunches of flowers and herbs.

Snapdragons, roses and veronica are mixed with sage, rosemary and mint.

Rosemary is also used to decorate the table names.

The glasses and wine are ready - now we just need the guests.

Break out the Bunting - It's a Boy!

As I drive to Pythouse I nearly crash as I spot a sign by the road near to Mitch's wife, Clementines' shop. On the chalk board are the words "It's a Boy!"

On Tuesday Clementine gave birth to Orlando, a brother for Joshua - and Dad delivered the baby. Mitch and Clementine had always planned a home birth but hoped that would include a midwife! As it turned out Mitch delivered his son just as the midwife came through the door.

As I chat to Mitch and congratulate him, my daughter Libby is distracted by the colour your own bunting.

She asks rather wistfully, "Is nineteen too old to be colouring in bunting?"

Absolutely not!

In Praise of Beetroot, Apple & Honey Soup

I will come to the soup, but first, a wander around the garden.

The apples are ripe, the cabbages and leaks are going crazy, the celery is perfect and the sweetcorn is very nearly there.

In the flower beds it is the time of the dahlia. And the sweet peas just go on and on.

It seems I am not the only one taking photographs of the flowers.

Flowers seem to be the order of the day and I spot garden designer Robert out picking Cosmos.

Robert runs his garden design business from the plant nursery he has set up at Pythouse and he is now the proud owner of a Shepherd's hut ...or rather an office - complete with wood burning stove.

It took a crane to deliver the hut into the garden - with gardener Heather telling all those around to mind the cabbages.

The rain is just starting to fall as we head inside for lunch.

More flowers - this time some arrangements from Ted Martin Flowers in Tisbury (spotted them at 20 paces!) that are left over from a weekend party.

In amongst the shortbread and cakes, the dahlias make another colourful appearance.

Now, when it is time for that soup, what can I say?

Simply heavenly.

The Sun does Shine

All my recent blogs have been set against grey rainy skies, so when the sun decides to shine I thought I should head straight over to the garden. Others have been there before me and I can see an empty bottle of wine on a table in the orchard.

I decide on tea (for a change) and after warming my legs in the sun feel inspired by the sweet peas on our table to go and pick a bunch for the friend I am seeing that night for supper.

As it turns out she was here for lunch (maybe it was her wine) and she had meant to pick some sweet peas for the supper table but had forgotten. I think that is called fate.

A Spot of Cooking

It may be rainy but I am having a great day. We have guests coming for supper so we are taking time to meander around some of our favourite places to collect the ingredients.

We have been to Shaftesbury to buy a frying pan, Tisbury for the butcher and some flowers from Ted Martin Flowers and we have even had time for a pint at The Beckford Arms, before we head to Pythouse for the vegetables, fruit and cheese.

First I get side-tracked by the sweet peas ... maybe I need some of these too.

As we are looking at the vegetables we bump into manager, Mitch. He is delighted as he has just found out The Beckford Arms want him to supply their vegetables. An arrangement that I imagine will keep everybody happy - and Heather even busier.

Mitch invites us to stop for coffee and cake, but we have cooking to do so have to go on (although he does send the cake home with us!)

We are having beef cooked to an old Elizabeth David recipe with port, Guinness and red wine vinegar - sounds good to me.

My husband is in charge of the main course and I am doing the pudding - pears poached in rose wine with Pythouse gooseberry ice cream.

(I was going to photograph the finished result, but you know how it is ...the wine ..the company - I forgot to pick up my camera!)

Missing Pythouse

I have been away for a while and it is with a feeling of childish excitement that I drive over to Pythouse Garden.

The cafe is closed for a birthday lunch and an art exhibition, but in the garden it is business as usual.

The recent weeks of sporadic sunshine and showers are just what the gardener ordered, and all around me the beds are looking plump and green.

In front of the cafe there has been a miraculous change in the pick-your-own flower beds. The sweet peas have engulfed the bamboo wigwams in a beautiful, fragrant tangled mess.

The cosmos is going crazy,

and the sunflowers are perfect for picking.

The obvious choice to grace an art exhibition!

I catch up with Heather, the head gardener, who is delighted with this year's progress. She has found the fruit and flowers are about a month early due to the hot spring weather, but she is not complaining. The apricots have been picked and the pears and kiwis are just about ready.

Fruit is on sale in the shop and you can also come and pick your own raspberries. Someone who has been doing just that is Jenny from the Chilmark village Gardening Club. She has had the smart idea to turn them into ice cream. Before I take anymore photos I grab a pot of her raspberry and her gooseberry ice cream. (I used to buy my ice cream from Pat Archer ....but since Clary has been ill ....)

Heather is particularly proud of her cabbages and leaks - and she has every right to be!

She tells me people have been coming to the garden to photograph them - what can I say?!

Also doing well is the beetroot, spinach, chard, and in the greenhouse and poly tunnels, the tomatoes and peppers.

Down the bottom of the garden the runner beans (my favourite) are just about ready and the firm cane trellises that I saw Heather's dad building earlier this year are completely covered. I have a feeling he will be back soon as Heather tells me she has plans for grapes next year which will need their own wooden framework.

Once some of the space near the rhubarb is cleared Heather is also planning some asparagus beds and at the top of the garden she is currently planting Red Russian Kale.

But for the time being it is mainly a season of harvesting and weeding.

The cart at the front of the shop is over flowing with produce.

And for once, a justly proud Heather, lets me take her photograph. I knew I would get her one day!

As we chat, in the background is the murmur of the lunch party and the chink of wine glasses.

It is good to know other people are enjoying the fruits (literally!) of her labour

(as well as the flowers).