Happy May day everyone! I can’t quite believe a third of the year’s already passed and in little more than 7 weeks the nights will start drawing in again. Still, it’s been a good day here at Bigland Towers even though we’ve not been anywhere. The pair of us have kept occupied at home which is no problem as we’re going away later in the week so pottering around at home’s been fun. Besides, bank holiday’s normally mean anywhere you’d want to go is clogged with people (and/or expensive) so staying at home removes that stress. Thankfully, the storm and heavy rain we had last night had cleared by this morning, leaving me free to continue with the garden and outhouse clean-up. My time on the ‘chain gang’ came to an end as I finished breaking up the old sink that’s been cluttering up the back for the past year. Now all I have to do is dispose of the bags of rubble…
Another thing that needed disposing of was more of the bloody Sycamore seedlings! They’re incredibly invasive this year and trying to get rid of ’em’s like playing ‘whack a mole’. No sooner do you think you’ve pulled up all the little buggers when the next batch poke their heads up just as soon as your back’s turned! Despite them, the gardens are starting to come together (front and back) all my recent purchases are planted, whilst there’s a stream of seedlings and cuttings ready for the coming months. Thanks to the fact the sun blessed us for a few hours this afternoon I managed to get another job done and cleared some of the derelict patch of land above the cottages which is infested with Russian vine (it’s not called ‘mile a minute’ for nothing) along with trimming back some Sycamore stumps which have started spouting shoots again. I may not have moved far, but I certainly got my steps in today!
Feeling virtuous I sat on our top terrace with a beer and watched the sun retreat over the valley, which brings me to today’s picture. This was the view I had over Sowerby Bridge earlier as the sun broke free of late arriving clouds. I never tire of this view as it’s always changing due to the permutations of weather and lighting…

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