Jam and Jerusalem!

Every time I attend one of our village hall committee meetings, I have to giggle to myself. The whole scenario is like something from an episode of Jam and Jerusalem. I live in a lovely village with a pond, pub, village green and beautiful church. Additionally we have a Village Memorial Hall which from the outside appears to be an old scout hut, but once inside you realise it really is a quaint old village hall with ancient china kept in an antique wall cupboard in a kitchen shared with mice and ivy that has grown through the wall into the kitchen!

We are trying desperately hard to raise £100,000 in order to rebuild the Hall in the same position and also enlarge it. Thus every other month or so we meet to discuss how we are going to do this, where we can go to get grants and at what stage the planning permission and build are at. The committee consists of the 'ladies', of which I am one, whom bake the cakes and organise social events to help raise money, and then there are the big guys who ask for considerably larger amounts of money from various organisations and draw up plans etc. for the build. The captain at the helm is the owner of the villages' beautiful mansion house, who seems to have contacts all over the place and tries his darnedest to keep everyone happy but in the process upsets many!!

Invariably the meetings start off following a true agenda but soon somewhere along the line comments about various inhabitants of the village are made and so a true picture of life at Beech Hill starts to unfold. I joined the committee when we first moved to the village to meet local people and become part of the village and this portal has proved the best way to do this and more! I would thoroughly recommend anyone wishing to embark in village life to attend a meeting of their local village hall or parish councillors. Beware though because once you are drawn in, your life will never be the same, needless to say you will almost certainly need to acquire a mothers manager. The beautiful chintzy diary we stock that not only gives you room to write in all these new meetings and events, it also has a brilliant pocket in which to store all the necessary bits of paper that come along with it.

I will endeavour to keep you updated of the events that occur in the meetings and impart any juicy gossip I am privy to hearing!

The farrier visited us this week, which I know Moon and Sunbeam appreciated because their hooves were looking a little long in the tooth. They have now had their french manicure and look so much better for it. Next month we have a visit from the equine dentist booked in, which I am not looking forward to, Moon does not do dentists, much like Molly and so sedation is a necessary element of this process. Hmm maybe this should be the approach to use for Molly!!

I myself visited the dentist today and managed to get away with a quick check up and no work required. Two hours later I receive a call from the school to say can I come and collect Toby he is unwell and has a toothache!! Once I had collected Toby I realised he really was not at all well, he was feverish and in alot of pain, so off we go back to the dentist!!!! It transpires that our poor little man has in fact got an abscess on his tooth and will require antibiotic treatment, apparently the next line of treatment is tooth extraction but our wonderful dentist does not believe in children undergoing this procedure for baby teeth and instead made a deal with Toby saying that if it became infected again we would have to take it out but in the meantime he can do the best he can to wobble it and lose the tooth by himself. Thank goodness!

Toby thinks the problem started at the weekend when he had a toffee bon bon as a treat, my new tactic will be to buy goodies that are not only soft but also organic, such as the moreish motezumas chocolate bars we sell at the shop and then we can indulge in a little bit of pleasure for alot less pain!

Moving on from chocolate to chocolate puddles! we took shadow for a walk at the weekend to the Englefield Estates woods, it was lovely and as you can see from the pictures the chosen activity for the walk was' who could find the deepest chocolatey puddle'. I wonder!!!!

Beautiful Homes and mini gardens

Note to self do not make jokey comments about bodyparts and losing them!!!

Toby had to be taken to A and E on the afternoon of our May Fayre because he managed to run into a deckchair and split his ear! No sooner did we get that mended with glue did he then lose his tooth whilst digging into his lunch and proceed to swallow it!

I have spent this week clearing out and reorganising my workspace in order to achieve some sort of inspiration for new products to sell at the shop. I am sure this has been aided by my avid viewing of Kirsty Allsops homemade home! I love it and especially loved it when she furnished her children's playroom with a wooden toy carousel that we sell, it is made by a local craftsman. It is as bright and colourful, as it looks on the programme, a real toddler pleaser!

I then realised that we actually sell a few of Kirsty Allsops products, her style whilst doing up her Devon cottage is definitely in keeping with the THB teamstyle. We have her lovely retro sewing kits, picture hanging kits and tool kits which are full of useful but beautiful items essential for any new homeowner or refurbisher. The candles are divine they make my workroom smell gorgeous and I haven't even lit one yet, they come in a box with a matching set of matches an absolutely perfect gift or treat to self!

For the younger aspiring house owners, of which my children definitely are, I think I may have biased their TV viewing so that now they avidly watch Kirsty, Grand designs and Jamie Oliver!

The Moulin Roty sewing kit is a must, it is another one of those products that is just so beautiful and nostalgic to look at but also usable.

The children spent a busy weekend making mini gardens because they want to enter the Cath Kidston competition to win £100 of products. Ellen said she would give me half the prize and Molly spotted the tee pee tent that sleeps 6 and has decided she would buy this. It does look very lovely, it is almost a grown up, mummy version of our children's tee pees. I think it would be great to have the large version surrounded by a little camp of kids ones in the garden for the Summer.

Poor daddy was also being creative but he instead was creating a penthouse run for the ducks, I declared that I would not be able to sleep the night we move the ducks out of the house and into their own house in the garden due to the fear of the dreaded fox! So we (that is the royal we!) set forth to make a run that would include the new pond that Toby dug out for the ducks, as well as their house and thus be completely predator safe. It is nearly complete and will be quite plush when finished but I have to say it does look a little like the house that jack built at the moment. I am sure the ducks are going to absolutely love it and I will be able to sleep soundly knowing they are safe. The ducks are now grown up and have the purest of white feathers, they waddle into their run in the morning, skipping underneath the ponies legs on the way, much to Ellen's horror and then in the evening they come and stand by the back door ready to be let in for the night.

My veg patch is doing well, I was joined in it by the ducks at the weekend and puddle proceeded to play in and out the dusty bluebells with the canes I had just put up for the peas I had planted. It was hilarious! I will endeavour to take some photos of this event next time it occurs!