Monday 22nd April 2013 - Taking Advantage, Beach Clean, Meeting Residents 'to be'. First Crab and a Walk to Trunch

We have taken advantage of the good weather and on Thursday evening we walked up to the Foundry Arms in Northrepps to eat. We both had the Lasagne, promising ourselves we would have a sweet to follow but the Lasagne portions were more than ample and we were both too full to contemplate ordering anything else. The return walk was welcomed, not only to enjoy the view out to sea from Madams Lane but also to help walk off some of the calories consumed.

The garden is now as up to date as it can be, with seeds planted on the vegetable plot and in the greenhouse plus the shed has had a spring clean too. I was surprised there were just two spiders in the shed which was just as well as I have a strong aversion to them and obviously Poppy has been doing her job as there were no signs of mice. We rewarded ourselves with a BBQ, well three in fact with Sausages for Saturday lunch, Steak in the evening and a half shoulder of Lamb on Sunday evening. We are well pleased with the new BBQ but will have a break from outside cooking tonight!

Together with friends, we have been bringing up the larger items of rubbish (barrels, drums, plastic sheeting, broken fish boxes etc.) that have been deposited on the beach during the recent high tides and winds. Peter and I have now had three extended sessions, collecting the smaller items such as bits of string, chocolate and crisp wrappers, food dishes, items of clothing, polystyrene, plastic bags and bottles, beer cans, fishing line and numerous other types of flotsam and jetsam (some best not mentioned!). We have bagged this and bought it up from the beach and thanks to the arrangement we have with Kier, through NNDC, this has been taken away. We now have a much cleaner beach and with the sand gradually returning, it is a far more pleasant area to walk along than it was a few weeks. I should just add, this is the west end of the beach, we can see the east side needs attention.

Blue above the Cliffs

While we have been doing our bit on the beach, the Parish Council have been busy with Pride in Overstrand. I do hope they will produce a comprehensive list of the areas they have cleaned and tidied so their efforts can be appreciated by visitors. Resident and flagmaster, John Driscoll, told us the flag pole and surrounding area has had a good clean and we see that some brave soul(s) has(have) been down the cliff opposite the Cliff Top Café and cleared the rubbish revealed by the recent cutting down of the brambles and Rugosa roses. This was an area we could not reach with our litter pickers and we decided it was far too risky to climb down.

On Saturday afternoon, we met up with Andy and Carol Walker who are having a house built in the village. Both Andy and Carol are followers of Overstrand Life and I hope that through my website, I have given them a feel of what to expect of life in the village. After seeing photographs of their new house, as construction progresses, we really appreciated a conducted tour of the ground floor area. I know they are both looking forward to the roof going on, when work on the first floor can start in earnest.

Blackthorn

Of course, I must not forget our first Crab of the season. Sold out on Saturday afternoon, we made sure we bought one on our way back up from the beach on Sunday morning. We had already bought crayfish tails for lunch, so we shared a crab between the two of us. With the season starting late this year, I have to say it was well worth the wait – so sweet and delicious.

It was a toss-up this morning between housework or a walk to Trunch. No prizes for guessing, yes we walked to Trunch. We had hoped to stop for lunch at The Crown but it was closed; no longer opening on Monday lunch times. Never mind because the walk was so enjoyable and I have never seen so many Primroses growing wild on the road edges, banks and in ditches. There was plenty of other colour provided by the ubiquitous Dandelions plus Celandine, Dead Nettle, Blackthorn, Wood Anenomes, Violets, Birds Eye, Horsetail spears etc. and a solitary Orange Tip butterfly which flitted back and forth.

Horsetail Spear

No there has not been a graffiti crazed individual down on the promenade. The red spray paint highlights the areas that need minor repair works, mainly to concrete joints or parts that have suffered from the pounding high seas. The work at the west end has been completed and now continues further east, towards the beach huts. They could not wish for better weather to work in during the month of April, with temperatures in the low twenties and a welcoming warm breeze.

Despite saying, ‘The garden is now as up to date as it can be’ in my last entry, we have still found plenty to do. The Daffodil flowers are starting to dry back, so they need dead heading, and because of the recent lack of rain we are watering, in particular the seed beds on the vegetable plot. Peter has mown the grass and erected some additional windbreak on one of our boundaries. All of a sudden weeds are appearing overnight, competing for space in the borders. It has been wonderful to hear the bees, when I let my chickens out around 6.30 in the morning. These are mainly small bumble bees and are most welcome especially now the blossoms on our pear and greengage trees are just about to break open.

Afternoon Walk in April

We walked up to the Foundry Arms on Wednesday evening, where once again the portion sizes were extremely generous and neither of us could finish the chicken dish we both ordered. I think the only way I am going to be able to eat a dessert is to just order a starter! Barney went to his groomers in Sheringham this morning for a clip. His coat had grown thick and long since his last visit, six weeks ago, and when we picked him up, he trotted up the High Street as if to say ‘That feels better’. But obviously he was not so impressed by the perfume left from the shampoo. This afternoon when we walked along the beach he rolled in the sand; swam in the pools at the end of the groins and then rolled again several times on the sand. After that, does he still smell perfumed? The short answer is – No!

Tuesday 30th April 2013 - Chill in the Wind, Blossom and Bluebells, Potato Gratin, WI Calendar and Bank Holiday Break

Greengage Blossom

Chill or no chill in the wind, Peter was out in the garden BBQ’ing lamb chops on Saturday evening. The chops were tender and succulent and we ate these with the last of the Purple Sprouting, Carrots and my Potato Gratin dish. I do like Gratin Dauphinois but with cream in the ingredients I find it can be a bit sickly, so I have developed my own variation using semi-skimmed milk which we find gives a better result. I have included my Potato Gratin under the Recipe tab; if you try this I would be interested in any feedback.