Farewell To The Pearly Queen

When the October edition of Country Living Magazine dropped through the door (or let's be honest - was poked hastily and carelessly into the letterbox - protected only from the elements due to the plastic covering, by my new postman - no doubt in his eagerness to meet his time-bound objectives), I was soon enraptured by the feature on allotment fashion, with  my favourite raspberry and plum appearing as the gorgeous clothing colour of the allotment season.

(I really must get rid of my current trend of allotmenting in comfy leggings and fleece!)

The feature lured me into an afternoon visit to my somewhat recently neglected allotment. 

I found the plots had taken on an autumnal hue -

The Hawthorn Hedge

 at the bottom of the plot was laden with berries;

rich red Rosehips glowed prolifically over the boundary fences

and jewel bright Nasturtiums

clambered vigorously along the sides of The Mall.

In the greenhouse, which this year has received lamentably negligible attention, I made a thrilling discovery;

amongst the reddening vine leaves

hung little bunches of grapes,

which when sampled tasted beautifully sweet.

Despite the autumnal beauty at the plots the season is also tinged with sadness for me, as it is time for my allotmenting friend The Pearly Queen to return to The Land Of Pearly, 

 (oh the nostalgia of Yew Trees) 

although understandably now that the supermarket and commuter traffic have had such an impact, (scrumping for apples a thing of the past),  The Pearly Queen anticipates a slower pace by the sea to be a little more conducive to her current way of life.

Before she could bid farewell to the allotments, there was time for us to spend a few hours on a beautiful autumn evening sitting around the little stove at the bottom of my plot

and toast the first of this autumns chestnuts 

which we ate washed down with a few glasses of warming spiced drink. As the dusk fell and we were surrounded by shadows we finished off our evening with the sweet little grapes from the greenhouse.

Going to miss you G. Come back and see us again!

xxx