Gale force winds, torrential rain, mud and still more rain chased us through February taunting us, every now and then, with bursts of brilliant sunshine!  The north wind ripped across the hills driving south from distant Dartmoor. Sometimes I found it almost impossible to stay on my feet as I struggled to fill troughs for…

January 2019 arrives…………. ……………….and the Boxing Day snowdrops did not disappoint! White camellias, delicate winter cherry blossom, tiny hellebores all swiftly followed, each opening coyly beneath a leaden sky; surely a sign that spring will return once more. As I trudged through the December mud, head down in the relentless rain, I was in danger…

A Week Away Definition: Refugee – Chambers English Dictionary: one who flees for refuge to another country, esp. (sic) from religious or political persecution  [ Fr- L refugium-fugere to flee : C17th : refugie] A recent week in La Rochelle and the Ile de Re, C17th protestant stronghold of France, and a local history lesson…

Be careful what you pray for! I watch in fascination as a high wind drives sheets of rain horizontally across the valley. Trees bend double. Then suddenly the wind drops and thundery rain threatens to engulf me. Encased in my winter waterproofs, hood pulled down over eyes, I struggle with Millie up to the yard…

This very strange year continues: snow in March, torrential spring rain and now soaring temperatures and the most severe summer drought for nearly fifty years. It’s as if we dreamt of our tractor stuck in snow drift, wellies coming off in the mud, water draining off the fields, the stream overflowing its banks and roaring…

Bramble Torre 1982-2018 What a strange year it has been: March gave us snow…… in Devon! April followed with bitter north winds and plummeting night time temperatures tempered with occasional bursts of uplifting sun. Now at last May slowly warms us. The valley is exploding into colour, everything coming out at once, all rushing to…