Sloe good to see you! Plum on gin!

On a beautiful sunny day, Ellen and I met at a pretty church not too far away from Mrs S's home. I'd done my homework and worked out a route plan so off we headed along a pretty lane with and old cottages and farmhouses. Very soon, I began to doubt myself and lo and behold, we had set off in the wrong direction! We did an about turn and walked back down the pretty lane - with the advantage that we met a new friend along the way (dog lovers - see the photos!).

We soon arrived at Mrs S's house and rang the doorbell only to be met with silence. We tried again before we noticed a little sign in the window - "I can be found in the garden!" We walked around the side of the house to find Mrs S snoozing in the shade of her garden. She stirred and greeted us with a big smile!

Mrs S explained that she had lived in her home for nearly 35 years and loved spending time in the garden. In fact, she spent so long in the garden, the birds were no longer scared of her and flocked to her bird bath and feeding station.

Mrs S took us to the back of her garden and asked for our help cutting back some of the bramble bushes and weeding around the lovely redcurrant plants. Mrs S also proudly showed us her plum tree and the sloe bush growing in her "orchard". We suggested that Mrs S could use the sloe to make up a nice gin but she was one step ahead of us, explaining that gin was her favourite tipple - we had a lot in common!

Mrs S went off to make herself a late breakfast and Ellen and I cracked on with the task. Thankfully Ellen had the foresight to bring some garden gloves (two pairs) - thanks Ellen! I cracked on with the weeding whilst Ellen carefully cut back the brambles, revealing the end of a pickaxe and a wheelbarrow! We happily chatted about our previous weekend's exploits in Snowdon and Ellen's forthcoming trip back to Florida.

After over an hour, we had completed our task. We asked Mrs S to inspect our work. She was delighted and said it had been a big help. We had a final chat with Mrs S about her lovely garden and how excited she was that her son was about to return to Wales from America.

It was time to head off - in the right direction this time! Mrs S said that it had been lovely to meet us and said that she'd be spending the rest of the afternoon in the garden - perhaps with a sneaky g and t!