Walled garden, Preston Hall, Pathhead

My holiday is drawing to a close and I am doing all I can to pack in as much fun as possible before I turn back into the blipper who makes daily complaints about her workload.

This morning I leapt out of bed at 06:30 to make scones, then spent a couple of hours rearranging the books on the shelves in my study.

Our morning coffee guests ArcLight and alfthomas arrived at 09:45, bearing gifts for the garden in the form of a fuchsia and a tub of lilies. I exchanged these for an alpine and three coat hangers. I think that I did rather well out of this deal.

When our guests left, I headed outdoors to continue painting the garden furniture. I managed to apply a third coat to the bench and the table before it was time to set off for our next adventure.

Mr hazelh and I cycled 16 miles (mainly uphill) by tandem to Preston Hall, Pathhead for a picnic in the walled garden. It was very interesting to see photographs of the terrible state of the garden a decade ago before a new retiree turned up at the hall to volunteer his services to bring it back to life again. From our observations today, his work has definitely paid off. My blip shows the entrance to the walled garden.

We raced back home again so that I could put in another hour of painting before leaving the house for our evening engagement. We took the bus down to Porty for games of Scrawl and Carcassonne and a Mexican meal with Paddy and Caitlin.

It's been a fun day, but I must admit that I am exhausted.

Exercise today: 32 miles of tandem riding; walking (9814 steps).