The Old Vicarage

The vicar clearly lived well in days gone by. I'm not sure when the more recent vicarage, a fairly substantial detached residence, was built - perhaps the 1960s - but this beautiful house (currently for sale) has a huge and wonderful garden, which I visited when teas were served there for a village open garden event a few years ago. The arched gateway (for Wide Wednesday) stand at the opposite side of Vicarage Lane to the much less imposing arch over the gate into the churchyard, with a path between two huge, ancient yew trees leading to the south door of the church. 

It was cold and icy again, but the paths were a bit clearer than yesterday and I managed a slightly longer walk, threading a cautious route down Cock Lane to walk through the field and along the footpath beside the Nailbourne before returning up Vicarage Lane. 

Today was P's baking morning: we've feasted on savoury scones for breakfast, madeleines for afternoon tea, and excellent felafels, a new experiment, with chapatis and a vegetable sauce for lunch. S has been with J today, helping her with animation preparation and massaging her arms, I've cut up the last of the quinces to simmer in the slow cooker overnight ready for more jelly, started on Christmas cards (though the postal strikes and revised last posting dates mean few of them will reach their destinations by Christmas), and wasted a lot of time trying to ring the pharmacy and the GP surgery to continue chasing up ongoing issues with J's prescription. There seem to be constant supply issues with one thing or another, which mean identifying alternatives and requesting revised prescriptions. The pharmacist is extremely helpful, but the same can't be said of the GP practice, where every request I have to make feels like hard work. I'm glad there are more madeleines to get me through the next installment tomorrow.

I've now caught up with the last three days: if you have time, flick back two days to see J's needle felt seascape.