Back to business.

That being the serious business of gardening. The vegetable gardens were a little neglected in the run up to the Insider and by July the dock was head high, the nettles and ground elder fully rampant and the mint and currants and last years new fruit trees almost invisible behind deep grasses. Nothing that a couple of weeks attached to the strimmer and garden fork can't sort out. Out of the 40 odd beds in the gardens we did at least manage to turn and till and rake the first 5 early in the year and get plug lettuces, purple broccoli and some peas in and now we are planning to turn and plant the rest as we go, with any luck leaving us with a bumper crop of hot leaves, rocket and other goodies late into the season.

The Insider.

Before life returns completely to normal here is a lovely memory from the Insider courtesy of the Paul Simon Treatment.

The Insider Olympiad.

That was a pretty special weekend of sporting shenanigans. Huge thanks to all of those who made it happen, the streams of volunteers, the lycra clad musicians and the many professionals beavering away behind the scenes to make it the best Insider yet. Gold medal for remembering that it's a good idea to have lovely photos of such an event goes to Louise Bichan and just to proves that we weren't making it all up here is a review from the Scotsman and Northings courtesy of Sue Wilson. Everyone's a winner.