Betweenthismonth’scovers…

July Almanac Page 5

The Sound of Silence Page 7

Ahoy There! Sailor Bear Hoop Page 8

In the Swim! Swimwear through the Years Page 12

The Beach in Summer Page 17

Ice Cream Beach Bag Page 19

Blooming Lovely: Rosebay Willowherb Page 23

Rags to Riches: Chindi Rugs Page 24

Your Sewing Machine Page 27

Lovely Idea: Tilda Dolls Page 30

Seagulls in Flight Hoop Page 31

The Vegetable Garden: Looking Ahead Page 34

Country Notes: Pause for Perfection Page 35

Henrietta Chicken Doorstop Page 40

Summer in the Kitchen Page 43

Pea Pod Oven Mitt Page 57

The month of July in 1808 was so hot that reported that at least 7 people died from the extreme temperatures. That heat wave finally came to an end on 15 July with such ferocious thunderstorms that one of the pinnacles of Gloucester Cathedral was destroyed and violent hailstorms devastated the south west of England with jagged fragments of ice up to 12” long falling from the sky. Though we hope not to experience quite such extreme weather this month (although with the effects of climate change almost anything seems possible), nonetheless July is the month when, here in England, we watch the sky for rain and thunderstorms, for although on average this is the warmest month of the year, it can also be a rather wet one.

St Swithin’s Day falls on the fifteenth and I’m certain that everyone knows the folklore of this day, which falls on the fifteenth of the month - and in particular that it never ever comes true! If it rains on that day then we’re not going until the cathedral was consecrated a century after his death, he was buried outside the church and resented the rain falling on his grave. His time of neglect, however, came to an end when his bones were moved to a shrine inside the newly consecrated cathedral and so now we only have to put up with forty days of his annoyance! to experience a forty day deluge and if it’s sunny then we are by no means guaranteed a warm dry summer. But there is a small kernel of truth that may have inspired the legend, which is that summer weather patterns established by mid-July will often persist well into August.

When the sun does shine though, it can be very hot and on a country walk you may be joined by a most annoying plant that insists on hitching a lift on your clothinggoosegrass. With its hairy stems and sticky leaves that cling to clothing and to animal fur too, it’s trying to disperse its seeds. It’s called goosegrass because geese (and my chickens too!) love eating it. It used to be fed to goslings to fatten them up and buildup their immunity to disease.

St Swithin was actually a ninth century bishop of Winchester and one version of his legend says that

Trees now take on a deep green colour as chlorophyll levels change in their leaves whilst in towns the common lime tree becomes festooned with dropping heads of blossom. Its sweet perfume is designed to attract the bees and hoverflies needed for pollination and so intoxicating is its nectar that bumblebees can fall helpless to the ground. Later in the season these limes become infested with aphids which exude a mist of sticky honeydew onto cars parked beneath.