Staying out of the way of our cleaner at home, this afternoon my husband and I donned hard hats ( red plastic) and waterproof gillets ( luminous yellow) and climbed up the 8 stages of a scaffolding tower ( wobbly handrails - I dare not look up or down - only at my feet) in order to enter the giant scaffolding tent covering the renovations at Castle Drogo - ( early 20th century home of Julius Drewe - founder of Home and Colonial Stores - designed by Edwin Lutyens) on the edges of Dartmoor....
Later we descended into the Castle's secret garden also designed by Lutyens...
and wandered past the herbaceous borders,
in a sparkly downpour of rain.
The Basil and Pecan Nut Pesto ( lots of garlic and lemon and wholegrain mustard instead of parmesan cheese) I whizzed up for supper tonight - picking huge leaves from the four pots of basil on the windowsill in the kitchen - one of them a gift, the others my husband rescued from the snails chomping at them in the greenhouse at the allotment.
We had dollops of it with grilled asparagus spears, steamed purple pakchoi, roasted sweet potatoes, corn on the cob and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, watching Andy Murray on the TV slice his way through his opponent in his 3rd tennis match at Wimbledon.
Cobweb on hanging basket begonia in the garden this evening....
Tonight I feel shored up inside my own scaffolding tent by all the dear people who are climbing out to the far edges of their love to support me and my husband..... as we ascend the wobbly tower of how to live with this disease........one slow step at a time....
You can find out more about Castle Drogo here.
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