Today has been a tidying up day after I got all my chores done, on this day the chores were seeing to the sheep and the greenhouses as is usual and then as there was a shooting party at the weekend I had to go and fill up the log box and bucket in the hall.
After tea break I cleared some stray leaves that were hanging around the potting shed area and also cut back some branches on a Fig tree. After lunch me and Tom made a start on tidying the old conservatory which as you will see from the pictures was in need of a tidy. It sits right under a very big Beech tree so it is always filling with rubbish of some kind. Anyway we still have some work left to do in there some time.

Hi
Pam, Thank you for the comment on my blog concerning lifting the Dahlia's. You are of course right to question me about leaving them in the ground over winter and I must stress that the ones I left in are there to take their chance so to speak are just ones that I'm not really bothered about. I did make a point of lifting and storing safely two of each variety. Any that are left are ones that I have an abundance of. However having said that there is a good chance that most of them will survive as they're in a pretty sheltered position. Some have already survived two winters without being lifted. I recorded a temperature of minus five last winter and I only lost half a dozen or so. So really the thing is that if you have Dahlia's that you value in the slightest don't take the chance but if you have some that you are prepared to lose then take a chance with them. If you want to give them a bit of an extra chance pile some compost or soil over them and then in spring level it off over the border. I hope this is of some help to you. I think we are in
Hardiness Zone 8bHi
Sara, I actually preferred the breakfast party as it was more relaxed and also it didn’t mean turning out on a cold winters night – I didn’t even have to get dressed up either LOL!
Hi
Weaver , Yes I’ve always lived in Yorkshire while I’ve been doing this job, in fact all the time I’ve been blogging. The farm I managed was in Derbyshire and when I left that job I came here, that was four years ago now. Yes it is South Yorkshire where I live now. I much prefer North Yorkshire which is where my family are from on my mum’s side but South York’s is where the work is so that’s where I am. Actually when the rain came that you mentioned I was back home in Rowsley and although it did rain it wasn’t so bad as in other places further north.