Changes come with hard work

Welcome again to Cranberry Cottage. This tiny house on the edge of the woods is our special hideaway each weekend.


Last year in September, I told you about a major project we were starting up at Cranberry Cottage. You can see how it used to look here. It has been such hard work for Jos as we only had the odd Saturday to work on it. He has removed the row of conifers, re~leveled a fire ditch and built a living fence. Now the living fence will take another summer at the very least to start to really come to life. All the plants are doing well so far. We have an extra two meters depth of garden space that was hidden by the conifers before.

We created a new terrace which gives us a nice view back to the direction of the cottage and the side garden. It is right at the wooden fence which we put up between the living fence to allow ourselves and our neighbors privacy. Although I must admit we love chatting over the fence with our new neighbors who are a sheep farmer and his wife. Now to me, a farm is an idyllic life but they come to their cottage to get away from it all.

We had a bit of a problem with the gravel as we thought it would be darker. It is not what we wanted and we may add a layer of the same red split we used for our driveway to mix it and create a darker looking area. We have not quite finished as the bench needs to be moved back once we get some patio blocks to stabilize it. I used items I already had so far for the fence but we will be looking out for some wreaths now as I thought a couple of them would look nice on the fence.

A funny thing happened last Saturday. Friends came for dinner. We had a wonderful time eating Al Fresco. We decided to take a little walk before having our coffee and my friend asked me if I leave my pillows and cushions out when I am not sitting there. Horrified she said the birds will do their business on the quilt and pillows. Jos and I told her that had never happened in the four years we have the cottage. Well, yep, you guessed it! We came back and just a half an hour they had done their business not once...not twice...but three times. Did she jinx us saying that?


I am so lucky to be able to buy bouquets directly by a woman who grows flowers and sells them by the roadside. She only charges 2 euro for flowers like these cheerful sunflowers.


Now let me leave you this Friday with a challenge. Do you know what this plant is? It is growing among the wildflowers we get in the garden. I will reveal what it is on Sunday. I thought it would be fun to see if anyone knows it as Jos and I were surprised when I looked it up.


Have a wonderful weekend filled with happiness and contentment dear friends!