I am currently organising a new garden gate for a client. I say ‘organising’ as it is a bespoke metal gate being made by a local blacksmith. My client had a few ideas of her own but Ross and Annie from Anvil Forge Blacksmithing in Pontypool came to the garden to see the setting and surroundings and – with a very ‘brief brief’ – are going to come up with a few suitable designs to choose from before making and installing it.
It is a fabulous ‘journey’ and we have all had lots to think about and deliberate already. Ross has over 25 years experience of ‘making metal magical’ and the couple work closely together to enable Annie to create a design that will be brought to life by her husband’s talent.
One of their clients commissioned a ‘Memorial Gate’ which incorporated several special features to represent their client’s memories of someone special. Another gate which I absolutely adore, is the ‘Garden Gate’ with hosting fabricated wellingtons and a cleverly arranged array of tools. A gate is such a ‘well-used’ part of the garden and is the perfect way to add that ‘personal touch’ to your plot – and can be something that will make you smile every time you go through it.
You can see the gates on their website as well as other examples of their work, including freestanding allium sculptures and a stunning Floral Gate. Do have a look at www.anvilforgeblacksmithing.co.uk
After years of rescuing ‘ex batts’, not ‘ex pats’ but ex battery hens – the local-ish chicken farmer retired and therefore I bought my current hens from Plas Poultry in Brecon. I don’t think I have ever heard better comments about a place or supplier. Anyone who has ever had chickens from them has only good things to say – about the hens and their health and the service. It’s a family run business and they do all sorts of ‘posh’ and very pretty chickens but I always go for the trusted brown hens, as they are one of the most enthusiastic egg-layers and have great characters. Mine often wander into the kitchen to see what’s going on and I love the way they run to the gate to greet me when I come in from work.
Image by Ralph from Pixabay (Image by Ralph from Pixabay)
I got in touch with Tom to see if he would have two hens that I could give my brother for Christmas. (It’s OK, no spoilers here, my brother doesn’t read anything I write – nor listen to anything I say). Tom said they won’t have any ready to leave until the second week of January but they do offer vouchers for Christmas presents. I explained that my brother is 58, so I’ll just tell him he’s having chickens as a late present but I think vouchers are an ‘eggscellent’ idea. It means that if you do want to buy someone (responsible) some hens as a present, then you can choose and collect them together and you can make sure everything is ready for them beforehand without the endless ‘skulduggery’ involved with tricky Santa-esque secrets.
Whatever you are planning to buy and gift this Christmas, bear in mind the recent survey from ‘HIPPO’. It is ‘staggeringly sobering’ amid the festive cheer, as it highlights the scale of Britain’s Christmas waste problem, with millions of unwanted presents and vast quantities of uneaten food going straight to landfill every year. Apparently, the UK generates more than 230,000 tonnes of food waste over the Christmas period, along with an estimated £42 million worth of unwanted gifts.
A stark contrast to David Suzuki’s observation that, ‘in nature, nothing is wasted.’
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