East West, Home is Best

Tim and I have just spent a lovely weekend away at Blair Athol in Inverell, NSW. Three days away from home and I was more than ready to return with renewed energy and motivation. After running around busily of late, it was nice to take some time to have nothing to do but I am a homebody at heart and I'm very glad to be back.The house was lovely and Inverell is a nice country town with many things to see and do.

I did have a little bit of Bunya envy. The Bunya pines at Blair Athol are over 100 years old and are huge whilst my little slow growing specimen is only a metre high and I will not live to see it in its glory. Kim from Blair Athol generously gave me three bunya cones to bring home so now I will at least have some nuts to experiment with.
A holiday for me always involves looking around at plants and gardens. We visited Saumarez Homestead at Armidale too and had a lovely tour of the gardens and farm buildings. I might not ever be able to afford to live in a country mansion but I can at least have a garden of equal quality.

My favourite parts of the garden were the picking garden and Mary's garden. I loved the terracotta pots on the stakes, it was just like home. The very simple looking frames made from branches is something I will try with my dahlias next year just like the volunteer gardeners have done here.

Since coming home, I have been baking and cooking and just essentially enjoying living my regular life. If it is warmer tomorrow, I might even get to garden.

Tracy