The month of May ended on a good note here at Fordhollow, fine weather, a good County cricket result (Somerset winning having contrived to concede a 300 defecit to overcome in the fourth innings)  and contrary to my earlier anxieties over House Martins returning, they are visiting every day and spending time in the nests.

Also we have a splendid display of blossom on our Wisteria. The trick is to get the autumn pruning done at the right time. Last year we pruned in October, and got the right degree of cutback. It is not the finest wisteria in the land, but it is old – we have seen a photo of the village school outing eating their pieces in front of the plant taken before the Great War.

If readers have the chance to see the bi-monthly free magazine LAMP, edited by Lionel Ward of Brendon Books in Taunton, which covers matters of Literature, Art and Musical Performance over much of Somerset, the June/July edition has  a good article on finding writing ideas by Chella Ramanan, the founder and moving force of Writers Anon, the Taunton Writers Group. The same edition has published one of my short stories – The Cat On The Wall.