I love this time of year with late spring flowers bursting out from the frondy green.

We get a lot of birds in the garden, but it is around this time of year that the swifts (or are they House Martins?) return from wintering in the tropics (all right for some, eh?). And that has now happened with mornings and evening punctuated by gaggles of very fast birds flitting around the skies gobbling up airborne insects. Difficult to see as they move so fast and change direction quickly, the main clue to their proximity is the high pitched "chittering" sound they make. They don't seem to nest around our buildings, preferring our those of our neighbour's, but we don't take that as an insult.
Anyway for Mary the return of the swifts makes her feel summer is almost here. Bring it on.

We had the great excuse to go down to Lyme Regis to celebrate a good friend's 50th Birthday. Just 40 miles due south you can go the quick route, via the M5, and get there in just 90 minutes. But we love plotting direct routes and navigating gently through country lanes and villages. Although shorter it adds 30 minutes to the journey but makes it infinitely more satisfying. Of course it can take even longer if you pause in one of the lovely towns or villages, or stop for refreshments at a pub (or, as we did just now, grab a coffee at the famous River Cottage Canteen in Axminster).
The route has it all: from the Somerset levels, through modest hills, to secluded rural valleys and of course the fantastic "Jurassic Coast". If you didn't know this part of the Dorset and Devon coastline is a UNESCO World Heritage Site - but 95 miles of it - and a spectacular geological slice of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods of our planet's formation - all laid bare in the cliffs and beaches. Lyme Regis itself is fossil hunter's heaven, and also the setting for the John Fowles book (and the film) "The French Lieutenant's Woman" starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.
Now it is equally lovely to get back to the equally beautiful and peaceful Mendips.

But at times like this the small lakes and weirs are pushed to maximum as the brown water torrents down. Back in 1963 (I think) there was a flash flood in the gorge valley and you can see pictures of it in the Riverside Inn bar. Now however the water defences put in place since  and which are matured and picturesque, means the water is contained. Not that flooding would could directly affect Gorge View house and cottage as we stand about 12 meter higher up, so no worries there.