Unexpected finds on days out discovering new places. A trip to Lichfield, famous for its three spired cathedral knows as the 'Ladies of the Vale' but across the Cathedral Close is a house. A grand Georgian house that was once home to Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus Darwin.
The climbing of runner beans and flowering of dahlias tell me that it is time for the allotment open day in the next town. A chance to view the competition, admiring rows of onions inter-planted with rainbow chard and greenhouses filled with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Up in the hills above Macclesfield at Tegg's Nose we assembled on a Sunday morning with the local ranger and a Cheshire forest school to go wild bilberry picking. The acidic soils of the area are perfect for bilberries and the rugged landscape here is abundant with ripe ones at this time of year, ready for us to turn into glorious jam.
On the coast in Ceredigion near Penbryn Beach is a little white parish church on a hill whose history spans back to the 12th century. Perhaps one of the oldest churches in Wales, Saint Michaels, with ancient roots hinted at by its curvilinear churchyard - Celtic perhaps, circular so the devil had no corners to hide in.