Grandson’s best friend and his family are coming to The Gables today for a socially distanced pizza picnic. It will be the first time that they have seen each other (zoom excepted) for over 13 weeks. Jam tarts and chocolate chip cookies have been baked. Sunshine has been requested

The older Silks stay together and mother Silkie and her brood keep themselves at a distance. But all are happy with their new, big house and their huge run full of grass and interesting plants

Kate has taken two more cows and calves to join Lucy and Lily and Sammi in the field in the village. One of the cows is Lucy’s niece Bella (since renamed Parsley when we sold her to Kate).

Here goes again.

I got up with the lark – well more like the cuckoo, who taunts with his song day and night but refuses to let me see him. I picked six punnets of gooseberries

Sorted them and dried them

Then put them in the back of the car along with a dozen artichokes and drive the produce to the local farm shop where, we hope, they will be sold to discerning shoppers.

We were lucky enough to see our friend and neighbour sitting, undercover, on her porch. She introduced us – from a social distance of course, to her beautiful Billy, a Welsh Mountain pony