I always get a bit nervous when I go to the allotment now – will more plants have been pulled out? Will the slugs have eaten all my beans? With slight trepidation, I ventured there this morning and my plants were all still there but the slugs have eaten my beans. There’s nothing but the stalks left. It may be too late to apply the nematode solution but I’ll give it a try anyway in the hope the beans are still alive and can recover.
One exciting thing is my blueberries are covered in berries.
I’ve not had blueberries before because the birds always eat them. This year I put some netting over the top and there are lots of berries.
After lunch, we all had a hankering for a walk in the woods so we went to Crathes Castle which has lots of lovely walks. You can download a pdf map of the walks here.
We saw some highland cows.
We had cake at the cafe after our walk. I ate a delicious lemon vegan cake.
Crathes Castle has a terrific new adventure playground on the estate which is great for older kids. Daniel and Elizabeth love it. There’s also a Go Ape high ropes course which we’re planning to do as soon as Elizabeth turns ten later this year. There’s a minimum age requirement of ten and we’ve been patiently waiting for both the kids to pass this minimum.
They say a walk in the woods is good for physical and mental health and that doctors now prescribe it as a form of treatment. I always feel relaxed and refreshed after spending time with nature. We’re lucky here to have so much nature so close to home. We’re in the middle of a city and yet so close to forests and wilderness. It’s a nice place to live.
rachel.blog 
I loved the cows and the cafe. We don’t get a lot of Longhorns down here. Of course, cafe cakes are not very WW friendly,so we have to be careful which cake we pick (and split between us). Carrot cake is of course, one of your five a day (LOL)
I went to visit my daughter and she had a short course of counselling at Uni for anxiety. She said her therapist helped a lot by explaining the chemical reasons for anxiety and not making her talk too much about her “troubles” and treating her as if there was something especially wrong with her. There seems to be a lot of anxiety around among young people (most, if you ask them…) and it does seem to be a better way of thinking about treating it in promoting ways in which we can help disperse it, such as walking and nature.