Chelsea Flower Show
Lovely to see Joanna Lumley on his weeks front cover, oddly I bumped into her last week at Chelsea Flower Show. We were both helping the RNLI celebrate 200 years of saving lives at sea. As they are a charity, raising money to support their work is paramount, so one of the country’s leading rose breeders Ian Limmer of Peter Beales Roses created and launched a rose in their honour with the hope of rising £40,000 The rose is called ‘With Courage’. It’s a cluster rose that can be grown in a pot if you have a patio and will just keep flowering through the season. The stand, as you would expect was beautiful and the smell around us was intoxicating. As Blue Peter has a history of helping the RNLI raise funds and awareness. Janet Ellis, Lindsay Russell and I were also on hand for old times’ sake to assist. Don’t ask me why I had held on to my RNLI rescue kit for 40 years, but I had, and this was the day, to bring it out for an airing. But the good news is, it now has a permanent home and will be going to The RNLI Museum in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales – Finaly I’m a relic in a museum!! Reason for Tenby? It’s the place I saw my very first lifeboat being launched in the early 60’s I was about 6 and will never forget seeing it fly down the ramp and hit the sea in an explosion of water.
So good to see Salads taking centre stage in our magazine this week, I’m a big bold salad fan, a good one will pack a huge health punch and they are a great way of eating a large selection of fresh produce in one sitting. My grandfather used to grow lettuces they were his pride and joy and to this day my favourite will always be the ones he showed me how to sow, take care of and pick. A Butter Head (a proper lettuce) in a large bowel sprinkled with a little olive oil, a few twists of salt and pepper evokes to me the comforting smell of a greenhouse and screams “Summer”.
Did you know lettuce also calms you and if you ate enough would lull you to sleep? Grandad told me that’s why Peter Rabbit had fallen asleep in Mr McGregor’s Garden because he ate so much!! But truthfully it does contain lactucarium, which has pain relieving and sedative effects.
Do you wear Blusher? Our once natural bloom that may have faded over the years, but it can be brough back with a subtle touch of blusher. When in a rush I pop a little concealer under my eyes, waft over my face with a dusting of mineral foundation, grab a blusher that can be used as a lipstick as well. 2 little lines on my apples to blend in a smudge across my lips and good to go. My favourite for this trick is one by Studio 10 aptly called ‘Tea Rose’