The Hive Cafe, Weymouth ...

Taking a moment on a nice day to give a shout out to a wonderful place in Weymouth town centre ...

They have a sweet little courtyard for starters, a surprise oasis which the owners Simon and Rachael worked hard to restore and make cozy. 

Everyday they leave their busy bees at home in Wyke and sell delicious honey as well as tasty food in the cafe. Simon let my children taste some of the set honey at the end of a nice family dinner there. 

So many different salads to choose from, you can also have something special to suit your dietry requirements, and no request is too silly as I have come to learn. At the moment for example, I cannot chew cucumber with the braces on my teeth so it's easier to say no thank you! 

If you don't want new potatoes, you can have pasta salad instead. All requests and suggestions are respectfully handled and all food is served with love. More than once when Rachael has placed food before me I have felt that! 

There are no children's menus, but instead you can have adjusted portions to suit which is great as I have always eaten the same food as my children. My girls know what good food is and were very impressed. 

Cake is a must. I love cake. At this point I need to say that all the food is made with love, too. 

Another delishious slice of cake perfect for flagging souls on a hot Weymouth day!

Today I delivered a piece of my art to be displayed in the cafe. I haven't shown you the other bee art there but you can see it if you visit soon. Mention you have read The Raggy Rat blog for a big smile! Enjoy. Xxx

Happy Diamond Jubilee!

We made a small wildlife pond ...

I went freecycling again, and I picked up a very sweet pre-moulded and pre-used pond. you can see but it has a cute little exit part for little things wanting to leave the water.



Also from the ponds owner came some lovely frog spawn from her main pond



So one woman and three girls set about digging a lovely hole for our new mini ecosystem ... Mary went off to trampoline after a bit, then she fell asleep on the sofa and woke up shaky! Poor baby ...




We smashed roots, hooked out stones and fed fat juicy worms to the chickens! Then we kept measuring the height until it was a perfect fit, even though the garden slopes!



And we filled the pond with rain water from the butts and out of the sandpit too, where we found lovely rotting leaf skeletons and wriggly blood worms too!


We are gently proud of ourselves!

Books and Bricks and Logs!

I have been tackling my garden, particularly my 'patio' (cough) or the bit where the sheds used to be. The log pile was sprawling, and wet in some places after the recent stormy nights ripped the plastic cover (which was ex birthing pool carpet covering!

The chicken girls were pleased with all the woodlice I unearthed for them!



thinking of the book I am working on this year, I started to sketch daisy and Mary sharing books on the sofa ... but Mary slithered down! Then I let Daisy colour in the drawing.



And Matty coloured in this cartoon I did of me and the girls on the sofa. She has helpfully created a neck, for my floating head! I am very tempted to work back into this with pen, and see what comes up!


My book idea has come from a 'game' we play together, so its lovely that we can all work on it together. Daisy can now read my writing if I try my hardest to be neat!

With wings!

I asked the girls to let me take a picture of them on Christmas day, and they promptly cuddled up together!



Then I asked them to turn round and show us the winged-bags that I made for them, and they did this!


Then they quickly flew off!

Book Review - Children in the Wild garden!

I was asked to take a look at this book for Popular Crafts magazine and i was pleased because it looks right up our street, or should i say, garden! We do have a 'relaxed' attitude to gardening anyway, and as some one who educates her children at home, I was looking for a few fun, wildlife friendly ideas! The book is shown in more detail in this months issue, but more about that in a later post!



My wild children and I put on our wellies and headed outdoors with the book, on what was rather a gorgeous day for the middle of October! We already have a hotel for bees to stay in, so i felt really pleased, and this ivy at the back will make the perfect place for one of the books suggestions, hiding an old tea pot for mice and birds to nest in!



The book had strong, lively diagramic illustrations and really good photos graphs showing some of the things you might find, experiments to try and children busy in their wild gardens. One of my 5 year olds kept saying, 'oh wow, oh wow!' as she turned the pages, delighted!



We decided to go on a hunt for mini-beasts, the book explained that not all little creatures are BUGS, so I have learned something straight away!



This hollow in our apple tree actually contained what looked like soil and a few happy woodlice! Plenty to try the woodlice experiment then!



We have plenty of old rotting wood, and under one log, those woodlice had chewed themselves some rather lovely bedrooms - very impressive!



Under a second log was this rather impressive earth worm!



And LOTS of his friends, too!



and under a plank by the shed door we found a rather lively lava, who would hardly keep still for his picture to be taken!



This is a book that will keep us busy all year round, as we think about new life and new growth in spring, and caring for our little wild birds in the cold wintertime!

Owl My Love ... My children!

Ready for take off?



Daisy made owl wings, very successfully and without any grown-ups helping. She has also worn them several times too! The girls often sit on their wendy house roof, hooting, or climb



I know this is really blurred, but it's so funny and I can hear the giggling when I look at it!

Swing-seat Repair...

One morning at a friend's house, I sat and tore up a duvet and three pillow-cases, scored in a free-cycle win! Then set about making a new seat for this children's garden toy, a favourite of some good friends of ours!



When it is done, children quickly jump on - our little friend here is Boots, and he sat on the seat all afternoon, when we had gone home!



His sister Eleanor is looking forward to eating ice lollies and swinging again!

Chicken run!

it was time to stop squeazing in between the clothes pegs and have a proper chicken run - with a gate! First, we had to free the chickens, and they were all over the grass at once!



the two buff Orpingtons seem to be the gaffers on this project ...



but the black tails are happy to lend a had to Doug too - this one is off to look for a left-handed spanner ...



my camera is something of an attraction too, and i feel a bit wary when those beaks start to loom large in my veiw-finder!



Any work in the garden calls for lots of builders'(TM) tea - just ask Mary!



Looks like all our girls really like to play together! And that keeps the chickens from under Doug's feet - they didn't even quake when he fetched out an axe!



Our cuddliest-Chicken has a nice sit down with Matty and Daisy!



And the work is completed in one day - I just had to pick all the pooh off the lawn the next day, before letting the children out to play!


Thank you Doug xxxx

What's in the tent?

one of my goals (never mind new-years resolutions!) was to get to grips with video, and be able to do something with my footage, and so after a few VIMEO tutorials, I have become a much better woman ...



Wasn't that a pip?

Something Big Went Up ....

...in the garden ...



And Mr Raggy Rat was a very happy man ...

the strange case of the dog in the garden ...

Mary loves dog ... but dog is still a little bit heavy for Mary to hump about ...



It's a girl dog, says Mary, Good Boy!



But it's too cold outside to play dog, come inside please!

old shed, new shed ....

space at the top of the garden for a new shed ...



view from the wooden half of my odd, garage extension shed ...



one long shed, two doors, and an odd bit in the middle ...



this should be the guttering, for my garage ... who knew!



all levelled off now, with incinerator foundations dug out, and a tree stump chewed to bits ...



an early morning delivery from the granby ... and us still in our pyjamas!



Adam has made short work of turning the old shed into bricks again ...



old bricks - locally produced hardcore!



Ian telling me another rude story ...



the rough with the smooth, adding the top layer of concrete for the new shed base ...



stay tuned for more 'house work' in raggy rat land ...