Queen Elizabeth visits Cambridge

450 years after her last visit, Queen Elizabeth I returned to Cambridge

The Royal Procession leaving King's College Chapel after Evensong

Open Cambridge 2014

Open Cambridge is an annual event when normally private buildings and gardens are open to the public.
This is the Senior Combination Room at Sidney Sussex College, where the tour was given by the Head Porter.

The kitchen garden in the Fellows' Garden, Trinity College

The dining hall in Westminster College, one of Cambridge's less well-known Colleges and well worth a visit

A corner of what was the private dining room for the College President

View from the College of the junction of Queens' Road and Madingley Road.  When the College was built in 1899 it was on a leafy lane on the outskirts of the city; very different now!  The windows may be old but they made a very effective sound barrier.

The library

You don't get plumbing like this nowadays!

One of a series of 12 stained glass windows in the Chapel.  My photo doesn't do it justice.

Our garden in September

Giant tomato - 37cm circumference, weight 570g - and all very edible!

A mixed bunch of tomatoes, and more to come

Man at work!
The timber sides of our raised beds are rotting so I decided to replace them with some made of recycled plastic.

One down and 6 to go.  I think we'll need several cubic meters of topsoil!

The grapes are doing well this year

London, 30 June 2014

Ben and I went to London for the fascinating Matisse exhibition at Tate Modern.  We walked from Liverpool Street, past St Paul's and over the Millennium Bridge.  Spot the remains of the medieval wharves revealed by the low tide.

From one extreme to the other - Southwark Cathedral and the Shard

The Herb Garret of St Thomas's Church was part of the old St Thomas's Hospital

The Old Operating Theatre in the hospital is the oldest in Europe.  The operating table is the wooden bench in the middle.  The tray to the left is full of sawdust to catch the blood, and the space under the floor was also packed with sawdust to stop the blood dripping into the church below!

Window cleaning on the Shard

Our garden in July

Grapes coming along nicely

Part of the cherry harvest - we had about a kilo from two very small trees and they were delicious!

Honorary Degrees, 18 June 2014

Name the Honorary Graduand - Gandalf isn't the right answer!

The Chancellor, David Sainsbury, gives his Address while Sir Ian McKellen waits in the wings

Sir Ian replies on behalf of the Graduands

The Official Photo

Our garden in June

Poppies pop up in a variety of shapes and shades, different every year

I netted the cherry tree before the blackbirds got to it so we actually have a crop this year!