It’s been a glorious weekend here. The best sort: filled with fun, food and friends.

Today, I’ll add another ‘f’ to the list…flowers. The house is filled with gorgeous flowers everywhere.

Peonies and roses in the garden room, sunflowers on the kitchen windowsill and more roses and iris in the sitting room.

On Friday night, my Hero sang in a concert; the last of the Summer choir commitments and the third and reportedly, the best performance of all by a group of eight “dashing” friends.

Earlier in the year, they’d got together to work on a new song. It proved tricky and around the time we were about to go on our cruise, they began to wonder if they’d bitten off more than they could chew. One by one, they wobbled - could they really do this? Not one of them wanted to let the side down, but yet… A couple of focused evening get togethers and some mutual encouragement worked wonders and with a week or so to go before the first performance, they were more confident. In true style, then, the eight of them pulled it all together and when the night of the concert came, it was a triumph.

(Oh yes, there are stocks and more roses on another kitchen windowsill and an hydrangea out in the garden too!)

To celebrate the spectacular results of such hard work and the joy of achievement, we suggested a relaxed night around our table, which is why on Friday there were two Summer puddings sitting in our fridge being given a squeeze from time to time in the hope that those juices would soak into every last square inch of white bread.

And why there were two six-egg-white pavlova bases in the oven overnight…

I sometimes feel like a one-trick-pony but it’s hard to disappoint and it is a great make-ahead dessert, even if Bettine isn’t present.

The fridge was so full that the chickens had to marinate in the cold box, packed with ice. Surprisingly (and reassuringly!) 24 hours later, the ice cubes were still intact.

Saturday turned out to be the hottest day of the year, so the Pimms was prepared and the beer put on ice.

We’d opened all the windows and doors and I fear the village did not get the concert quality performance they deserved as we belted out a few Elvis and Neil Diamond favourites in between courses thanks to Steve’s magnificent accompaniment.

When everyone had gone home, my Hero and I did our usual reflection on our role reversal - when we were first married, I always wanted to leave it all till the morning and he favoured clearing it all up before bed. These days, I’m the one wanting to clear as he’s climbing the stairs. On this occasion, he won.

Everything was soon back in place yesterday morning and as the dishwasher hummed, we reflected on a lovely evening. This morning, I came home from swimming, emptied the washing machine and as I hung out all the tea towels on the line, you can imagine what tune was in my head…

I guess I’ll do the dashing away bit later.

(For you to enjoy their hard work, here’s the recording from the concert)