This weekend I have been at a family gathering with a difference. Let me explain. My husband has a large extended family and one of his family members owns a country house hotel in the South of England. Since 2003 it has been a family tradition that, roughly every other year, an invitation is extended to the family to come together in the hotel for a weekend of hospitality and good food, in exchange for work in the grounds. Or perhaps I should describe it as Work in the grounds. See the banks in the first photograph? See the rhododendrons at the bottom? On Saturday morning, that ravine was filled from bottom to top with them, and with laurel saplings and brambles. Where he's walking wasn't even visible, let alone accessible.
