Come for a further wander down the garden paths.
Stepping out of the utility room stable doorway, we meet this little rose that was bramble-bound last year.
This frilly new pink poppy sits quite well against the red Japanese maple, visible from the kitchen window.
Opposite our small patch of grass, we think designed for a dog loo,
against the backdrop of a yellow Japanese maple, speckled New Zealand flax arches over red penstemon and budding thalictrum.
Passing the other end of the Phantom Path, at the far end we see a yellow-green-leaved tree, only one branch of which seemed alive last year, before we lopped out all the dead wood.
Jackie transplanted the outspoken orange hawkweed, regarded in other parts of the world as an infestation, from the former kitchen garden. It now enlivens the Oval Bed.
This Sambucus, planted not so long ago, now blooms behind the potting shed.
The back drive is now framed by new planted troughs. In the top right hand corner of the picture can be glimpsed a basket suspended from the slender arch through which we now walk into the garden. Please don’t tell the head gardener that I keep banging my head on it.
From the end of the drive we turn left to see how Hallmark Builders are getting on with their ‘massive’ project on the recently sold The Spinney at number 11.
Two men are building a beautifully curved wall.
Back down our own brick path we see the delicate pink rodgersia, yet another member of the saxifrage family.
Just past this plant lies the Dead End Path.
Back at the house, the pink striped Rosa Gallica is now blooming against the kitchen wall,
and the Rosa Glauca soars above the patio.
Taking visitors on a meandering trip is rather easier than the task on which the head gardener has been engaged during much of the last two or three days. 
John Whitworth recently expressed his need of a garden map. We are not lovers of straight lines, but, had we had a few more, Jackie’s task would have been so much easier. When she proudly presented the finished chart, I then had the task of reproducing it. Since it had been drawn on A3 paper, which is too large for my scanner, I had to photograph it with my little SX700 HS Canon. Having the benefit of neither Ken Morse’s equipment nor his expertise, it was difficult to achieve an unwarped rectangle from above. Here is the finished masterpiece:
Later this afternoon I had transferred the bonfire ashes to the compost heaps, and raked back the shingle that I’d scraped out for a makeshift hearth.
It is hardly surprising that there had been no time for cooking. There was nothing for it but to go out for dinner. It was Spice of India that was graced with our presence, for which we were rewarded with an excellent meal. My main course was naga chicken with special fried rice; Jackie’s was chicken shaslik and salad. We shared a paratha, and both drank cobra.