Central Otago in the Spring and now home for the next eight months.

Philip and I have had a fabulous year travelling with absolutely wonderful tour groups once again — to Victoria, Italy, France, and Turkey — as well as on our own journeys to the Borders in Scotland, the Basque Country in Spain, and on to Porto, Madrid, and Barcelona. Just two weeks ago, we returned from ten glorious days in Rhodes, which we loved.

We have both turned 70 over the past month, and no matter how daunting the future looks as the dreaded “old age” creeps up, we are grateful and privileged to have our health and to continue leading an active life.

As many of you know, we are ‘gardeners’! We visit many inspiring and exceptional gardens while travelling — I think the best this year was the Lur Garden in northern Spain (watch it on Monty Don’s Spanish Gardens series). It’s a passion andwe also listen to podcasts and support many gardening magazines and books!!!

Between June and August the garden here can be cold and desolate, but with careful planning and planting in the autumn, we now have hundreds of tulips flowering — apart from the pots of white ones the rabbits ate! The new narcissi in the nut orchard are exciting; most came from a mixed bag, so there are a few delightful surprises.

Although we knew we’d have some intense work when we returned in late September, sadly everything is getting battered by the wind, which makes gardening both debilitating and tiring. Even the opening of the fly-fishing season has been affected, I believe.

A few hours each day add up, and the new seedlings are all poking through — some in less than a week. Philip has almost finished preparing the vegetable beds for the famous Labour Day planting weekend. Micro-weeding the gravel is ghastly, and dividing and planting the hundreds of dahlias will be quite a mission. However, in a month the dry weather will start, and the changes and growth in the garden will be evident.

Our proximity to Wanaka — only 20 minutes — is a treat, although we can’t eat much after a rather disastrous weight gain over the year! A good espresso coffee at Kai Whakapai, a delicious salad bowl at Sofi, and a local wine with friends at Vèrve make a lovely change from shovelling horse poo from our neighbour’s pile and compost for mulch on the gardens.

I love the Tarras village where we collect our mail. The friendly coffee shop with Paul and Antonia , chatting to the girls in the store, finding clothes in the beautiful Perriam clothing shop, and visitng the exceptionally amazing Mrs Robinson’s décor “house” . They are all worthy of any village worldwide — and we’re not only lucky to live so close but we are gradually getting to know more locals.