'A Handful of Earth' by Barney Bardsley.

This is the title of a book I have delayed beginning until I had cleared my mind of previous reads.
It is written by my sister in law and is, if you strip to barest essentials, an diary of a year in her garden and allotment and the tale of how it began the healing process for her during her husband's long and terrible illness and after his death.
Anyway, today I began reading it and because her writing is so absolutely beautiful and truthful, every word resonating so it feels like poetry, though it reads like a story, I shall read it slowly and reflectively...not at all the way I usually read which is in a kind of slurpy gobble!
And because she writes with such unpretentious candour about the tragedy of losing a husband and about the faith and support that she found in the growing earth I know I shall be quoting from it occasionally!
I'm half way through February already and have already shed a few tears and had a few wry laughs and warm smiles.
She's a lovely lady, my sister in law and we've always been proud of her. Have to say, I'm now growing a bit of awe as well because this book is tremendous. Not only a testament to her husband and child but also to her own courage and endurance. And a song of praise for the giving earth. And if you think this sounds gloomy (because tales of courage and endurance can be quite heavy reading), it's not.
A bit of earth and some chives and parsley. It doesn't look like a recipe for saving a life does it. Unless you know about earth magic :)

Well I'd better shut up about that now because Barney (mine, the elder brother of the lovely author) want his cup of tea before he falls asleep. Umm it may be too late already.
I'd quite like my front door to look like this
and to have a little room of my own up thereAnd to look out at this every day
It's one of the houses in Bampton where the dancers go into the grounds to dance and the following hordes get to wander around the garden. It has a a fabulous garden but I'm in love with the courtyard. There's a sort of grand granny annexe on the other side. I wonder if they need someone to live there!

Still, if you live in Rochdale, you could always go and be impressed with this Garden Centre. I expect its front doesn't live up to the promise of the back view from the canal though.