Today’s guest picture comes from my Somerset correspondent, Venetia and shows the Chew Valley Lake, a large reservoir in north Somerset. She had an unexpected hour to fill in her schedule and found a good place to spend it.
Our Scandinavian high seems to have finally slipped away and we had a chilly, grey and sometimes very wet morning. I found nothing useful or interesting to do with it. There weren’t even many birds who thought that it was worthwhile visiting the feeder.
After an early lunch, Mrs Tootlepedal and I set off in the car to visit our friend Sue who had invited us to the official opening of her garden container. It has required a great deal of very hard work and ingenuity on Sue’s part to acquire the many bits needed to change a shipping container into a garden room that anyone would be pleased to sit in but she has done it…with the help of family and friends (and a good contractor from Langholm).
We were the first to arrive as we had to leave early to get to our choir but there was soon a merry gathering enjoying the very tasty eats and drinks provided and marvelling at the transformation of a metal box into a most relaxing space.
We were sorry to go but with a concert coming, I couldn’t miss a choir practice.
The weather had changed completely from the wet and windy morning and I was able to take a picture of Talkin Tarn which we passed on our way to the party….
…and a very colourful tree just outside the church where we meet to sing.
For some reason neither our regular conductor nor our regular accompanist was available today but the stand-ins were more than up to the job and with the choir on its best behaviour, we had a very good session.
It was too gloomy in the morning for happy snaps and it was too dark for any photographs by the time that we got home so there are no flowers and no flying birds today but as we all agree that you can have too much of a good thing, perhaps it is all for the best.
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Thank you for using my photo. There were perhaps thousands of coots on the lake. I’m told that such a gathering is called a ‘raft’of coots.
A raft of coots. I’ll have to remember that one. Coots are among my favorite birds.
Not many photos, but the one of Talkin Tarn is a winner!
It is a favourite spot.
How ingenious of your friend to convert a big box into a room! It looks very comfortable. I also like the colourful tree.
The process wasn’t cheap but it is a very satisfactory result.
That’s quite a substantial looking deck on the new garden room. Very well built by the looks.
The sun on the tree line was beautiful. I see something similar most mornings on my way to work.
Sue is considering how to keep the decking from becoming slippery which is always the downside of decking.
Sand paint might work if it isn’t treated lumber.
She is thinking of an algae deterrent.
The shipping container garden room was a wonderful idea. I like the Grand Opening Day flags above the door. The colorful tree is quite cheery.
A bit of bunting never goes amiss.
The colours in the Talkin Tarn shot are wonderful. I’ve sometimes wondered about using a shipping container for a small cottage in my garden here but as you’ve mentioned there is a lot of work involved. I must look into it more as it sounds like Sue’s garden room is quite lovely.
I think it is quite doable if you can find a good contractor as some of the work is quite tricky.
What a great idea for a shipping container! 🙂
What a sky above the tarn.
Very impressed by your friend Sue’s garden room.
Glad your choir practice went well.
Shipping containers seem to be catching on for conversion to useful spaces for people. When I was growing up there were a number of people using old railway boxcars as sheds and one man who built his house around one, which amazed me at the time.
I have seen railway carriages used as as holiday homes quite frequently.
The colourful trees make up for the lack of flowers. Hope they will be back though.