I’ve been busy, really busy and today in an effort to catch up I open my blog to discover 929 spam comments.  Now normally I flick through the spam box just in case a valid post or comment is mis-directed, but with nine hundred and twenty nine there is no way I am going to check, so auto delete key.

Here at Bellaugello it has been a great few days, as ever fabulous guys staying, and lots going on.

One of the Umbrian towns I visited last week was Todi, some 30km south of Perugia, a wonderful drive through low hills some clad with olive groves, others with delightfully tidy rows of vines.  For once a GPS took me straight to a great car park from where a short train ride, well it is a lift but runs up the side of the hill on tracks so a lift train takes one straight to the centro storico of this delightful hilltop town.

Some years ago in Condé Nast magazine it was voted one of the 30 best towns in the world in which to live, and of course then changed somewhat, in part it is still a very quaint Umbrian town, but hidden in narrow side streets are a wealth of antique and chic design shops, real treasure troves.

Friday saw an unexpected and much appreciated visitor, a great excuse for me to bake some lavender cup cakes in my newly purchased silicone cup cake moulds,

hey voilà! a success!  After a pot of simply divine tisane we walked round the garden and exchanged planting ideas, and marvelled in the beauty of Umbria.

Saturday brought me an email message from TripAdvisor of another review for Bellaugello Gay Guest House, I really want to thank  the guys who take the time to write a review of their stay here, and to read their kind words makes my job really worthwhile.

On Sunday some of the guys headed up to the southern Tuscan town of Anghiari which was hosting an annual spring fair.  Although Bellaugello Gay Guest House is in Umbria,we are not far from either Tuscany or Le Marche, many beautiful towns are well within a day visit from here and the circular Tuscan town of Anghiari is certainly no exception.

Today was back to the garden, dodging rain showers, my, how everything is now so green.  I managed to plant another row of lavender and rosemary, heady scents carried on light breeze and crowned at one point by a weak hazy rainbow.  I am now working out how I am going to get the hedging plants which I plan for the wall behind our infinity swimming pool to fit in my car.  They won’t so…. so, so hmm  I have yet to work that one out!  I have broken one of my garden rules and ordered cypressus leylandii that fast growin conifer so detested in suburban gardens, but when kept well and trimmed regularly forms an extrordinarily neat and rectilinear hedge.  I have bought red roses which I will plant at intervals in front of the hedge, to form a very formal backdrop to the pool, and allow the future placement of some sensual sculptures.

In between whiles I found time to dash to Rome where I met Cristiano, the guy who answered my Facebook post and is coming to Bellaugello for the month of May.  Also in Rome I met a cousin that I had last seen in London in the swinging sixties.  My cousin lives in Perth, Australia and had found me through the business, amazing!  She is traveling with her husband on the QE2 which had stopped at the port of Civitvecchia for the day.  It was a really emotional meeting, so much to catch up on, a very lengthy family tree to ingest, is a fabulous story that I will post about soon, but for now, I think it is time for me to sign off and hit the hay, night all!