I was very happy to hear a little while ago that my friend Henry’s niece, Grace, was going to be a royal bridesmaid. But who knew that young Grace van Cutsem would be the star of the entire Royal Wedding?

I think we can safely conclude she doesn’t like a lot of people cheering.

Have a happy Bank Holiday!

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

… enjoy it. You can read a little post for the Financial Times How to Spend it here, about the garden one evening this week.

And here are a few photos of sunset in the valley.

It’s a bit of a shame that my friend Mo is in Ethiopia for Easter (Happy Easter by the way), because I think she would have loved this little set up. Her friend Rachel, who is pretty bonkers and who runs the brilliant Prick your Finger, herself has two completely bonkers friends called Emma Gibbs and Amy Plant who have set up The Energy Café. Travelling a converted horse-box, the café brings its own particular blend of… post-fossil fuel chic… to various strange places along the way.

We went yesterday, with our friends Chris & Roy who had put us on to the lark, to a little quiet corner of Powerstock Common. Partly a scene from Thomas Hardy, partly a vision of the world after oil, the two girls create an extraordinary lunch with foraged food cooked entirely on alternative stoves, wood-chip burners powered by an old hairdryer, a solar cooker (I’m not sure it quite worked) and, well, a barbeque.

On reflection, if this is a vision of life in the future, it might make you believe a bit more in nuclear power—but I’m not sure I’ve had a more charming and memorable lunch in ages. It was pretty perfect in its own crazy way. I suspect we will be hearing more about Ella and Amy and their Energy Café.

One advantage of having too many tulips in the garden… is that you can have too many inside. A case of when too many is never enough.

It was time yesterday to give the flower borders a bit of a calming down. Some tulips were over, and they are on the compost heap. Others were good for picking!

Is a long time in the garden. The wisteria is in flower, the copper beech in leaf.  I’m not sure I can get over this weather. It’s a bit scary. Have a happy Easter!