Loudon grinned as he recalled, "We planted our first vines when we moved to Hatch End in the 1960s and the vines grew like fury. We bought a red one."
Alice smiles, "It was wonderful ..."
Loudon enthuses, "I counted 300 bunches, after only a couple of years."
Alice concedes, "Prolific. Although the grapes were inedible. And the wine was undrinkable."
Loudon, "The vine grew on a rooftop. so it had plenty of places to cling onto, like a very big bramble. I then cut the end off which hung over the top of the door. We got lots of grapes ..."
Alice nods: "Which were foul."
Loudon beams, "I managed to make a bottle of wine."
Alice adds, "The worst sort of vinegar. The grapes were minute. All skin and a lot of pips and not much material but they looked pretty."
Loudon, "It was well watered."
I asked, "By you or the rain?"
Alice replied, "By everything. Our son Robert was looking at wines in Tesco in Watford and saw the name of the vineyard Three Choirs on the Welsh Border. He bought the wine for us and it was delicious. So on a summer day we thought we'd visit the vineyard.
"When we arrived the car park was full of Bentleys and smart cars, because the County set were having lunch in the vineyard restaurant. We went into the shop, asking if we could have something to eat maybe in a coffee shop or cafeteria. The assistant said only the restaurant, but they could find a table for us in an hour's time and meanwhile we could walk around the vineyard.
"The sunshine was wonderful and we walked in and amongst the vines, up a gradually sloping hill. We saw rabbits and mole holes. And field mice - little ones with long tails, brown earth colour, house mice are grey."
I asked, "Have you ever seen a house mouse?"
(See next post on cats and mice.)
Alice smiles, "It was wonderful ..."
Loudon enthuses, "I counted 300 bunches, after only a couple of years."
Alice concedes, "Prolific. Although the grapes were inedible. And the wine was undrinkable."
Loudon, "The vine grew on a rooftop. so it had plenty of places to cling onto, like a very big bramble. I then cut the end off which hung over the top of the door. We got lots of grapes ..."
Alice nods: "Which were foul."
Loudon beams, "I managed to make a bottle of wine."
Alice adds, "The worst sort of vinegar. The grapes were minute. All skin and a lot of pips and not much material but they looked pretty."
Loudon, "It was well watered."
I asked, "By you or the rain?"
Alice replied, "By everything. Our son Robert was looking at wines in Tesco in Watford and saw the name of the vineyard Three Choirs on the Welsh Border. He bought the wine for us and it was delicious. So on a summer day we thought we'd visit the vineyard.
"When we arrived the car park was full of Bentleys and smart cars, because the County set were having lunch in the vineyard restaurant. We went into the shop, asking if we could have something to eat maybe in a coffee shop or cafeteria. The assistant said only the restaurant, but they could find a table for us in an hour's time and meanwhile we could walk around the vineyard.
"The sunshine was wonderful and we walked in and amongst the vines, up a gradually sloping hill. We saw rabbits and mole holes. And field mice - little ones with long tails, brown earth colour, house mice are grey."
I asked, "Have you ever seen a house mouse?"
(See next post on cats and mice.)
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