THE SECRET GARDEN

Welcome to my secret garden, only it’s not so secret anymore (ha ha). I have named our upper top garden ‘The secret garden’ as you would not know this garden is here if you were in any of the other terraces in the garden. It’s hidden on a hillside and only accessed by a narrow passageway hidden with cascading ivy. It is not completely hidden and is slightly visible from the road. It is currently overgrown and had become a bit of a dumping ground for the previous occupants. It has an amazing fig tree and we planted our little lemon tree here too. It also houses our tiny ruin which we have now decided we want to make into a chicken house with a surrounding coop, sorry – grandkids! Yippee we are getting chickens! It will take a long time to sort the secret garden but hopefully this year at some point we will be the proud owner of chickens that produce fresh eggs. There are lots of bees, butterflies and birds in our secret garden and we might grow some grape vines and other plants too. It has dreamy landscape views but no fence so a sheer drop. Note to myself – don’t go here drunk in the dark.

We decided to clear away the weeds and debris from under the fig tree, our first step in sorting our little treasure of a garden. There are lots of vines that love to wind around our trees and suck the life out of them so this was a tricky task. Luckily for us we found no dog poop this time, they saved that for the area by the ruin – what a delight! We managed to clear a huge pile of garden waste and have started a hot compost area.

You probably know by now that I love nature and being outdoors. I thought I had seen everything then I stumbled across a beautifully made bird’s nest with 5 tiny eggs situated right in the middle of our fig tree. 5 little speckled eggs resting neatly on twigs and leaves. I was really concerned that we may have distressed mummy bird with all our digging and raking. For a short moment I thought that my hubby had planted some cadbury mini eggs for a laugh as he is a practical joker and spotted the nest first but luckily mummy bird returned safe and sound, maybe she was just foraging for food. I have checked with some of my ‘twitcher’ Facebook friends and it is looking like it could be a Pisco de peito ruivo (Red breasted robin), so we have named her Robyn. I am excited to have a friend of nature to check on as Leeroy the Lizzard has gone AWOL from inside our window shutter. I am looking forward to watching the eggs hatch, experiencing the wonders of new life and greeting my new feathered friends. Now to decide on 5 names (ha ha). Maybe I could name them after The Jackson 5: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael.

Found a great spot to hang my water bottle!

UPDATE: The chicks have hatched!

OMG I love this photo – 5 hungry little birds.

**Hubby made bird themed pancakes to celebrate**

4 Comments

Linda Baker
5 years ago Reply
Hi Helen, am loving reading about your new life in Portugal. You seem to be having an absolute ball out there. Loving seeing the surroundings and the wildlife you’ve been befriending particularly.
Life in the UK as I’m sure you know is on lockdown so working from home is the order of the day, but that gives more opportunity to rediscover some of those forgotten hobbies too. We have been having a fox in the garden recently. We think there may be some young ones somewhere near as we have an overgrown area between us and our neighbours. Our cat keeps her distance! Hoping your veg patches take off and you can enjoy the fruits of your labours.
Take care, and keep enjoying!
- Helen
  5 years ago Reply
  Hi Linda,
  
  So great to hear from you and I’m glad you are coping with lockdown in the UK. The wildlife is pretty spectacular here and everyday brings a new surprise. We used to have loads of foxes in Redland and I’m a little worried that foxes here in Vinhó might want to eat my chickens when I get them. We will need to safety proof the coop well, I’m so excited about keeping chickens. In the meantime I have the robin in the fig tree and her eggs to monitor. I also keep hearing a weird noise coming from the field next to us, it literally sounds like a dinosaur from Jurassic Park film – if you don’t hear from me, it may have eaten me!
  
  Bye for now, keep positive and safe X
Caroline hodgkinson
5 years ago Reply
Hello Helen
I have loved your blog. So much of what you are saying struck a chord with me . We live in Bath but go to central Portugal 4/5 times a year . Well usually but still in lockdown here.. I love it for all the reasons you say ..About 4 years ago we bought a little house near fajao 30mins from Arganil. Hills,the river ,such friendly locals ..we love it ..I am still working but maybe one day it will be permanent ..so thank you for reminding me why I love it and good luck with all your projects. From rainy UK. Best wishes Caroline
- Helen
  5 years ago Reply
  Hi Caroline,
  
  Thank you for you kind comments. We love Bath, hubby used to work there on Gay Street and we toured Bath university for Teanna (daughter) but they wanted such high grades (all A/A*). Fajao sounds delightful and is only a 1/2 hr drive from us so maybe we can meet up on one of your next visits. We absolutely love it here and are spending all our spare time renovating our old house. I can’t wait to explore the beautiful sights of Portugal, there is so much to see. Covid 19 put a hold on our sightseeing. I think I might take a break from DIY and visit Piódão or Fraga da Pena which are local to us. I will keep my fingers crossed for you that one day soon you are able to relocate here for good and escape the rain. We were going to buy a holiday home then decided just to go for it and make the permanent relocation. We were lucky as the cost of living here is great which meant I could give up my FT job at 46 and be a lady of leisure here but hubby still works FT remotely from home.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Helen.