Thanks everyone

 I want to say thank you for all the lovely comments I've had recently, you're all brilliant.  The van has been a lot of hard work.....mostly on the part of husband, he's done all the structural and hard DIY stuff, I've done the design ideas, painting, arranging furniture, holding things whilst he bangs nails/puts screws in, titivating - oh, and clearing up and cleaning after he's finished!  The end result, though, is worth every bit of all the effort, hard work and occasional small disaster, we really love it.  And we've really picked the best park and well and truly fallen on our feet there - we love the location and all the other residents - well, all the ones we've met so far - are just so friendly, we've been made so welcome.  A dear friend of mine lives with her husband on a retirement park on the Kent coast - you'd think they'd all be friendly wouldn't you?  Far from it though, their park is a hotbed of gossipy, spiteful old bullies who form cliques and make loud nasty comments about those they've taken an irrational dislike to.  It's such a shame, I do feel for them both, they are such a lovely couple and they just wanted a peaceful life in their final forever home, now they're wishing they hadn't moved there.

To answer some recent comments......Minigranny, you mentioned Gengigel - I bought some and it's been very good at easing my sore gums, thank you.  HappyHooker - muse!!!  Oh my goodness, nobody's ever called me a muse before, that's a BIG responsibility! 😁  I'm just glad that I've inspired you and Gemma's Person and others to get on (again) with whatever it is they enjoy.  We all have hidden talents, we just need to find and use them.  Annabeth, thank you for the recommendation of the Daphne, I shall look out for that - if anyone else has any suggestions for smallish, preferably flowering, shrubs that don't grow too vigorously and will survive happily through the winter, I'd be pleased to hear them.  Rambler, I don't yet know if we're allowed to visit during the closed season to check all is well, I'll have to find out (I've just made a note to that effect in my caravan notebook, thank you).  We definitely wouldn't be allowed to stay even just for one night, it would be in contravention of the Park's licence from the Council - whether we're allowed to have a quick checking visit though, I have no idea.  The owners live on site so they presumably keep a general eye on the vans and I assume would notice and let us know if there was a problem.  They do a bit of maintenance work during the closed season, so they'll be around the caravans.

Oh, and I seem to have a few new readers, and ones who haven't commented before - you're all very welcome.

We've had several friends ask if they can come and visit us at the van, so are arranging that, once we've done the garden we'll host a few afternoon teas.

Over the next couple of days I shall be making a few meals to freeze and take with us - when we're busy with the garden, it'll be useful to have a ready-cooked meal that just needs heating through.