Our lovely stone courtyard is turning green for summer, slowly but surely. It’s a different kind of gardening than I’m used to, involving more hardscape, pots and quirky artwork, but it’s looking good for much less work. We really enjoy sitting out there and we have visiting bees and toads and geckos, so it’s working…
More properly, I should say a bug hotel, with an annexe for bees. As we’ve expanded our range of garden plants this year, we’ve been visited by more bees. Over the long, dry summer, they especially seemed to enjoy drinking the water from the saucers of our large pots. To help, we added a special…
Updated May 2019 – new flowers added! I’ve been inspired this spring to get outside and learn more about Hvar’s plantlife. I see local folks using flowers and leaves in drinks, in cooking, as insect repellants, balms and of course to flavour various rakijas! At the same time, we’ve also been watching a wonderful Croatian…
For the past few years, I’ve been making rose syrup in the Dalmatian way, which involves layering the petals with sugar, and leaving them out in the sunshine for a few weeks. The syrup is wonderfully fragrant, and can be used in so many ways for desserts, cordials, cocktails and baking. This year, I’ve decided…
Day two of the retreat saw us in Stari Grad, the oldest town on the island, and indeed one of the oldest in Europe. As the former Greek colony of Faros, this place was already old in the 16th century, when Petar Hektorović built his summer residence here. Tvrdalj was originally on the waterfront, bristling…
It’s fun to take my sketchbook along on a walk instead of the camera, although it doesn’t half slow down progress! But what I lose in distance covered and numbers of images, I gain in terms of the quality of the scene imprinted on my memory. Places that I’ve sat and sketched are much more…
Road trip day 2 saw us in the delightful medieval town of Šibenik. It lies on a bay created by the river Krka, directly facing the fairly narrow channel where the river exits into the Adriatic. The natural harbour has made the town an important trade centre over the years, and this place is seriously…
The roses are in bloom early this year, so I thought I’d get started on the rose syrup. It seems a shame to waste all those fragrant petals! I’ve made it for the past couple of years and I love adding it to summer desserts, and making rose cordial on a hot afternoon. In Dalmatia,…
The word for a door in Croatian is vrata, which comes from the old Slavic word vorta. It’s always plural, in the same way that trousers or pants are in English. And vrata means both the opening, and the object we use to close it up. Now that may be a wooden door, glass door or wrought-iron gate, inside or outside, in the house or garden or field – vrata covers all types.
One of the great benefits of catching the early morning ferry into Split, is the opportunity to wander around the backstreets when they’re not so busy. On this particular Sunday, we had a plane to catch, but that wasn’t until lunchtime. In the meantime, we could have breakfast on the Riva, and explore the old town.
Go Hvar 
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