Nimmitabel: A Work in Progress

Monday, 27 July 2026

Keys of Gold with Susan & Mark - Friday 10 - Sunday 12 July 2026

Susan & Mark were able to leave Melbourne earlier than us - so Susan kindly suggested that she would organise dinner.

Justin and I didn't leave til after 5pm - and there was the normal Friday night traffic in the tunnel and more traffic around Green Gully Road

And then for the first time EVER, I missed the Calder Alternative turn off - I was chatting with Justin and must have been just too distracted - obviously not thinking about the turn off - until Justin said - and by that stage it was too late - I'd missed it - felt so stupid...

As it was, we didn't have to go all the way into Bendigo, so it only added another 10 minutes onto our trip

Anyway, got to Inglewood after 8pm - Susan & Mark were cosy in the dining room with the heater on - and had laid out some cheese and dips etc - delicious. And then for mains - a chicken pie with assorted vegie sides.

Lovely - didn't feel like dessert - and we all had an early night

Saturday - decided that we would have a casual breakfast - ie each have it when we felt like it

That meant that Justin and I could have an earlier breakfast in bed - and do puzzles/read the paper etc - and then I got up at 9am and started my lunch prep

Also realised that we didn't have any hot water - so no showers (and advised Susan and Mark). Called John L in Bridgewater and asked if he could deliver a new tank sometime today, which he did - saw him as we were leaving for the concert.

Whisked up and added the wine and treacle for the Yottolenghi chicken/date/olive dish (which I had prepped at home).

Cut up a selection of vegies ie eggplant, potato, sweet potato, capsicum, zucchini, onion etc and put them in a another roasting tray

And then put both the chicken and the vegies in the roasting oven

Walked up to St Augustine's Church around 10.30am for the concert at 11am

Saw David out the front again - and he came and sat with us - 2nd row - as the first row appeared to have been reserved

The concert was magical - it was Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Thomas on organ and a Violinist on a baroque violin. Mark noticed that the violin didn't have either a chin or neck pads - and the strings were gut, so it had to be retuned between seasons

There was even an encore - which was nice

Quickly walked back to the house afterwards - as I wanted to check on the lunch - get some more things ready.

David walked with me - and brought out his esky with the chopped up lamb pieces - legs, chops, shanks etc. He had given it to me in thanks for the concert tickets last week. They were all already frozen and bagged up, so I just put them in the freezer

And I also put the pear crumble in the oven

The others including Damo and Nicole arrived soon afterwards

We had cheese, pate, red dip and biscuits at the lounge end of the dining room to start off with - and left the cheeses out when we went to the 2nd concert - as I thought we would eat them when we returned (which we did)

And I don't mind saying that lunch was excellent

The chicken dish was a real hit (had had it before at the Danes and loved it)

And the roast vegies on a bed of cous cous were also delicious

I thought I had made plenty of chicken - 16 thigh cutlets for the 7 of us - but they all went

David enjoyed it so much that he ate the last piece from the serving dish - as it had all the delicious juices and olives/capers/dates etc

Damo liked the name of the one of the wines - the old School House

Finished off with my pear crumble and cream. The crumble was one of my best, as the some of the juices had caramelised, and the crumble was nice and crunchy

Walked across to the Town Hall around 2.30pm - for the 2nd concert - Bach

This time there was a baroque cello (no spike), a harpsichord and the baroque violin again - and this time Thomas and Simone were able to be in the audience

Was another lovely concert - I very much enjoyed the cello

Then back to the house - where we did indeed have more of the cheese and biscuits

I also enticed most of the cast and organisers back to the house for a drink - and we all had a rollicking good time - with ever increasing noise levels ....

Everyone had left by just after 6pm - so we the four of us had a quiet and early night - it had been a big day

Looked outside - and it was quite foggy

And below are a few photos of the dining room before I went to bed

Had a late communal breakfast on Sunday - bacon, eggs and bloody Marys

Quite a lazy day (for me) - Susan, and David had done quite a few of the lunch dishes yesterday - and then Susan & Justin and Mark had done a lot of Sunday also

Susan & Mark left before lunch, and Justin and I left soon afterwards

Friday, 10 July 2026

Ross and No Pub 27-28 June 2026

For the first time in a long time went to Inglewood on Saturday morning - because we went out for dinner to celebrate Madeleine's birthday on Friday night - and then Ross (Rileigh's Dad) and I went with Mad and Hughie to the football to see GWS vs the Hawks (Hughie had a couple of spare tickets)

Coincidentally (or not, as they are mad Hawks fans) Chris and Jo were there also

So, a very good night was had by all - and we arrived in Inglewood around 11.30am on Saturday

Was a lovely blue sky sunny day - bit chilly, but warm in the sun.

I set up a table outside for lunch

And also did a quick tour of the garden

The medlars are now overripe and oozed some liquid when I squeezed one - you can see the liquid gathered in a drop poised to fall at the base of the fruit

The plants from George are also about to flower

The revived succulent is getting a flower - hoorah

And the daphnes and hellebores are also close to flowering - didn't take photos of these

Three of the tear drop beds have been cut too far back in my opinion - and the couch grass is all still there - so not that happy about that. Not sure that some of the plants cut so far back will survive. Will advise Shane not to cut back the last one (the daphne / hellebore /gardenia bed doesn't need cutting back)

Hmm, its now a couple of weeks later - I've been slack again

Anyway, the others - Chris & Jo, and Fraser, Rileigh & Ross arrived for lunch. In fact Jo brought the lunch - a delicious ploughmans lunch - cheeses, bread, pickles, charcuterie, dips etc - yum

And of course the guitars came out after the lunch was finished

Once again, I didn't really feel like cooking dinner - thought we would just go to the pub - we had also wanted Ross to try a typical pub parma

Jo and I walked up to the pub to check that it was open/make a booking - as the metal gate had seemed closed when we drove into Inglewood this morning

And it was closed....

There was no sign, but it didn't look good

Dropped in on Steve and Denise on the way back, and they said it was closed....so no pub parma

So Plan B was to cook (didn't really want to get takeaway). I had planned a simple roast - but ended up going overboard...

Given that we were now going to be home for dinner - I thought an open fire in the dining room would be nice.

Both Fraser and Ross split some wood for us

Some more guitar playing before dinner

And as to the food, Jo and I made 2 x pork loin roasts, a whole roast cauliflower, crunchy roast potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts with bacon, and roasted onions. A green salad on the side, and a pear crumble with icecream.

It was a feast - so much for not cooking

Didn't stay up too late

Agreed to a late breakfast - 9.30am

But got up before hand to have a coffee, also saw that it was quite frosty - as per the roof of Justin's car

I made us bacon and eggs which we ate in the dining room

And then I bravely started on the dishes (actually a lot of dishes had already been done last night. These were pans that were soaking and the breakfast dishes