Winter Work

I stayed in France over xmas and New Year. I spent xmas eve with French friends because that is when the French celebrate xmas. It was a lovely celebration but when I returned to my house in the early hours of xmas day i found the house was full of smoke. A basket of sticks next to the fire  had burned and was still smoking.  How lucky I was that the house hadn't burned down. I went to bed and then on  xmas morning I began to tackle the smoke damage.  A friend came on Boxing Day and tried to wash the blackened walls. The next day another friend rang and suggested that I contact the Insurance company which I did immediately.  I sent a report by email and some photos and today an assessor came to assess the damage. He will report back to AXA. 
So after contacting AXA I stopped trying to clean up and returned to the garden.  The Winter job that is paramount is weeding the flower beds and adding compost mixed with wood ash. I have so far managed to complete 10 beds in the slate garden.  There remain all around the front and side lawns.
Photos of empty beds covered with compost are boring so here are some photos of the beds when they were in flower last summer.