The Easter weekend brought with it a real feeling that the sunshine – and summer – is on its way. I loved spending time outdoors with Munchkin, seeing her crawling across the grass, getting her socks filthy dirty, playing on her playmat, enjoying all the new things there was to see, watching her Daddy mow the lawn. It was a whole new way to spend time with her.

And all around the house and the garden too there are real signs that winter has given way to spring, and that summer is just around the corner…

The daffodils are finally out; the lawn has been freshly mowed; and there’s washing on our line!
(Lawnmower, £179, Aldi; White Ultimate Supima 800 GSM Bathsheet, £22.50, Soak&Sleep)

The garden furniture is out of its annual hibernation; coffee and Easter cake is enjoyed outside on the lawn; the primroses are everywhere; and there’s the man, doing man’s work…
(Wooden folding garden chair, £29 , similar here; Nespresso Coffee Maker, £135, Magimix, John Lewis; Assorted teaplates, vintage;)

White wine chilling in the fridge, (and drunk copiously outside); red stripes and green grass; vintage linen and blooming daffs; sublime narcissus…
(Vigneti di Foscarino Soave Classico, £14.24, Waitrose Cellar (25% off till 10 April); Red striped garden cushions £30, similar here ; tablecloth, vintage; Cornish daffodils, £1 a bunch, Market Garden, Dyer Street, Cirencester; Narcissus, £3 a bunch, Tortworth Plants at Stroud Farmer’s Market, Saturdays, 9 am-2 pm, Cornhill Market Place, GL5 2HH)

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.”
Charles Bowden