The world from my window

In Agios Magikades, there is clapping coming from the primary school playground as the teacher shouts out instructions. Singing follows, then a motorbike buzzes by and there is a hubbub of voices in the garden next door as our neighbours inspect their vegetables for ants. The air is warm and full of red dust. I can smell the moussaka and pastitsada  gently bubbling away in one of the village's three tavernas. The aroma wafts its way across from the plateia and over the rooftops towards the Villa Oleander. A cockerel crows, sparrows chirrup, bright yellow butterflies flutter by and then a swallow does a body swerve as it lands on our washing line and checks the progress of its mate which is attempting to build a nest. Our very own swallows. Oh, what fun. There are swallows, swifts and house martins by the dozen here, chattering, laughing, zooming and hardly ever stopping. Swifts never land on the ground . Imagine how that must feel, always being on the go. And in t...

It is changeover day at the Villa Oleander. Our second batch of visitors has just been and gone. Mr Grigg's brother met his older double, Spiros Ron, with a kindly smile, a wink and a shake of hands in the plateia. The visitors enjoyed some excellent food in the Agios Magikades tavernas and a panoramic view from the rooftop garden of the Hotel Cavalieri , a must-see for any visitor to Corfu. Sadly, our visitors never had a chance to use the pool. The maintenance men have only just finished doing it. We hope they're going to come back to take away the rubble. The island is beginning to get busier now, as is our calendar of visits from family and friends. Many of the resorts are still very quiet, though. Early days yet.  But hardly a day goes by without a cruise ship or two in the port. And at the Hotel Telesilla, it's the start of the Greek dancing season for Mike and Jiannis.  That's about it. Love Maddie x

Back in Corfu, I'm working on a number of creative projects. There's  A Year in Lush Place s, a 'faction' of the year 2010 and all my favourite characters. I'm putting the finishing touches to this because, a long time ago, a blogger called Dave Pie and Mash, along with a few others, told me I should. I haven't heard from him since. So a blog shout to Dave: I'm doing this for you! Then there is my ongoing diary, Kalimera Kerkyra, about our grown-up gap year in Corfu. This will be out as a novel some time next year. I'm also dusting off the first novel I wrote but never published. It's inspired by my days as a young newspaper reporter in My Kind of Town in the 1980s. I've persuaded two other creative types whose debut novels set in the same place remained, like mine, festering in a drawer, to bring theirs out at the same time. The three together will be the Bridport Trilogy. It might not win the Booker or even  the   Bridport  Prize   b...

In Dorset, the A35 road sweeps up over Askers to reveal the most beautiful view of all. After looking to the left and the sweep of the Jurassic Coast, the corner of your right eye is drawn to Eggardon and the lush hinterland, with Lewesdon and Pilsdon - the twin peaks known to sailors as the Cow and Calf - Coney's Castle and Lambert's Castle acting like pulsating echoes in the distance. And the electricity pylons march like giants through Narnia, giving perspective to a landscape so dear to me I almost cry. There is a sense of drama in the air. And then down to West Bay, to check on the boat, a pizza to share at Ellipse and then a look at some of the locations for the hit ITV series Broadchurch  as a real-life SoCo gathers clues next door after a drugs bust.   Waiter, waiter, there's a body in my soup . It's a strange experience, because not long ago this was my manor. We wind our way back to Lush Places, that Brigadoon village in Jack and the B...

We are back in the Shire, in England's Green and Pleasant Land, for a family wedding. My namesake niece married her military bandsman in a lovely little church with box pews, reclining ruff-collared effigies next to the altar and a Methodist-style gallery where one of the groom's colleagues played a flawless Trumpet Voluntary . The rousing hymns - Lord of All Hopefulness, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind and Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer - and the recessional organ music of William Walton's  Crown Imperial  were British to the core and wonderful for it. Earlier, as the relatives shuffled in after a quick stop at the famous Petersham Nurseries , they gazed around in wonder at the church's quirky interior. There were garlands of flowers and leaves above us, as the bride and groom came into church side by side, a Georgian tradition the priest said, and reminiscent of a scene from Jane Austen. Number One Grand-Daughter followed, a small blonde vision in a wispy aqu...

Easter in Corfu is the most incredible thing. In our eleven years of visiting this island, it is something we have been told about many times. 'You must come to Corfu at Easter,' our friend Jiannis told us. 'You will not believe it. The Greeks are famous for Easter but in Corfu, it is the best.' And how right he was. Words cannot describe the spectacle. Photos do not do it justice. You really have to be here to understand. A strange mixture of ritual, devotion, celebration, tradition, noise, ceremony, moving music, lots of eating and lots of fireworks combine to create a heady experience on a massive scale, with some poignant moments of detail in between. This is the place and time to come for an unforgettable long weekend break. All week, Corfu's famous bands have been at the forefront, along with the island's mummified patron, Saint Spiridon, who is paraded through the streets on Easter Saturday on one of his four outings a year. In the t...

Easter in Corfu. Moving and bonkers. Here's the bonkers bit:    And then a mad scramble to pick up the broken pieces after the Easter Saturday pot smashing in Corfu Town is all over. We took ours home and put them on the mantelpiece as an offering to Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and home before a siesta and the evening festivities to come. That's about it. Love Maddie x