61 Comments
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Dulci Walker-webb's avatar

Always love to read your letters when I wake sets me off for the day

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JP Clark's avatar

Oh I’m so pleased to hear that.

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Nicole  Wilson's avatar

Amazing very exciting news. Congratulations. Off to order IW Toms and make asparagus tart 🥰 thank you x

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JP Clark's avatar

I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of asparagus tarts and caprese salads made this weekend.

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Jo Thompson's avatar

I can’t wait to see you on Tuesday! Xxx

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JP Clark's avatar

Monday! 🤣🩷 Can’t wait to see you either Jo. X

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Jo Thompson's avatar

🙄🙄🙄

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Mark Diacono's avatar

Ah, JP, just catching up - thank you so much for including the tart (and the usual marvellous read)

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JP Clark's avatar

My absolute pleasure Mark.

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Do love your writing! Oh and IOW tomatoes… amazeballs. Have you tried their tomato balsamic? It’s like nectar!!

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JP Clark's avatar

Thank you so much. Not yet, but it’s just arrived!

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TheGardeningKind's avatar

Try not to drink it straight from the bottle! 😂

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JP Clark's avatar

🤣🤣

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Jenifer crandley's avatar

🥰

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John Simmons's avatar

Great post. I quite enjoyed all of it. I too love real vine ripened tomatoes. The ones sold at the market taste nothing like the ones my grandmother used to grow when I was a kid. Good luck to you at the show and hopefully will see you two on holiday next year

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JP Clark's avatar

Thank you so much John and we are now booked for next year.

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Sheryl O'Connell's avatar

This is the perfect spring post, right down the a stunning table of fragrant lilacs. And I will add your photography certainly is top notch. Oh, and congrats!

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JP Clark's avatar

Sheryl that is most kind of you, thank you.

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Nicky Bender's avatar

Ooh I love the look of that tart.

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JP Clark's avatar

Absolutely delicious Nicky

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Debbie's avatar

Loving this dollop of joy JP! Am very excited for your Chelsea coverage next week I must say xx

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JP Clark's avatar

Thanks Debbie. So looking forward to Chelsea

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Deborah Frost's avatar

Just a side bar to self - I love those painted chairs and how they pull the kitchen together 💛

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JP Clark's avatar

Oh thank you. They were the three colours in my last kitchen diner, so I used them on the chairs to make it more cohesive.

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Mary Katherine's avatar

What a lovely smile this post has brought this morning - I was laughing out loud thinking of you farting under the covers! I know just what you mean about savoring a night with the house to yourself...

I guess we southern Yanks take our summer tomatoes for granted - although we won't have them until July. I bought 4 plants last weekend and they're in the ground and trellised, along with a cucumber for company.

I can't WAIT to follow along the house renovation in painstaking detail - congrats on the planning permission! I know all those regulations are onerous , but I wish we had more of them over here. Our "zoning" boards allow wholesale destruction and rampant development, and don't get me started on product labelling - the foxes are in charge of the henhouse, to say the least.

Can't think of anyone better to go to Chelsea with than your fine self! Take care, friend.

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JP Clark's avatar

Ah Mary Katherine thank you. Conditions are getting so much better for growing tomatoes here thanks to global warming, always a silver lining I suppose. The supermarket varieties never seem to taste of much though, I don’t know why.

Planning for householders is so strict here now, way too strict I’d say. But, then 1000 identikit homes can get permission in weeks it seems. Re: Chelsea - can’t wait!

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Frances's avatar

Oooh, meant to say I recognised your asparagus tart as being à la Mark Diácono, so beautifully made! You clever hombre!

Frannyx

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JP Clark's avatar

It’s unmistakably Mr Diácono isn’t it.

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Frances's avatar

Fabulous, JP, on all counts. I'm thinking where on earth do you get all your energy! So looking forward to seeing the architect plans, how wonderful! Love the lilac factoids too. Thank you.

Frannyx

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JP Clark's avatar

God knows where the energy comes from. 🤣 But, I do love doing what I do. Xxx

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Frances's avatar

It shows.☺️

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Samantha's avatar

My favourite Substack author 🩷🩷 btw M&S food occasionally sell IOW toms. Yummy. Congratulations on the planning. It can be so stressful and exhausting being in limbo waiting for a decision. You must be so relieved. Well done

xx

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JP Clark's avatar

That’s good to know. Thanks Samantha, yes, it was a testing time.

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AJ Waines (Alison Waines)'s avatar

We get IOW toms when we can (we're in Hampshire) - and they are terrific. I, too, love that smell of the fresh vine - it gets me every time. You write just as you chat (on your vlogs) and your personality always comes shining through. That's a true gift! You always make me chuckle. Wonderful ✨😍

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JP Clark's avatar

Alison thank you so much that’s a lovely compliment. Can’t beat those toms.

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