Seashell Trust abseil and zip wire challenge

I did it! And yes it was scary - or at least going over the edge at first was but then it was fantastic and I loved it! We had a wonderful day out, the weather was lovely, the family all came along to support me and I have already raised over £300 so a BIG thanks to everyone who has pledged money so far - it will all go towards a new sensory room for deafblind kids at the Seashell Trust. And if anyone else would still like to sponsor me you can donate online at www.justgiving.com/michelehart.

I am very proud of myself today.

Enjoying the fruits (or veg) of our labours

Our first proper growing season (apart from a few herbs in pots in previous years) and we are now starting to enjoy our first few meals made with wonderful fresh produce straight from the garden. It seems Martin is not only a great chef but a great gardener too - who'd have thought he had green fingers?

Am tucking into a lovely salad of lettuce and spring onions (pulled just 10 minutes ago) with tinned mackerel and some balsamic dressing and feeling very smug and healthy as I write this. But what else have we been feasting on of late?

The First Supper - see above - a lovely salad from the garden (apart from the tomatoes) with fresh home grown herbs and warm potatoes straight from the earth.

Our first baby carrots

Fantastic supper - great piece of rump steak with home grown potatoes, baby carrots and sprouting broccolli (all from the garden) - and a big dollop of Dijon mustard - yum!

Mr Green Fingers himself surveying his kingdom

Treacle and Thierry eyeing up the lawn - which clearly needs some more work!

Cheers & Bees

What a fantastic day I had yesterday. I was honoured to spend it with three fine gentlemen - Goerge Philiskirk, the Beer Doctor no less, the lovely John Axon of The Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury and his father, the BIG Cheese himself, Arthur Axon.

So with good company sorted, we then set out to educate food and drink writers across the North West with our fantastic cheese and beer matching roadshow - a selection of fine beers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and of course good old Blighty, paired up with some amazing cheeses from The Cheese Hamlet. And what a revelation it was! Blimey, even those cynical boys at Manchester Confidential were blown away with Gordo declaring the choice of cheddar to be the best he had ever tasted and waxing lyrical about Worthington's White Shield and Brakspear Triple, perfectly matched with a fine Colston Basset Stilton. My own personal favourite? The stunning Frambozen raspberry beer from Belgium tasted alongside the divine, soft, runny, delicate flavours of St Felicien, an unpasteurised cow's milk cheese from France.

A great day was had by all - well apart from when I managed to lock my car keys in the boot in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Spectacular service from the RAC sorted us out in good time though. And then a hairy moment when I got stuck in some kind of nightmare scenario wandering up and down the metal fire escape at Manchester Confidential Towers only to find locked doors on each floor and thinking I could be trapped there forever.

And guess what - I get to do it all again today. Rowena Forbes, Neil Sowerby and the teams at both Smooth Radio and Key 103 are in for a right treat - as I kept saying yesterday, there's nothing like putting some cheers and bees together!

My first meal from the garden

What a great month it's been for the garden - lots of lovely sunshine and plenty of rain too - with the end result being that our first attempt at growing our own veggies is so far proving to be a huge success. My colleague Guy Watson of Riverford Organic would be proud of me!

We have an abundance of produce in various different stages of growth - spuds, tomatoes, radish (all munched, more on their way), lettuce, spring onions, broccoli, carrots, butternut squash, chillies, peppers and all sorts of different herbs in pots.

And last night was a cause for celebration - I enjoyed my first meal from the garden! How healthy I felt as I sat down to a delicious salad of Cos lettuce, spring onions, basil, coriander and hot Pink Fur Apple potatoes (with some tomatoes from Morrisons thrown in), all lovingly assembled by my 10 year old son who has long been someting of a gourmet but until last week showed no interest in learning cooking skills from his chef dad - suddenly after making scones at school he wants to do everything. Didn't he do a cracking job plating up my salad - and serving it with a glass of chilled water in a champagne flute?!