Despite the grey clouds of yesterday we have had no rain. The sun has been out but only briefly and when I tried to sit out in it I only lasted five minutes before coming back inside out of the chill.

But the poppies are out by the front door and the tarragon is growing well. We had the tarragon with a roast chicken this evening.

I can remember the first time I had chicken with tarragon. The family had gone for a day trip to Windsor and we found ourselves in a restaurant for lunch that looking back now I suspect was rather smarter than what was required. I had chicken breast stuffed with a tarragon butter.

I think today’s chicken was better. I put a couple of sprigs of tarragon inside of it and then put my hand through under the skin over its breast and worked through a mixture of butter, tarragon and garlic.

We had it with just boiled potatoes and peas and it was very good.

Perfect food for putting the Saturday night behind us. A night that had been spent propping up strange bars wearing a good hat.