Hi janice The big plant too the left......Gunnera. I'ts only a baby at the moment,the leaves can grow too six feet across when mature!It likes very damp rich soil and that's what i give it,including my Hostas. I have old punctured pond liner dug in all around my pond (just over a foot down) to slow down drainage,as most people in the UK grow Hostas as bog plants. Mind you there's been no shortage of moisture this year what with the continual rain,but last year there was a severe drought. But it looks like there forecasting some settled fair weather so it's not all bad. I would just like too say again thanks for all the replys and welcomes,especially Julie.Cjheers.

FWIW, here are my thoughts after 40 years of owning cats and dogs: Get your pet microchipped. Good way to protect them and up the chances of your getting them back if they get away from you. NEVER leave an animal alone with a young child or children. Children must be taught how to approach pets, care for them, and handle them. When you can trust a child to be alone with an animal and act responsibly depends on the child and on your educating them. Parents, this will take lots of work and time - if you are not able to do it, or think you don't have to, please don't bring a pet into your house. I have seen and or heard too many cases of animals being killed or severely injured through children's ignorance and rough handling. And when the pet defends itself by biting or snapping, it is then put down. Also, as obvious as it seems, NEVER leave your pet alone/ unsupervised in your yard. This is how so many either get into trouble or hurt themselves, or or stolen or seriously injured by passing people (too many sick souls will tease/torture an animal if noone is watching). Also, given this rotten economy, the money people make selling animals to research labs and dogfighting rings is an easy way to make a living or pick up some extra cash. Please, protect your pets! Hope this helps.

Well, first of all, the general kitchen outline is the same size in the original plan and the idea sheet. It looks bigger cause I drew the stools occupying space. What ever your table width, add a minimum of 5 feet to get the absolute minimum (and it will be a little cramped) room width. With a 3.5 foot table - that would be 8.5, but a lot more comfortable at even 9 feet. People wouldn't have to slant their chairs a little bit to get into them. In your room, that leaves 3 feet BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. Two other considerations are you need an aisle to that door and the island overhang. The aisle to the door needs to be about 3 feet and ideally should be maintained even when people are using the table. Aisle is a little complicated to figure out, but you get to borrow back about 9 inches from the chair clearance when a person is seated. So the total door side clearance available is 35 inches plus 9 inches or 44". If the island doesn't have an over hang and doesn't have stools on the edge, the room has about 10 inches left over after aisle maintenance. If the island counter overhangs 10 inches into the dining room space and you have no stools, its still ok. The island with-or-without an overhang into the dining room but with stools, fails. Reason? Stools or chairs take a minimum of 32" to pull out and become seated. If you have large or oversized pieces, you need more room. When a person is seated, they take up about 24" from the counter edge. So the seated person invades the aisle about two feet. The aisle to the door then shrinks down to 20 inches when both sides have people seated, but if people "misbehave" or dare to get out of their seat, it will evaporate. If the counter invades the dining area by one foot, the aisle becomes 8 inches. So, will people be seated in both locations at the same time? If you entertain, what does that do to your flow? Without invading the dining room, your island can be about 6 feet long with two or three seats - meaning no pantry and no prep sink. Turning the island wouldn't help much, because its length still ends up a little less than 6 feet as far as I can tell and you almost have enough length for 3 seats and no pantry. You can have a buffet under the window, but not on the side wall. If you find one that is finished on all sides, you could float it near the stairs.

Welcome back Rosemeadow! I too used to read this forum avidly a few years ago but then it seemed to practically disappear. I have a question you might have the answer to since you are having such success. I will post it as a separate post.