The International Steam Pages


Welcome Tua Pek Kong, the Mitcheldean Garden 2018

This is the 2018 index of the pages describing our very dull life in the UK since arriving in 2011. Having negotiated the maze of regulations designed to frustrate those wanting to bring a non-EU spouse into the UK, Yuehong has been the proud owner of a UK passport since late 2014 which means we can have a near perfect balance of the best 8 months of the year in the UK and the best 4 months of the year in Penang. We now hire a car in Penang, while in the UK public transport suffices for most of our needs (just), but during the summer we frequently hire a car for a weekend and get out and about in the countryside, much of it is not worth recording formally but the tip of the iceberg is represented by our visits to steam fairs, something we continued in 2017 and again in 2018).

Click here for the main 'Life in the UK' index page.


For most people in the UK the prospect of taking on a property built up 33 steps on a 30 degree slope would be a nightmare. For us, it's proved both a challenge and a delight. This is our eighth summer (2018) and like all the others it will no doubt prove to be completely different from those that went before. I would like to think that the garden achieved a degree of maturity in 2017, acknowledged by our being invited to be part of the Open Gardens weekend in June. That won't be repeated until 2019 and as I have a big birthday to celebrate in 2018, I'm planning on enjoying the garden and avoiding being a slave to it this summer.

And as for Tua Pek Kong, if the name means nothing to you then he's an old friend from our other life in Penang.

Sorry about the Weather...
March 2018
Sorry about the Oranges...
April 2018
Mostly Bluebells, Azaleas
and Rhododendrons, May 2018
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
June 2018
 

Knocking on Heaven's Door,
the Skirrid, 2018

Flaming June 2018
Sweet Hiking,
the Sugar Loaf 2018

Pond Capers

All Aboard! Steam Up!

Dazzling Dahlias

Bye, Bye, BB – BB, Bye, Bye

Our garden history 2011-24

Over the Rainbow

Summer 2024

Crisis, what crisis?

Summer 2023

Old Normal, New Normal

Summer 2022

Fingers Crossed  

Summer 2021

Beating the Big C

April 2020

Tua Pek Kong Rules

Summer 2019

Oh, to be in England

Summer 2017

Our Cup Runneth Over

Summer 2016

The Best Garden in Mitchelean?

Summer 2015

The Best Garden in Mitcheldean?

Summer 2014

How does Your Garden Grow?

Summer 2013

Holding back the deluge

Summer 2012

Getting started:

Summer 2011


Rob and Yuehong Dickinson

Email: webmaster@internationalsteam.co.uk