Snow and Ice

Here are some Icicles that formed on the thatch at the back of the house!!! We've had temperatures of -14C which is quite unusual in this part of the UK. Until a few days ago, the ground was covered with about five inches of snow, but it's now nearly all gone...The pond is still frozen over.

Snowdrops and other bulbs have been doing their best to push through and there have been some interesting wildlife tracks left by the many creatures that pass through the garden at night.

A couple of things I've written music for have just gone on sale. ENDEAVOUR is a CD I have written in collaboration with Matt Norman and is available from iTunes HERE.

Also, a series I wrote the music for last year has now been issued as a DVD box set. It's called Central Steam which is available HERE.

I also have an Amazon eStore which has a lot of my music available which is HERE and on the sidebar over there>>>

Garry Judd - Composer reel (audio)

Here's my new audio reel...

Garry Judd - Composer reel (audio)

Tumbledown snowdrops

The recent warm weather has woken some of the plants in the garden. Here are some snowdrops...Other bulbs are on the move and some leaves are already sprouting from some of the shrubs.

We spotted our first Bullfinches since we've been here and the Greater Spotted Woodpecker has made an appearance after being heard tapping away for a few days around the village.

I've been very busy in the studio...A pilot I wrote the music for was filmed at BBC Television Centre last week and I heard yesterday that a feature film I wrote some music for will be shown at the London Independent Film Festival in April.

TX Dates...

Giant Octopus is on Nat Geo Wild (and HD) on 31st Jan at 10pm, 4th Feb at 11pm and 5th Feb at 2pm.

My Cypriot Kitchen is often on Discovery Travel & Living.

The Water Boatman regularly shows on Discovery Shed.

Airline USA is still playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.

Online drama Signs Of Life can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/signsoflife .

PondLife

Here's a little something I made last week

PondLife

New Signs Of Life Trailer

Trailer for "Signs of Life" from John Dower on Vimeo.

Music by me!!!

2012

The beginning of a very mild new year...Here is a pic of some of our log supplies should the weather get colder!!!

We're going ahead with buying a piece of land next to the cottage...We have various ideas of what to do with it. One of the main plans is to have a woodland section where we'll store and season logs and kindling. We should be able to provide quite a lot of fuel of our own from maintainance of the various trees and shrubs we have.

Xmas was fun in the village with a pub quiz and carol singing taking place as well as some lovely times with family and friends.

So, into 2012 with a couple of interesting film, radio and TV projects on the go as well as a new Chillville release and some Artful releases bubbling along too. I'm also working on an orchestral piece, Harvest Sun (Through Combine Dust) and a string quartet version of the Hertfordshire folksong, 'John Rand.'

I've also set up a website for Tumbledown Studio, where I write and record my music which is HERE.

Plenty of shows with my music are on TV right now...I'll list a few in my next blog.

Merry Xmas and best wishes for 2012!!!

New album

Here's a pic of my new album for Artful. I'm also working on a new commercial release for Chillville...Details to come soon.

TX dates...

Highland Emergency is on every Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30PM and on Saturdays at 11.20am all on Channel 5 and Channel 5 HD.

Airline USA is still playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.

Online drama Signs Of Life can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/signsoflife .

Wine!!!

Here's a wintery Sun hanging low in the sky in the afternoon at Tumbledown Studio. It's getting very chilly now and the trees have shed most of their leaves.

We've been busy syphoning the wines into fresh demijohns and bottles and giving them a preliminary taste on the way!!! The first batch of pear wine is refreshingly dry and has a very subtle blush. The apple is sweeter but balanced with a nice acidity...Very apply, in fact!!!

Continuing the drinks theme, the pear brandy and apple schnapps are both ready and very nice indeed. The pear brandy is subtly sweet and has a nice roundness and the apple schnapps is very fresh.

It was Stir Up Sunday yesterday which is when the Xmas pudding is made. Hopefully this years will be as good as last years!!!

Music on TV...

Highland Emergency is now on Thursdays at 7.30pm on Channel % and Channel 5 HD.

Airline USA is still playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.

Online drama Signs Of Life can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/signsoflife .

Frosty!!!

We had the first frost of the year last night, but it remains very mild and sunny for an English November. Pheasants have begun to make an appearance in the garden and the grass has stopped growing with it's usual speed.

We've been here for a whole year now and have seen the garden go through a full yearly cycle, so we've been changing things for next year. We've been moving plants around and removing others entirely to get a softer look that's more suitable for a house that was built around 1580.

A JCB dug up the gravel from the front garden and ten tons of porous ballast was added to level it. The gravel was then replaced and a border and path of reclaimed bricks was added. This has made the front a lot more welcoming. A new picket fence and gate in the middle will be added soon to complete the structure and the borders are being planted with lavender (to join the beech hedge that was planted last year) and roses and a mixed bed in the corner...Nice!!!

I've got three TV projects on the go at the moment...More news later!!!
TX news...
The new series of Highland Emergency continues on Wednesdays at 7.30pm on Five and Five HD with a repeat on Saturdays at 11am.
My Cypriot Kitchen has two double bills at 12 noon and 5pm on Discovery Travel and Living on weekdays.
Airline USA is now playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.

Gammeldansk

Here's Buz the cat having a snooze on one of the last of the sunny days last week. The weather has changed...It feels like Autumn now, although it's still warmer than usual for the time of year.

The new crops have started to grow which is giving the fields a green tinge, but the leaves are now falling from the trees giving them a wintery look.

I had a nice trip to Copenhagen since my last post...I went to meet my Scandinavian sub-publishers who are based in the city centre and are very nice people. It's a great city and was a chance to eat at one of my favourite restaurants, Riz Raz. I did it as a day trip which worked out really well. It was quite a long day, much of it waiting at the airports, as I always like to give myself plenty of time in case there is a long queue at security.

I've been playing the fretless on a few jobs recently which is always good. I've got a Warwick Streamer LX Jazzman 5-string which is great to play and makes a lovely sound through the Universal Audio 6176.

TX news...

The Hottest Place On Earth is on BBC HD on Monday 17th October at 10pm.

The new series of Highland Emergency continues on Wednesdays at 7.30pm on Five and Five HD with a repeat on Saturdays at 11am.


My Cypriot Kitchen has two double bills at 12 noon and 5pm on Discovery Travel and Living on weekdays.

Airline USA is now playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.

End of Summer tomorrow

Summer certainly is going out with a bang...We had a wonderful weekend of temperatures approaching 30C, very unusual for October in England. The last sunny day has been forecast for today with a change tomorrow and rain later in the week. Well, it was nice while it lasted!!!

The apples are now ready, so we've begun picking...The pear wine hasn't finished fermenting yet, so the apple wine will have to wait for a while. I don't think we'll be able to hang on to them for the cider press which is at the end of the month, so no Tumbledown scrumpy this year.

The Koi carp and assorted goldfish and common carp which were in the pond we inherited when we moved in have been given a very good home in a double filtered pond nearby. Our pond was a natural pond which had a liner fitted to make it into a carp pond. Unfortunately, it was far too big and had too many trees overhanging, which dropped leaves and twigs into it, to make it work. Also, the liner had water under it which lifted the liner and pulled it away from the side, resulting in a big drop in the level of water. So, we have decided to change it back to a natural pond by removing the liner and encouraging rushes and natural plants.

I'm keeping very busy musically...I have a couple of TV projects on the go which I will blog about soon. I've also heard that Banquet Royale, the short film, is finished and will be screening later this year. I'm busy on a couple of albums for Artful too and am now pretty nifty on Cubase 6 and Halion Sonic SE. I've also had a play with Melodyne which is an amazing program. It can analyse a polyphonic audio track so that you can get into the notes and change individual notes in a chord...Very clever!!!

TV TX...

The new series of Highland Emergency continues on Wednesdays at 7.30pm on Five and Five HD with a repeat on Saturdays at 11am.

New Home DIY is on virtually all day on Saturday 8th October and into the early hours the next day.

The same goes for The Water Boatman on 9th October on Discovery Shed too!!!

Airline USA is now playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.