Plant pots and pails were eternally popular with the cats and kittens. Maybe they were not as smitten with them as Sprocket was during her life, but there were not many of The Garden Family or Visiting Cats who did not at some time or other make themselves comfortable in a plant pot or a pail. Maybe it was the cool soil, maybe the soft cushioning of the leaves, or maybe the shape that made them so tempting.

Kiwi’s kittens, Ariel and Stardust, obviously took after their mother and, as soon as they were big enough to clamber up onto the wall in the front path, they took over one of the limestone planters, transforming it into their favourite napping spot.

As they grew, more of them hung over the edges, but they kept coming back day after day. It was impossible to be annoyed with them when they looked so snug and content there together.

‘I’ll have a pail of Dinky, please’ – if only we could have marketed this, we would have been rich.

Everything about it was perfect – the size, the depth, the contents… Dinky had no idea how amusing he was.

Next is Mr Bright, pictured keeping a plant warm on the limestone bench at the side of the road.

The wall behind him was a shortcut from the field to the drive, and many a cat must have screeched to a halt atop the wall on seeing one of the most formidable of the local alpha-males in residence on the bench below.

Some kittens start young…

This was one of Flora’s kittens (and The Cat’s grand-kittens) who had no intention of leaving his lookout post in the front troughs at the side of the road.

During the hot summer months, these troughs were in great demand. Cats and kittens, like Pascha, would reserve their place immediately after breakfast, and sleep the day away on the cool soil in the shade.

Sometimes, smaller cats would lie on the green crates alongside, and all sorts of lazy paw-patting games would ensue during the day, in between copious summer naps.

Muffin was not friendly but somehow had become fond of the first floor terrace, which was surprisingly close to the humans for a feral cat.

This is one of the plants which probably suffered the most from its feline inhabitant, but of course it would grow back (eventually).

Like Dinky’s choice of pail, Ana’s choice of plant pot was just the perfect size.

With his mother, The Cat, installed in the stone birdbath next to him (in a suitably elevated position), mother and son would take their siesta in the drive in the summer months in the shade of the olive tree.

These new palms were bought to provide extra shade for the cats as they (plants and cats) grew.

Within minutes of the plants arriving in the garden, each pot appeared to have grown a feline – in this case Checkers, with Swift and Satsuma waiting in line for their turn.

And plant pots weren’t only for sleeping. It was surprising how many kittens could fit into each of these pots for some after-tea fun and games.

The pots made excellent launchpads for attacks on the higher branches of the shrubs, and Tippex and Early Lately spent a lot of time playing with the moving shadows of the branches and leaves on the wall in the afternoon sun.

Back to the front path, and there was just no way that you could look out of the window and be annoyed to see this sight, even if the plants were suffering.

Phantom’s kitten Mohi was just the right size to snuggle down into the middle of the plant for her siesta, almost disappearing down into the trough.

Back in the garden, it was just as well that we had ordered a number of palms from the local plant nursery that summer, as their pots were in great demand.

Pascal was delighted to find one unoccupied and immediately made it his own, keeping an eye out for anyone approaching who might try to steal his spot.

And to end, possibly the least logical of them all was Whitefur who jumped off the water tank on the verandah into a pail, hanging on a hook on the wall.

There she was suspended, with only her head showing in the afternoon sun. It was definitely a single-occupancy pail and she knew she would have privacy there.