Today, the focus is on another area widely used by both the Garden Family and Visiting Cats – the garden itself.

During the hot weather, the grass would die back to straw and the undergrowth would recede, leaving just a handful of green areas. Some cats liked to nap and play in the straw, some preferred wooden, hardboard or plastic boxes.

After feeding, Garden Family cats would wander down the garden to groom and nap, or to play if you were a kitten, as you can see in this after-breakfast photo.
Cats (from far to near) are Cheese, Dawn, Satsuma, Checkers, Shady, Raven and Sherpa.

Some liked the different textured areas – favourites were plastic garden netting, and sheets of thick paper here modelled by kitten Sherpa (with his mother Dawn sitting in front of the bamboo screen).

The trees were ideal for climbing; kittens could learn their climbing skills in a reasonably safe environment, and the different types and sizes of trees were ideal for different age kittens. The tree which Dandy Grey is climbing was a firm favourite with the cats, even after it had died.

The cats also found shade and shelter beneath the trees.

We soon learnt that plant pots belonged to the cats; within half an hour of these large palms being delivered to the garden, the cats had taken them over and a queue was forming to take turns sitting in the pot. Pictured is Shady.

Piles of twigs, branches and tree prunings provided dark, private spaces behind at ground level where many a mother relaxed with her newborns, and a playground for older kittens who scrambled and played on top.

And of course there was the feeding station under the olive tree, the focal point for the cats at mealtimes, before they headed off down the garden and back to the fields.

Pascha and Dandy Grey here demonstrate their patented cross-over feeding method, often replicated by the other cats.