We all have ‘seminal moments’ like the much-talked-about moment when you heard John Lennon was dead, or JFK or Princess Di or whoever. You also have ones that are, of course, much more personal, such as the moment you knew you were in love or the moment you said yes to a proposal or whatever.

This plant is important and relevant to one of my own seminal moments. It’s the moment when I knew, beyond all doubt that we would do everything in our power to live here. We hadn’t even been inside the house at this point. In fact, we didn’t get to come inside the house for another two weeks because ‘Mad Maureen’ locked us out on that particular day.

We had admired the house as we’d driven past it once or twice and commented on how it would meet our needs. It wasn’t for sale when we first went through this but it came on the market (fate) and so we made an appointment to view the house. The owner was a bit iffy about allowing people in and we had a couple of ‘false starts’ when we’d made appointments and the estate agent had to cancel them because ‘it wasn’t convenient’.

Anyway, on this day, we got to the house and were met here by the agent. He put the key in the lock to find he couldn’t get in. The door had been locked using a different lock and hence his key didn’t work. So, he showed us round what he could – the garden, garage and flat and while I was standing in the kitchen of the flat, I noticed this plant in the overgrown veggie patch.

It can’t be…..I thought. It is though, it certainly is. It was a kiwi fruit vine, with kiwi fruits on it. Amazing. I have tried to grow these plants before but they’re not easy and need a male plant more than 40 feet from the female to achieve pollination. This one was not only a handsome specimen, but it had fruit on it which means there is a male somewhere nearby although it’s not in our garden!

Instantly I knew I wanted to be here. I know it may seem like a stupid reason for buying a house but I do everything by my heart, not by my head and this seemed like a sign to me.

Of course by the time we moved in, the vine was dormant and it’s now sprung back to life. I am thrilled to see it covered in tiny pink, hairy balls that are forthcoming flowers. Wowie. One of the things I love about the plant is its pink hair – very charming indeed. So, this is my sign. It’s what brought us here.

Last year, my pic was one of the highest hitting in my galleries.....I think it was the saucy talk that accompanied it rather than the pic itself if you get my drift....