What a busy year it has been, hence the very long gap since I last wrote anything!  I don't know where the summer went, -t was beautiful - apart from a couple of dodgy weeks in August.  We have been fully booked in the cottages for months now and continue to be until the beginning of November.  Lots of repeat guests coming back down to see us which is great.
Nige and I have been working really hard around the grounds and gardens trying to keep on top of all the growing that has been taking place due to the lovely warm weather.
All animals are doing well and we are looking forward to sending off the lambs at the beginning of October as our freezer is now empty of yummy lamb - I know that sounds a bit heartless - but it so very tasty!
The pigs: Ant, Dec, Fern and Holly (!) have still to another 2 months grace and then they will be heading the same way. We should be well stocked up for winter then!

Lambs and Ducklings

Well it definitely feels like spring is here, the weather is warm and sunny, we have a field full of lambs (24 in total) and an enclosure in the office full of ducklings.  Nigel was successful again with incubating some of the eggs and we have 12 little runner ducks cheaping at him thinking he is daddy duck!

Lambs, Lambs and more Lambs

We started lambing last monday and so far all going well. We have 17 lambs from 8 mums and still another 7 mums to go - the barn is getting overun with lambs! All very cute jumping around everywhere and chasing each other about. We let some of them out for the day yesterday as the weather was so lovely. The weather is set to last for the next few days at least so the garden and vegetable patch will get some much needed attention.

Squeak Piggy Squeak!

We picked up our new piggies last week - 4 little girls and they are adorable. They are Gloucester Old Spot crossed with Saddleback. They are settling into their new home and seem to be very happy. We have had a busy half term week with lots of guests and at least for some of their stay the weather was good. Just eyes down now for the start of lambing - a week today!

Wet and Soggy

Well, I don't know where the last few months have gone since I have updated my blog, probably washed away with everything else! Luckily we haven't experienced the awful flooding that a lot of the county and country have been having over the past couple of months. We are extremely wet and soggy but thankfully nothing worse than that. We ended last year being fully booked in the cottages over the Christmas and new year period and bookings for this year are fantastic already and about 25% up on last year! We must be doing something right, that and the great summer we had last year. We are due to start lambing at the beginning of march, providing the Ram has done his work! We collect our new batch of piglets next week and can't wait. We have gone for a cross-breed this time, Gloucestershire Old Spot X Saddleback so we will see if the pork comes out even better than usual - will be hard pushed to beat though. With the weather being so bad I haven't been able to spend any time in the veggie garden, so things will be a bit behind for a while. I have started chitting the potatoes ready to plant in a couple of weeks time and I have bought lots of seeds ready to sow.

W.I eat your heart out!

Well, where did the summer go, and yes we can really say we have had a summer this year, the weather was great much to our guests delight, so different from previous years. It is even continuing into September at the moment too. We did have a few stormy days last week and the veggie patch, especially the runner beans, have fallen victim of the high winds. I have been busy doing my W.I. bit and making lots of chutneys, jams and preserves to keep us and our guests going through winter. I have made runner bean chutney for the first time this year and it tastes great - very impressed! The lambs are taking a time to fatten up as the weather hasn't been the best for them this year, with a slow start earlier in the year. We have taken 5 off to the abattoir that were born in January but the other 14 will be another month or so yet, still it is nice to have some lovely homegrown lamb back in the freezer now. We are getting busy for Christmas and New Year and only have 2 cottages left for Christmas and 1 left for New Year, so we are hoping these will go too and be a full house!

Hot, Hot, hot

Shouldn't really moan, but it has been a tad hot last week! A little cooler today which is a bit more bearable in the polytunnel. We have had the sheep shorn a couple of weeks ago, so in time for the hot weather so they are happy. Just had a swim this morning before the guests were up and saw a couple of deer in our lower field - beautiful. Cottages are busy and we are pretty much full for the next couple of months which is great, let's hope this weather lasts!