The Freezing Weather Bites

While the bad weather spreads throughout the country spare a thought for our poor dog, Meisie, who struggled to get her breakfast this morning. I went down to Mole End, our shed, to get the dog food and to add the water to find that the big bucket was frozen right round the edge. I managed to turn it out to end up with this super ice sculpture. Very spectacular.

We have been very fortunate so far with only a light dusting of snow so guests can still manage to get through to us to enjoy their break. Although the temperature has plummeted it is still really nice to go out for a long walk all wrapped up and to end up at the Red Lion for a steaming bowl of soup and a light(!) refreshment.

A beauty spot by the river

We managed to pop out for a nice walk recently and ended up at the Old Mill at Lower Slaughter with it's beautiful cafe terrace overlooking the river Eye. This is a lovely spot after doing the walk between Lower and Upper Slaughter. After a browse around the Old Mill's shop you can sit on the terrace with a coffee and a big slice of cake and watch the ducks on the river. The Old Mill wheel still occasionally turns to give an even better atmosphere. It is like stepping back in time here and as the terrace is not particularly publicised it is usually nice and quiet.
As an alternative you can always have one of their home made ice creams - the brown bread flavour is my favourite one!

Grapes Galore

The fruits of my labour have finally been tasted. The grapes growing on the vine in the greenhouse were picked today and taste fantastic. Those of you familiar with the blog may remember what they were like earlier in the year looking like small full stops!
This was the first year for the vine and to produce a bunch of grapes in the first season is seemingly quite unusual. Pam did suggest making some wine with them but we decided that we would be lucky if we even got one sip from the small amount of grapes. However that is the target for next year.
The tomato plants have produced literally hundreds of tomatoes this season and we are using them for all of the breakfasts just now. This is definitely the best crop that we have had and so rewarding.

The Collapsing Wall

A collapse has happened at the cottage. Part of our lovely dry stone wall at the side of the car park collapsed last night during some high winds and heavy rain. We were quite taken aback at the damage when we got up this morning as although the weather was quite unpleasant it didn't seem bad enough to create this much bother. A section of the wall about 8m long has fallen into our neighbours garden.

Plenty of exercise for Pam and I this afternoon and continuing into tomorrow to remove all of the stone from the neighbours driveway to a safe location and then we will have to arrange for the local builder to carry out some essential repairs.

Tomatoes Galore!

What a fantastic crop of tomatoes we now have. There are so many cherry tomatoes that we are having to give them away. All of the tomatoes for use at breakfast are also coming from the greenhouse. I think this is the best crop that we have ever had and they should last us for weeks. I hope that you manage to sample them when you stay here with us.
The greenhouse has also provided the peppers for the quiche on the evening meal menu, courgettes and cucumber for the side dishes and the chillis are ready to be frozen for use over the winter time.
The fruit trees are starting to provide us with apples, pears and plums which are absolutely delicious. We also got some mini plums from a neighbour which we have put out in the dining room for guests to try. They are really good.

The Greenhouse at the Cottage

The greenhouse is in the process of producing a first for the Cottage. We have our first bunch of grapes!! Can you actually see them in the photo? At the moment they are the size of a full stop but I can assure you that they are there. If you are visiting over the next couple of months why not pop down to the greenhouse and have a look for yourself.
We also have a fantastic crop of tomatoes again this year which will be available in the dining room very soon for guests to sample at breakfast time or to take away as part of a picnic.
The chilli plants are coming on well as are the courgettes and cucumbers. Samples should be available very soon.

Quality in Tourism Inspection

We are delighted to announce that following our recent inspection that we have maintained our 4 star rating for both the B&B and the Self Catering parts of the business. Not only that but we have also been awarded the coveted Gold Award for the third year in a row.
The inspector was very pleased with the standard that we are providing and was impressed to see that the business was doing so well during the current economical situation.

A Guest gets to feed the lambs

One of our recent guests, all the way from Canada, was fortunate enough to be around at the right time to pop round to the farm and get a chance to feed the lambs. These lambs are the third ones to be born from the ewes and as the ewes can only manage to feed two the third has to get hand fed.
Rebecca was lucky enough to feed them and to give them a cuddle as well. The lambs will only be kept in the pens for a short time and will be let out into the fields quite soon.
Rob, the farmer, also has some fine Tamworth pigs at the moment so hopefully we can get a photo of them soon.

Spring Gardening

The hard work has started in the garden again but we had a willing volunteer to help us the other day. Meisie decided that giving a helping hand meant hitching a lift in the wheelbarrow.
The bulbs are bursting forth and all of the shrubs are coming to life. Hopefully in a couple of weeks we will start to see some green shoots if we keep having the weather like today. It was so warm and sunny with only a breath of wind and just so pleasant.

Spring is here

Despite the cold weather and the fact that the snow keeps threatening the snowdrops have started to peep through. The garden has a number of clumps of snowdrops straining upwards to catch the sunshine.
Elsewhere in the garden a number of the shrubs are starting to show signs of buds appearing so things are starting to look a bit healthier.
Why not spend a short break with us to make the long months pass a bit quicker?