Update and Wild Life

Wildlife

Since Laney left we decided to have a few days of pottering and getting little jobs done.

It has been boiling hot all week mainly in the 90’s so we have been back filling the wall and or strimming pre brekky in the cooler part of the day before the sun has hit the barn. The back filling has taken a long time and still quite a lot more to do. Gradually dismantling the old step by the gable end and putting the earth, broken rocks and anything else into the back fill. It will also help keep the gable end drier which is good for our bedroom which is a little underground.

Spent lots of time in the garden sorting out the veggies, plants and some weeding too. Veggies are in full swing now so no need to buy veggies from town which is great. Made a new compost heap too from fork lift pallets as the old one is overflowing.

Coppicing is always on our list and since it was so dry this week we made a start, flip me it was hot and hard work but we have cleared a little with 3 half days. Al wielding a chain saw, me using the loppers and then lugging wood up the hill for logs later and burning the smaller stuff. 90 degrees and a bonfire maybe not such a brainwave!  We have a POA for coppicing now but need to get both chain saws in working order again before tackling the larger stuff at the back.

The last bit of fettling in the pantry was to make some blackboard cupboard doors for the top units.  We are trying to use up the wood stock we have currently stored in the barn, supplies are slowly going down.  Anyway, doors now made, painted with blackboard paint, handles from stripping out some old caravans and they finish off the pantry very nicely. Now we just need to clean it up and start using it as a pantry rather than a dumping ground!

Saturday was fiesta day in the village. The local Chase/hunt  and the Trout Lovers Association had invited all the people whose land they use during the season to a meal in the village.  A really good show, 85 people and a scorcher of a day all in the marquee by the church.  Melon, venison pate and salad to start, lamb chops, sausages on the BBQ with risotto and beans, local cheeses and apple tart!  Needless to say very little food needed for the rest of the day. I t would have been Mum’s birthday and we like to sit and reminisce a little with pink bubbles and raise a glass to her.  So a perfecto evening to sit on the helipad in sunshine, looking at the views and thinking of lots of happy times and memories.  Mum would have approved of the gorgeous weather, view, company and of course the sunshine which she always loved.

We were meant to be in Spain for 4 days hiking today but my back decided to give in yesterday so we have post poned that whilst I do some sofa surfing and R&R and Al is pottering on with the list of more little chores.  I can at least totally catch up on work stuff for the winter which I have been putting off with all this good weather we have been enjoying.  Winter seems a long way away but the bookings are coming in especially now the schools are going back.

We have followed a wild boar up the 4×4 piste in the van for about 200m which was fab, and also seen a few deer out the back near the veggie plot. All very exciting!

Categories: Summer 2016, The Project