Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!

Its sooooooooooooooo  cold !!!! I really feel sorry for the  animals at this time of year. Even though the sheep have nice woolly coats they still look forlorn in this weather.

Afraid I have bad news about the hens. You will remember that in my last blog I said that we had bought 8 new hens and now had plenty of lovely brown eggs for our visitors. Then a friend gave us 2 bantams so we had 13 hens in total. This week a fox has been on the rampage and we now only have 4 hens left................ What do the 'anti hunt' brigade think about that ??? ............Maybe they think that a few domestic hens, pecking around in the garden, are fair game !

Where Has the Summer Gone ??

I can't believe I haven't blogged since June....just where has the time gone?? The cottages have been pretty full all summer and we are still almost fully booked until end of October.
Milly hasn't been well and had to stay in at the vets for tests. Eventually found that she had picked up some sort of bacterial infection but, a course of antibiotics and £115 later she is finally OK again. She just loves all the visitors because everyone makes such a fuss of her.

Finally bought more hens as the demand for eggs was bigger than the supply so now we have plenty of eggs for everyone. We've also got 3 new piglets. Val, one of our regular guests, has christened them 'Itchy' 'Scratchy' & 'Patch' . Thats Patch, the one in the middle thats got its beady eye on you! Scary or what !!

The weather has been foul today, so much so that the Southport Airshow was cancelled.
The golfers staying in the cottages this week came back like drowned rats today, they got absolutely soaked......hopefully all their gear will be dry by tomorrow.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Absolutely thrilled to receive a ' Highly Commended' award at the recent Lancashire & Blackpool Tourist Board Annual Awards. Micheala Strachan was lovely, a wonderful personality and great fun.

The blackbird nesting in the clematis hatched 4 eggs but there only seems to be two birds in there now. They are almost ready to leave the nest now so I hope they survive ok.

Our visitors arriving in the Dairy today found a tiny, tiny baby sparrow alone on the cobbles. Can't find the nest it is from so Zoe has taken it home to try and feed it and help it to survive. Its such a tiny little thing, I just hope it makes it.

CONGRATULATIONS

Many congratulations to Philip & Hannah who stayed with us over Easter while competing in the Ballroom Dancing Festival in Southport. They did extremely well and are now ranked 4th in the UK sequence dancing. Well Done.
Plenty of activity in the various nests around the place. Our blackbird is back again this year, nesting in the clematis around our back door. She fledged 3 babies successfully last year so lets hope she does the same this year. We have also been watching a pair of robins who have built their nest in an upturned flowerpot in the rockery. Mum and Dad were very protective and 'dive bombed' Milly if she went anywhere near!
The hens are away on holiday at the moment. We took them to stay with Zoe while we went to France for a week and haven't been back for them yet. Alan is making a new compound for them in the field so we will bring them back just as soon as it is finished.

GTBS AWARDS

Just received the photos of the GTBS awards. It took place two weeks ago at Salmesbury Hall and was a really nice event. Salmesbury Hall is well worth a visit as its a most beautiful building with lots of history and there's a really unusual craft/gift shop. They also serve great food and scrummy home made cakes.Sharon, the manager is 2nd from the left in the group picture.
Victoria and John in the centre are from Martin Mere, they won a Gold award. We now have an arrangement with Martin Mere. They allow our guests in at a reduced entry fee and I give WWT members a 5% discount on their stay with us. Its working really well already.

GOZZY

Think  foxy roxy must have moved home! The geese were ganging up and attacking another one, (now called 'Gozzy') so we had to spilt them up. Gozzy now roams free around the farmyard and is still alive to tell the tale so foxy roxy can't still be around. Milly isn't quite sure what to make of Gozzy. She runs towards him then, as soon as Gozzy flaps his wings and hisses at her she skids to a halt. Then its like a 'mexican stand off'......neither will lose face and turn away so they both stand there looking at each other menacingly, at least as menecing as a 15 week old puppy can look!!
Beautiful day today, sun cracking the flags so should be able to get some work done to the nature walk we are trying to establish.

TOURISM AWARDS

Delighted to have been shortlisted in the Lancashire Tourism Awards for 'Best Self-Catering'. Busy working on my final submission, I can't believe just how long these things take to put together, still it will be all worth while if we win.

Milly is just adorable. Can't wait to start taking her for walks next week once she is fully vaccinated.  She has really settled in well and doesn't cry at night any more.

The hens are laying well now but we will have to get some more to keep up with demand.

MEET MILLY

Meet the latest addition to our family. MILLY is our beautiful border terrier puppy. She is just 11 weeks old and is absolutely gorgeous. Only arrived here on Sunday and hasn't lost a minute exploring her new home. She's very inquisitive and full of mischief but loves nothing more than to cuddle up to you.

She's had her first vacination and will have the second one in 2 weeks time. Until then she cannot go out but I know she will love running around the garden and will definately be a big hit with our visitors.

GOING GREEN

Over the last 12 months we have been endeavouring to be 'greener' and all our hard work has now been rewarded with a SILVER award from the 'Green Tourism Business Scheme.

The hide is well & and truly finished and loads more bird boxes and feeding stations have been installed around the grounds. Our project for this year is a nature walk, through the garden and down the side of the field. As soon as we get some reasonable weather and the ground is soft enough to dig, we will get started.

Work has started on our 4th cottage. This will be a single storey, 2 bedroomed cottage with complete accessibility. Hopefully it will be ready by the summer but not taking any bookings as yet.

FOXY BUSINESS

One good thing to come from all this snow is the discovery of a fox living in style under our big barn. After the first heavy snowfall we noticed this strange set of prints coming from the lane and down our drive, skirting around the edge of the courtyard then over the wall into the farmyard. We could then follow them around the barn to a foxhole dug under the floor in the wood store. It is probably the same one who killed the geese last year!. Talk about 'sly'....living rent free with ready made meals to hand!! Anyway, the hens and the geese are now kept in their compounds at night so 'Foxy Roxy' can't get to them. This is presumably why she/he found it necessary to go down the lane to look for sustinance. Don't quite know what to do about it at the moment. Zoe would never forgive us if we exterminated it. (She's already horrified that we now have 2 freezers full of pork/bacon)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

After all that hectic preparation, Christmas came & went in a nano second...or am I just getting too old? Still, it was nice to have the family all home for Christmas. Total 'whiteout' today, hasn't stopped snowing since the early hours and I've a really bad dose of the flu so, feeling really sorry for myself!
It will be a shame to take the fairy lights down from the trees as everyone has remarked how lovely they have looked. 'A Winter Wonderland' was how one guest described it.
We have a beautiful Jay visiting the back garden on a regular basis now. Its colours are just lovely and it looks huge next to the robins!. Alan has erected loads more bird boxes around the site so, hopefully, they will become 'home' to the many species we have around here. 'Ossie' the owl made a rare appearance yesterday, we don't usually see much of him this time of year!