FIVE STAR *****

Great news.....We have just been awarded 5 Stars for our latest cottage 'The Stable'. We are absolutely delighted, makes all the hard work worth while. It has also achieved M3 in the mobility ratings which means that it is suitable for a disabled guest with the severest disability. Everyone who has stayed in it so far have been full of praise for it.

NEW ADDITIONS !

Meet the 2 new additions to our Barn Owl family. They're ever so sweet, we've christened them 'sleepy' and 'dopey' . They probably won't hang around for too long before they spread their wings and find pastures new.

The Stable continues to delight all those who stay tin it and has been fully occupied since the begining of July...

Were delighted that we have been shortlisted again for the Annual Tourism Awards, it would be the icing on the cake if we won this year.

THE STABLE

Our latest cottage is finally finished and it's fab. Been alot of hard work but we're delighted with the finished product. It has been carefully designed to accommodate guests with any disability whilst not appearing too 'clinical'. More photographs and a complete description of the cottage can be found on our website www.martinlanefarmhouse.btinternet.co.uk

SPRING LAMBS

Meet the latest additions to our farm. These two beautiful hebridean lambs were born this morning. Mum needed no help whatsoever, she just got on with the job and produced these healthy twins. 1 boy & 1 girl. .....perfect

GREEN SHOOTS !

Signs that Spring is on its way are definitely all around. The snowdrops and crocus's (crocii ??)are up and loads of daffodils ready to burst out.

The birds are busy looking for nesting sites, the boxes that Alan put up last year have lots of activity around them this year.

Our resident Robin was captured on film last year, by one of our guests from Australia and he sent me this copy at Christmas. I think its fab! He's coming again in July so I look forward to some more fantastic photos.

Milly continues to be an absolute treasure. The only problem is that she gets so excited when she sees anyone that she jumps up at them like a 'jack in the box'. We are trying to stop it but its not easy as everyone makes such a fuss of her!!

Home to the Sun

Mykela & Kirra with their very first snowman

Really sad, just waved goodbye to our dear friends from Perth, Australia. They have been here since the beginning of December and Mykela & Kirra were delighted when it snowed....they had never seen snow before! Their snowman sported a very attractive 'Freemantle Footbal Club' scarf! However I think, like all of us, they were glad when it had gone....enough was enough !!! It really curtailed their sight-seeing trips. It was great to have them here though and I hope it won't be too long before we see tem all again. Milly will really miss them, they made such a fuss of her.

Fortunately, none of the animals came to any harm during the freezing weather but it made a lot more work for Alan, trying to keep them with a constant water supply. The only fatalities we had were one fish and two frogs who perished in the pond.

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 !