In many ways 2020 could not have been more different to last year. The pandemic has brought about a lot of changes in all our daily lives. The cottages have, however, been nearly completely full since we re-opened on 15th July and, with enhanced cleaning measures in place, we have been delighted to welcome guests to the farm again. Now, with more restrictions back in place, it is difficult for people to know what to do and we fully understand when there are cancellations or last minute changes to plan. We are equally pleased to accept last minute bookings.

In spite of the Covid-19 limitations, things on the farm have continued much as before. For a while we had thought the weather was against us, but September brought an Indian Summer of sorts and now harvest is finished. Only the arrival of a new combine changed the view from last year and John is thrilled as it romped through the acres, nearly halving the time required to cut all the crops. The stubble fields looked glorious for a few weeks with bales scattered across them but now the winter sowing campaign is nearly finished and everything is brown earth again, although we are already seeing glimpses of green where the new seed has germinated. Sadly, we will not be able to have a harvest supper for the team this year but hopefully we can catch up with that before too long.

The lambing year begins again and the tups were put in on 1st October. This means our lambing is likely to start around the very end of February. We will be breeding our own ewe replacements this year and so there has been some careful consideration as to which tup should go with which ewes. We look forward to seeing the results.

A new batch of hens arrived last month and are laying fast, providing eggs for us all.

Meanwhile Dug and his sidekick Otto do their best to create havoc. If you hear raised voices around the farm buildings it is usually because one of them is doing something they shouldn’t!