Shooting Season

I think the local phessie population have discovered that The Estate don't shoot down here. Today we had 8 hen pheasants in the garden at one time. Two or three is a daily occurence, Jarvis has been in with 5 Ladies before, but I think 8 Hens is our record. I couldn't manage to get them all on camera though!

The Secret To A Happy Marriage........

....... Compromise.

Since we moved here, our Kitchen window has looked like this...

Husband has always thought it looked a bit bare, whilst I like it like that. I want to see sheep and things whilst I'm practicing being a Domestic Goddess, and a blind behind a sink would just get filthy. A trip to the local haberdashery to find some fabric for the doors of our wardrobe led to a bit of a light bulb moment. Time to put Nan's faithful servant into use again.

You want the window dressing, I want to see sheep. OK. We'll do both.

and while the machine is out.......
Just in case you think we've gone Gothic, they are not black, it just looks like that. they are a dark plum sort of colour, to match with a colour in the curtains!

Dropping In

A brief visit from a Grey Wagtail again today. It's amazing what a pond

attracts!

Did I Say We'd Finished?

Well if I did, I lied.
The wardrobes in our room were inherited and horrible (picture from the sales brochure - not our curtains or furniture!!).

We changed the door knobs ages ago to do away with the fake gold (worn off anyway) ornate things and replace them with simple steel ones. Next we took down the cornice, which was badly joined, ill fitting and ugly. All that left slightly better looking wardrobes but with a dark top which cast a shadow and looked grim. That was easily remedied with a bit of white emulsion when we painted the ceiling. But having put the room back together, there was no denying, they looked mucky, plastic and cheap. After a coat of undercoat and two coats of gloss, I think we can live with them a bit more happily now. Mind you, it's made the cream curtains on the middle one look a bit dirty. Guess that'll be the next job, find some fabric...........

Whilst the wardrobes were being done, the weather was beautiful and the painting stuff was out, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to get another bright idea sorted. The porch ceiling........

It was very dark varnish, the plan was to paint it white. In the end, it is sandstone, the same as the pillars. Primer, undercoat and TWO COATS of paint. If ever you have the bright idea to paint over varnished wood - think long and hard!

But it has undoubtedly brightened the entrance, and lightened the downstairs loo too!

No More Patches

There's nothing like sleeping in your own bed. Even your own 'spare' bed just doesn't have the same appeal. Thankfully, today we have moved back home


Will we miss those colour ptches on the wall I wonder?

Autumn Is Here

Way back at the beginning of March, we packed all the decorating stuff away, knowing that sooner or later, we'd have to get it out again to do our bedroom. We'll do it in the back end we promised. When the decent weather has gone.
We'll, true to our word. we got it all out again (just as the weather improved and gave us some cracking autumn days again!).
Some bits were already sorted. Curtains were made soon after moving, and poles were put up to replace knackered rails quite some time ago - in readiness for the big room makeover!
We've had patches of different colour on the walls for the best part of twelve months. It took a lot of deciding

So having emptied everything, it was time to take down the old batons to reveal some hideous pink paint (again) and wallpaper underneath part of it.

Much preperation work needed, and in no mood to take pictures of the hideous state it was in, you'll just have to wait till it's finished now!

Here We Go Again

We're at it again. Baby sitting friends animals whilst they are away. Horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hens, fish: The list is seemingly endless. And it just got a little longer too.

Colin and Helen are off for a week of Autumn sun, we're learning a bit about canaries........

and Budgies, Zebra Finches, Golden Pheasant.........

Quail..........
and looking after the dogs as well........

That's Naz (never still enough to get a decent picture)........

and Blue.........

Maybe we should think about Zoo sitting next?

Monarch Of The Glen

One of our friends works for the Ullswater Steamers. One of his chores is to guide groups on the 'Red Deer Rut' trip that they offer. On his day off, he very kindly offered to take us for a private viewing. Rose, Nick's wife is on holiday this week, which meant we could all go.


Husband and Rose get their eye in deer spotting





You'll need to double click on these, Red Deer and Bracken are a very similar colour! Once we started to spot deer, we gradually found more, and more, and more; here a stag (on the left) is surrounded by about half a dozen hinds
Stags were roaring from all around. An unbelievably evocative sound as it echoes around the valley.
Monarch and his ladies on the skyline as we head back to the car after an awesome couple of hours.

Winter Visitors

A trip to the bottom of Carrock Fell this morning to see the Blencathra meet and catch up with friends visiting the area. It was as forecast, blustery showers with (brief) sunny spells. It was also 5'c. We were amazed at the turnout, and after half an hour of socialising the hounds moved off; and so did we. Home!
We have been seeing a bit more of some of our winter residents and visitors of late. We were pleasantly surprised to see a Brambling in the back when we came home. We didn't see much of them last winter, although plenty the winter before. Perhaps this year is going to see a large number of them again.
We have Dunnocks in the garden all year, but through the summer months, they seem to disappear amongst the shrubs. I had my camera ready to try and get a shot of one of our Wrens who has recently started to appear on a regular basis (another bird we see nothing of all summer). The wren frequently sits on the goose, but never when I have the camera ready. This time the Dunnock decided to fool me.
We also have two Robins in the back, plus at least another one in the front. Again we see very little of them in the summer.
And for this last shot you'll need to double click or get your binocs out. Living in an area so full of natural habitat does mean that a lot of the birds we get when food is in short supply just abandon us when natural resources are abundant. The Partridge family are a classic example of this. Daily visits for months on end, and then nothing for months. Suddenly they have started to reappear - although they rarely come in just yet, they just keep scurrying past having a recce

And Then It Rained

For our Friends in France, and indeed for our Friends (and Family) in the rest of the UK, you might be interested to know that we have had 65mm of rain - that's just over 2.5 inches so far in October. Farmers in the village (real farmers, not the pretend one) have never known their land so wet. And that my friends, is why they call it the Lake District!

From Bicester to Blencathra, via Blankney.

It all started over thirty years ago when the highlight of winter weekends was a full days hunting with the Bicester. Work commitments and the lack of a horse put a stop to that, but then in more recent years, we gave the Blankney our support in a low key, non mounted kind of way. Supporting the Blencathra seems like the obvious next step - and no horses are necessary; except the odd wooden one on racenight.
If you look closely, Husband is on the far right, just past the window and as we were sitting right by the finishing post, there is a bit of both of us in this one!

A good night was had by all, with supporters from as far away as California - oh and of course the obligatory Lincolnshire Lords and Ladies.
Photos courtesy of Blencathra Foxhounds

Autumn Sunset

So often the photos we take of sunsets just don't do them justice. For once, they were close to the truth this time.

Standards Are Slipping

Lois is such a superb cook and hostess, it is inevitable that you always feel that you can't produce meals to her standard however hard you try. A deal was struck just before they left for sunny France: The next time The Village Mafia get together, it'll be Pie, Chips and Beer.

Cheers Roger and Lois!!

Two Years Later - In The Front

Having done a comparison of the sales brochure pictures and the current state of the back garden, now seems a good time to compare the front. There were no pictures of the garden, just one of the front of the house. You may want to double click on these to see the true difference.

Then we changed the door and window (Picture taken Feb 2010)


Since the pebble dashing was finished, Husband has been busy painting the porch pillars to hide the last of the public convenience bricks. To say we are happy with the results of recent works would be the biggest understatement of the year!

Husband came up with another bright idea today - to paint the 'ceiling' of the porch white. It is currently a nice 70's brown wood and he feels (rightly) that white would really finish everything off and lighten the entrance (and the wetroom into the bargain). Best of it is, I'm not to be trusted with paint, unless it is emulsion on walls ;-)

Capability Brown - Eat Your Heart Out!

Much like the back garden, the front had little of interest or colour. Ok if you like Leylandii and Hostas, oh and the odd lily, but pretty bare in the winter, pretty drab all year - with the exception of a fabulous show of snowdrops, and a horrible mass of cultivated daffodils (YUK) and a fabulous but neglected, rambling rose. We have done bits and bobs ever since we took up residence, mainly sorting out the veg plot at the side and removing a few trees. We also used the front as a nursery area for anything that was in the back, worth saving, but no longer needed in there. This was it at it's best last August.

Then, early in the spring, we made a start on the bed near the drive. Rehoming many hostas and a couple of huge clumps of lilies, planting a corylopsis that had been moved from the back and a few other things which had been given to us as house warming presents.
Then, after much searching of nurseries over the last couple of months, and finally making use of the influx of autumn stock available, we set to in earnest, making the most of the best autumn weather imaginable.

The tree (or what is left of it) is temporary. The birds love to roost in it in the winter, and it currently has tropaeolum climbing up it which I am not prepared to upset. The plan is to take the tree down in early spring.

We are hoping that we will now have a garden with something of interest all year round.

That grey brick pillar will be a different colour next time you see it too!

Wildlife in September

Red Squirrels are now frequent visitors, and finding anything to beat them into the spot of 'Highlight of the Month' is pretty unlikely. The low light of our time here was the Grey Squirrel visit. Through our volunteering work with Penrith Red Squirrels we are all kitted out for grey control and sprang straight into action, but it was never seen in the village again, so we can only assume it was on passage elsewhere.