Playing Catchup

OK, back again. A lot has happened in the last couple of months, but I'm not going to try to catalogue things in any proper fashion. A brief selection of what's been happening should do the trick.

Early February saw us in Scotland, doing our annual House, Horse(s), Dog(s), Guinea Pig etc.etc sitting. A very sad time. Richard and Trina have been friends of mine - and then ours - for far more years than I can remember. We have known each others dogs almost as well as our own, and Harry (Trina's cairn), Nip (one of Richard's Springers) and Hattie were all the same age. Harry passed away last year, and dear Nip, who had a very special place in our hearts passed away just a few short weeks before our visit. Tug, his son, seemed to be coping pretty well.
We came home and had a fortnight here. Not a happy time as this was when we lost Hattie. She is very sorely missed.



We headed off to Lincolnshire at the beginning of March to House, Horse(s), Dog and Cat sit there for our other annual holiday! We were a bit subdued for obvious reasons, but we managed to catch up with lots of old pals including Sharvee and Rachel (named after me - the first cade lamb of the season in 2009 when Sharvee and I were the chief Shepherdesses at Mount Farm). Rachel very obligingly gave birth to twins while we were there this time.


As well as socialising, husband managed to chain harrow both of the main paddocks for Simon and Sal, while I got acres of grass mown and did a bit of weeding. Simon and Sal have an awful lot on their plates at the moment, and coping with about an acre of garden, another acre of orchard as well as three paddocks must take it's toll.


Back home and it was straight back to work! Well, for an hour or so, as we were drafted in to help unload 6500 point of lay pullets. It's amazing what we get involved in!

We have both been busy in the garden, though it has to be said, Husband has done far more than me.

The allotment has been cleared of rubbish which was the result of our 'stale seedbed' approach, to the huge bank of weed seeds we inherited. Then dug over and planted (on various dates) with......... Shallot sets, Onion sets, parsnips, broad beans, carrots (under plastic), salad (under plastic), Summer sprouting Broccoli (under glass), peas and some chard. Husband can take the credit for all of that, bar the actual sowing of some of the finer seeds as I have a bit more patience than him for tasks of that sort!

The various fruit bushes and trees have been pruned as necessary

and two out of the three plots we have at home have been dug over, prepared and planted with second early tates. The third plot is dug and prepared, ready for the maincrop.

Whilst all of this has been going on, we have been feeding ourselves with curly kale and one of my favourites, sprouting broccoli from the garden. The sprouting has done incredibly well and just keeps on coming. YUM! YUM!


The remains of the conifer tree which was semi disrobed in the autumn, has now been felled
and the rest of the garden given it's early spring tidy up.

We have had a few visitors, some staying with us, others staying locally and meeting up for a walk. As the estate behind us have miles of permissive paths, but do not allow dogs on them, we have taken the opportunity to explore these, as hopefully before too long, we won't want to walk where we can't take a dog. If you were to plot a line on the map from here, due west, it would be 20 miles before you came to another house. When you walk up over the hill behind us, you really can believe it. Not a human soul in sight. Silence, punctuated by Curlew, Skylarks and sheep. It really brings it home to us - and our visitors - why we love it so much here.
It was busy once though - as this limekiln suggests

Apart from that we have both been busy through March. I am now into the third week of lambing , helping a friend out in the village. A brilliant arrangement which means that I just go first thing in the morning to get everything caught up from the previous night. Most days I am back home by 9 at the very latest, so it doesn't interfere with any thing else we want to do. Occasionally it has involved further work during the day, but then Mr B has joined in as well, more hands make light work!
Horses still feature highly on the list of things that happen on a frequent basis, with James and Vicki both calling me up whenever they need a 'Jockey'.
Yesterday was our turn to watch though as we headed east to Sedgefield to watch one of Jame's horses who was running in the big race of the day. It was an atrocious day. Wind, rain, snow. Ground that was getting deeper by the minute. But an awesome effort by a very brave horse. It was hugs all round in the winners enclosure as we headed off for a glass of Champagne courtesy of the course sponsors, and an evening of celebration courtesy of Kealigolane.

A Very Big Hole

A very big hole in the blog, because we have a very big hole in our lives. 20th February was a very sad day, as our beloved Hattie passed away


She's at peace now, no doubt barking at Treddy and Tramp.


I will get back to blogging. Just not yet.

High Pike and West Fell

Having recently been 'recruited' by A N Other racing yard to ride out, it seems a bit like horses have taken over my life again (not that I'm complaining!), so with no bookings for today it was one of those days where we really could just do whatever we felt like. The scenery around here is even more spectacular than normal at the moment........

The Fells are just calling out to be walked on days like these, and as usual, it's our good old faithful Caldbeck Fells which are calling the loudest. All togged up we head off up the Miners Trod.

We decided to stay off Carrock today as it would have meant walking in the shade, and with sub zero temperatures, walking in the sunshine was a far more appealing prospect, so we keep to the right and aim for High Pike (the white one)

Once over the snow line it got deeper the higher we went. A good foot in places towards the top - and hardly any on the top as it had all been blown off!


Carrock Fell (Simon's favourite!)

High Pike Summit

Looking across to the back of Blencathra with the only person we saw just walking off the summit - a bit of cloud blowing over from the west, time to walk back into the sun.

Crossing Carrock Beck on the way back to the car, the boulders white with ice.

All that and back home by lunchtime.

Little Creep!

The Tree Creeper we saw a few weeks back has continued to visit us from time to time, but they move so fast that I never seem to get hold of the camera in time. Finally I managed it today.


Considering they are insectivores, it's amazing how much interest it show in the nuts that are strung up for Blueys, Woodpeckers, Nuthatch etc


Presumably the nut shells are harbouring a whole host of minute snacks

And after lunch, it's back to work, creeping up the tree

Final Piece In The Jigsaw

Since Paul came up at Christmas and did the alterations in the Scullery, we have been looking for a coat rack to put on the wall to hang the multitude of mucky coats we have, currently in about 4 different places. Antique centers, internet, pine shops, Penrith auction rooms, Cockermouth auction rooms (thanks Bilbo!), all with nothing that quite fits what we had in mind - at least not the right size.

In the end, defeat has been admitted. A plank of wood........

some cast iron hooks............

some antique wax, a drill and a few screws and: Hey Presto........

At last!

A Man on A Mission

Frosty winter mornings were just made for chopping wood and Husband likes nothing more than to get his felling axe out slicing through some nice bits of ash




By lunchtime all was chopped and stacked - I do have my uses too



After a quick sweep of the drive, that left us plenty of time for our daily walk!

Pay Back Time

Our dear 'French' friends kindly left us with a pretty big timber pile as a result of our joint efforts in September 2010
We were planning on tackling it fairly soon although we were kind of hoping to borrow Andrew's quad to bring it down to the house. Fran however had other plans. Andrew was not going to lend us his quad on this occasion, he would log it all and bring it down to the house for us. No amount of arguing would change their minds - in their view this is pay back for help with sheep and cattle (which is very willingly given because, strangely we enjoy that kind of thing) and occasional help with hens. Anyhow, our chainsaw decided to die this week, so actually, it really was a huge favour - and a family do as well.
Andrew at the helm, ably assisted by 'Husband' and Fran

Ellen and Lewis pulling the wood from it's current store and sorting out the bonfire bits
Laura waits patiently to load the trailer
An afternoons work and the drive is covered in logs ready to be stacked tomorrow.

Now THAT's what friendship is all about!

Living In An Inversion

Living relatively high and sandwiched between the Pennines and the Lakeland Fells, we often find ourselves above the clouds, looking down into the Eden Valley which is submerged in an inversion. In fact on a number of occasions I have driven off to ride out, leaving here in bright sunshine, to get to the foot of the Pennines and found it 5 degrees colder and cloudy.
Briefly today, we had the eerie experience of an inversion rolling in on us. I'm sure these pics won't do it justice, or make the drop in temperature apparent as the
cloud rolled in




Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, leaving us with another beautiful sunset (spot the Robin)

Then another inversion started to swallow us up.

Just to prove I wasn't cloud watching all day - the first seeds of 2012 are now planted.........

Red Sky at Night

After another wild night (weather, not our behaviour) we have had a belter of a day today. Clear blue sky and wall to wall sunshine. By sunset, there was just enough cloud around to deliver a spectacular sunset.

One Thing Leads To Another

Having secured another source of Willow, the obelisk gets finished off

All this pruning of friends Willow Sculptures has given us an idea...........
We wouldn't want a fence here, it would get blown away anyhow. A hedge would be too wide. So why not have a living willow screen instead? It can't be that difficult?
Time will tell whether or not the willow will take, time will also tell if we live to regret it. But for now, we think it could just be what was required.

Can You Tell What It Is Yet?

Finally we get a day when:
a) The weather is playing ball
b) We haven't got anything else planned
c) I'm in the right mood.
First we go to the goat paddock and raid their stick pile

Then we go up the road to the farm to prune the Willow sculptures in the garden
Then the 'Genius!' gets to work

By dusk we have three windbreak hurdles to protect our veggie seedlings from strangles

and an obelisk to give the tropaeolum something to climb up when the conifer gets the chop, and the replacement shrubs are still small.

Not the most professional specimens, but them I'm not a professional and frankly, I really couldn't care! Having exhausted one supply of willow, that will do for now, but more may be added if/when we find some more suitable and I can be bothered!

Harbingers of Spring

One of the reasons why I wouldn't want to live abroad, is that I love the changing of the seasons here. Having had such a long autumn this time, and with no winter to speak of so far, it seems a bit premature to be thinking of Spring. We could have an awful lot more winter yet!

Unwelcome Dinner Guest

It is inevitable that if you feed birds to the extent that we do, you will attract Sparrow Hawks. We certainly do that. There is rarely a week goes by when we don't see one in the garden, and more often they are at least daily visitors. The latest culprit is a Juvenile who must be pretty hungry - maybe still perfecting his hunting technique. He often flies in and sits either on the stile, or wall, presumably waiting for some unsuspecting little bird.



Once he realised I was there, he was off in a flash as usual. But as he was unsuccessful this time he will undoubtedly be back very soon

2011 Rainfall

In the year in which much of the country has had horrendous drought, Cumbria has lived up to it's reputation. Our local farmers are all saying (and have been for months) that they have never known the land this wet - and some of them have seen a fair few decades. Despite this, we have only had slightly above average for the village rainfall. It isn't even obvious from the records that it has fallen in any odd sort of pattern. It just never seems to have had chance to dry out in between.