Summer Time!
Dear All,
After a very dry (yes it was!!) March and April, May started with more rain in the first couple of weeks than the previous two months – yippee – it then dried up and went cold so everything stopped growing at the end of May – not good news for the crops of wheat, barley, beans and oil seed rape – June is now on us and once again we have had a useful drop of rain – so happy crops and it is warmer at last so everything is motoring away. The barley fields look their very best with its rippling ears blowing in the wind – just like a waves on the sea.
We had major excitement in the village with a call at 8.00 on Sunday Morning telling me a “storm” (in fact large breeze!!) took down a huge branch – blocking off the village. Why do these thing always happen at 8.00 on a Sunday morning? Off I went with my chainsaw and Land rover to pull the offending limb out of the way, only to find out that Paul had removed the twig from the road! – That reminds me I must set up a Major Incident Protocol for the village in case a fly hits someone’s windscreen and we need to give it First Aid!
On the animal front, the little pygmy goats have proved impossible to keep in their field, so are free range around the holiday cottages – luckily they don’t go too far as their Donkey and Boer mates can’t escape and they won’t go far without them. Do look out if you are driving through the village however as you might come across one and they have no road sense (mind you more than some people who drive around here on Sundays!)
Mr Pingu the Peacock after a coy start must have struck up a very close relationship with Rio the pea hen (now called Mrs Rio Pingu) – Rio laid 5 eggs in early May – and now 40 days later we have 4 Pea Chicks or Pinglets – the only problem is we won’t know whether they are boys or girls until the boys start growing tails – a year possibly. Mrs Ping is quite a good mother and we only hope she stays in her safe nesting place that we have protected from foxes and Badgers – as last time we had pea Chicks – Mum, Dad and all their chicks’ bar Pingu were eaten by those cute cuddly predators!!
The Holiday cottages have been busy which great news, with lots of bookings coming in and I hope the weather stays warm and sunny for all the guests – it seems we are employing every local cleaner in the district to help us out.
We still hope to get consent for our camping pods – but think we have a couple more months of waiting for the various interested parties who rule our lives to look at the scheme – fingers crossed.
Events
Don’t forget the Three Villages Produce Show is on Sunday 30th August, the Manor gardens will be open. The is so that all the fete helpers can join in and enjoy the Show, without the worry of running the Fete The Village Fete will be held in the Village the day after on 31st August Bank Holiday Monday. Do come and see us or join in – all volunteers wanted for the Fete.
Here’s looking forward to a long happy summer – with the odd shower at night and long cool but sunny days
Harry
