bike ride

Managed to cycle to field and back from sheffield today. bit mizzley and grey but still a lovely ride. bought some sarnies from he cafe in Longnor and sat in the caravan eating them, making some coffee and taking it all in. Sheep are off the field, grass all pretty short, although we obviously had some rough ewes in there, as couple of the fences have been pushed over , fence posts broken, and sheep must have got into the tree pens. No major damage, but some repairs needed this summer. Those pesky munching sheep. Wild flowers beginning to come through, lots yellow rattle, some purple vetch I think. Bendle says he's going to teach me.

Springtime at last!

We visited the field at the end of january to see how all was faring in the snow, which was beginning to recede. It all felt very wintery.

But we went back this weekend and it was a different story! Daffodils in full bloom, trees budding, willow house grown enough to be mended. Campfire, sausages, lanterns. And archery of course. Our first family night there for 2 years. Bring on the summer.

Sixteen sheep

I went to the field yesterday, haven't been for a while.  It was good to be there. It always is. There were 16 of Philip's sheep grazing, nonchalantly in the chilly wind.

Dramatic weather, light shafts and long shadows.



Main reason for going was to deliver a load of campfire wood and re-roof the wood shelter in built last year. The rather flimsy corrugated plastic I had used didn't survive last winters winds and this is the rfist chance i've had to do the mending!

Happiness is a well stocked wood store.

Managed a quick inspection of our growing trees. The silver birch are the most vigorous. I reckon a couple of them are >12feet now. They love it there. Unlike the beech trees which seem to cower away in the plastic tubes, barely poking their leafy heads out.

Dads and Lads III

The weather was unpromising, there was much debate about calling it off, but we went for it and had a great time. The rain held off until about midnight, so there was much fun with football, BBQ's, stick whittling, various versions of hide and seek, chinese lanterns, flaming torches, camp fire marshmallows and general male bonding. Best thing about the weekend?- "meat sausages!" Gill, aged 6.
A very wet night ended the event rather early for those with less high performance tents and most of the cars needed helping hands to get off the field on Sunday. Thankfully Joe Jackson's arm was not broken and Ollie's illness wasn't the start of a group outbreak....
Same again next year boys? YEAHHH!!!

the aftermath

Mowing paths through the meadow

Something beautifully simple about mowing a path through a grassy meadow. We haven't been at the field for a long time, a mothers day lunch was the only visit this year. But I finally had a day off, the sun was shining and the grass growing fast.

The trees have survived the winter, maybe lost one or two. The horse chestnuts seem particularly vulnerable. The fruit trees we put in last winter are looking great, blossoming and strong. Lets hope they produce.

Anya's scots pine

Theo's pine

Lucas's rowan

I spent a day in the winter painstakingly preparing ground to plant yellow rattle seeds. In an effort to encourage wild flowers, growing yellow rattle apparently denatures the soil. This discourages the grasses, enabling wild flowers to flourish. My patch of ground looked worrying grassy this week. I am hoping its early days.

Normally at this time of year we have had a dozen sheep grazing and keeping the spring grass growth under control. However Philip hadn't got round to it yet, not helped by our lack of communication with him, so the cow parsley has had a good month of wet and now warmth, without nibbling ewes.

Planting fruit trees

We took advantage of a brief thaw to plant some fruit trees. The kids had picked theirs- Anya a plum, Theo a cherry and Lucas an apple. We put a couple of other apple trees in too, and rather late in the season dug in some more daffodils and bluebells. Here's hoping nature is kind to us.

In the Bleak Midwinter

Christmas Eve trip out to the field with my folks. Cold, really cold, but clear and very beautiful. We had plans to plant some trees but the ground was very frozen. So had great lunch in The Greyhound at Warslow instead. Maybe next time.....

lots of animal tracks in the snow, hare, badger and foxes...