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...

The lost Dovefest tapes

I have managed to track down all that film I made at Dovefest, prepare yourselves for Circus Sutton.....

Long time no Post

We had a great summer, lots of camping on the field, including the inaugural Dovefest. It was a great weekend of campfires, music, kite flying , face painting and more. Sutton's circus was a big highlight, headlining the main stage. Something for us all to aspire to next year. I took loads of digi-film and hoped to produce a short feature, maybe even a full on hour long rockumentary, but I have managed to lose all of it. Doh. So all I have is a few shots which don't do the weekend justice.

There was some great music played, Saturday night's folk jam from Becky (accordion) Liz (fiddle) and Gerry (guitar) and not forgetting Josh's special Lou Reed composition for Simon. I have great memories of kids running around in the dark with glow sticks, Saturday morning cricket match and Wilf Sutton stealing the show.

The trees look fabulous, some of them now 8ft tall, which seems remarkable considering we planted them as 18in youngsters only 3 years ago.

Now the field is covered in snow, the land hard and cold. This winter we plan to put in lots of bulbs and more trees once the ground allows. Hopefully plant some fruit trees and see how they get on.

Dads and Lads

" He that plants trees loves others besides himself " Thomas Fuller

Some male bonding last weekend with a lads and dads camping night. An epic footie match, Young versus Old, ending in a 16-16 draw, followed by campfire sparklers, chinese lantern and some fairly tuneless guitar playing.

Loo with a View

"The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more" Ralph Waldo Emerson

Camping at the field has now become a much more luxurious affair after the primitive bog was installed. A spade, an old arm chair, some bits of wood and a loo seat and hey presto!