On a frosty walk through the woods, a momentary stop to appreciate the clarity of the day drew my eye to the south-facing trunk of a struggling ash tree. It was covered from top to toe in what I thought was some sort of fungus but on closer inspection it turned out to be clusters… Continue reading Ladybirds in hibernation…
This morning we woke to a thick blanket of fog covering the farm. Visibility was down to about 15 metres, the air was cold and the earth was frosty. It was incredibly picturesque, particularly when the sun started to do it’s very best to burn the smur off.
Without wanting to talk about Christmas too early, I’d like to – for the reason of floral arrangements! For the last couple of years I have made wreaths for our own home, for family and friends and for my grandparents’ graves – but this year I’ve decided to sell them, I love making them and any excuse to… Continue reading Christmas wreaths…
Today winter hit Norfolk, days behind the rest of the country. While much of the west has been covered in a blanket of snow for five days (in some places up to 17 inches deep), here in the east we have had little snow until today. I woke up, opened the curtains and was met… Continue reading Winter at last…
The cattle, who have spent the spring, summer and autumn out in the paddocks, are now inside for winter. Now, this movement is normally pretty challenging, but this year it went like a dream. In the past the difficulty has been the Highland cattle – they are temperamental, stroppy, strong willed and normally want to… Continue reading The cattle move inside for winter…
For me, Christmas is as much a time for beautiful food and drink as it is for wonderful company. It’s a time when quality time spent with family and friends is coupled with indulgent, traditional and richly festive foods. Many of these are firm family favourites linked as much to winter as to Christmas itself. My top picks have got to be:… Continue reading The beauty of festive food…
Today the sun shone, the birds sung and the sky has been bright and wonderful. Here in Norfolk it has been simply glorious – November please remain this way… The morning dog walk started with crispy leaves underfoot on what was the first proper frost of the winter here in south Norfolk. As I made my… Continue reading What Novembers were made for…
As I took the dogs out for their nightly walk at about 10.30pm last night – in temperatures of -4 – I suddenly realised that there are a number of things that I truly rely on for life in the countryside during the winter. So I decided to put together a list of my winter essentials… Continue reading My list of winter essentials…what are yours?
Yesterday we headed out for a day of partridge shooting, inevitably there were a few pheasants, duck and pigeons. After a busy day crossing acres of plough on foot and consuming bowls of homemade soup, a few Norfolk nogs and the odd sloe fizz we ended a successful day with a good bag. We had nine guns on the… Continue reading A partridge day…
Like most of the country we saw the first snow flurries of the year today. It settled quickly and although I’d planned to head into Norwich, being housebound meant I could enjoy the wintery weather…although I’m not sure how well the celery in the veg beds took to it. It was also the first time the two dogs… Continue reading The arrival of snow…
