With only around 10 days to go until Christmas we do know that everyone is running around likeheadless chickens, or are very smug after getting everything done! However, we just wanted to poston here about something fun and creative that you can do with some younger family members overtheir Christmas holidays as a creative arts and craft activity. Everyone likes a bit of messy play, andmaking the birds happy at the same time!Christmas wreaths are certainly getting more and more ‘big’ every year, we seem to see more ofthem and more diversity – plus, theres been a lot of wreath making classes noted in the last fewyears too. It’s a great thing to do, but we have got a kind of tutorial for how you can make a fantasticwreath for not only your friends and family, but also one for your garden visitors too!We haven’t made ours yet, but since seeing...

Wow. Can a blog be just one word? Probably not. Best try and get on with it then. Well, we have been absolutely overwhelmed by the amazing response that we have had after our segment on Countryfile on Sunday, in fact, that’s probably an understatement. I was so excited to see so many lovely people reach out to us, and even more people on our website and reading our blogs, yes that does include you, my dear reader! I was already gobsmacked and chuffed with how my husband and daughter came across on TV, I knew they would, but it was great to see it for sure!  It might make you laugh, but I was actually unloading the dishwasher at the time that they were on because I was trying to distract myself, they made me watch it though, so I just had my hands half over my eyes, by the...

Many children want to be doctors, or bus drivers, or the classic ‘I want to be a pop star’, however, my children (especially Robyn) just wanted to be some kind of odd outdoors person who’s on Countryfile. Finally, success is coming on Sunday! I must admit, every time Kate Humble came on the tele she would turn to Chris and I to announce ‘I could do that’ – lo and behold, she can. For those who don’t know, BBC’s Adam Henson came to us last Tuesday to film a Countryfile segment all about our pigeon corn, pumpkin patch, and Robyn’s ‘soap empire’. It was a truly surreal day for us all, but one we won’t forget! Probably the most odd part for me was the producer saying Chris should keep his holey North Face fleece on rather than getting changed, to look more authentic. The craziest part of this whole thing...

What a blast we all had with our Pumpkin Patch, and we hope that if you managed to join us that you had a good time too and managed to choose your best pumpkin (or 10 as many of you did). It was great to meet so many of you and share in making memories for so many people over the two weekends we were open, the photos of so many people in our field, on the Pumpkin Express, and on the straw bales surrounded by pumpkins was amazing. As well as the usual pumpkins this year we grew edible squashes, these proved to be so popular, especially the blue/grey ones called Crown Prince Variety, in fact these are the ones that are used for Pumpkin Pie in the US, and lots of people have since contacted us to share recipes and photos of their culinary masterpieces, and there were rather...

I’ve been trying to find somewhere cool for the last couple of days as the heat has been rather enjoyable, but at times a little too much if you’re trying to work! Its fine if you are on the beach or relaxing but not so much fun in our dusty farmyard.  The dogs have been walked early morning and, in the evening, other than that they have been flopped out in the cool passageway trying to enjoy some cool breeze through the back door. Tonight, we went in the pickup to inspect the new hay crop, yes grass is considered a crop, which the dogs really enjoyed, trying (and failing) to cock their legs on each and every bale in the field! They will be kept away from the pumpkins when they’re ready for picking I can assure you all! Amazingly this year our hay crop was cut and turned, then...

No, he’s not praying, but multi-tasking.  We were off on our walk on Easter Sunday, another lovely day during these strangest of times, and Chris decided he needed to check the newly sown crops to see if they had germinated.  I hate to say it, but we could do with a good shower of rain to set them off. This time when it rains, I hope it remembers when to stop, unlike last Autumn/Winter when we seemed to have rain every day from September.  The dogs follow Chris everywhere and only seem to obey me when he’s not around, other than that I’m relegated – they both adore him which I think the picture shows, plus the fact that mobile phones can find you anywhere…. There is no escape! We walked miles and saw lots of wildlife and birdlife too, the hedges are in bloom and nature seems to be carrying...

I think it has been the most bizarre week ever - the shop has been unbelievably busy with people stocking up on dog and chicken foods mainly, but also pigeon and wild bird foods. We have had some laughs among the stressful days, people’s humour has shone through rather than sadness or anger but in these uncertain times its so lovely to see the best of people rather than the worst that has been seen in supermarket queues and fighting over loaves of bread and toilet roll. It is so true that our lives have been turned upside down and will remain so for several weeks or months, especially if the social distancing measures put in place by the Government aren’t adhered to and people continue to crowd to our lovely beaches and countryside. I did mention how sad it is that the coronavirus has invaded our daily lives when the...

This is a first for the family; Robyn has been interviewed for a Podcast called Rock & Roll Farming run by the lovely Will Evans, a farming journalist with Farmers Weekly & also a farmer. He heard about Robyn from the article she did for Farmers Guardian last year, in which she talked openly about coping with epilepsy whilst living on a farm and the difficulties that can arise. One such problem being that we live in an isolated place, and so isn’t on a bus route – this makes it a real difficulty for her to get out independently. All things that most of us take for granted, like being able to lock the bathroom door (we have no locks on our bathroom in case Robyn has a seizure, so we can reach her quickly), or not going to parties and clubs with strobe lighting due to the fact she...