Thursday 26 March 2015

Spring at last - March 2015

 Cracken Edge with Chinley below and the farm just off to the left.
The sky and spring light has been so beautiful as the first daffodils have started to appear in the farm lane.
We celebrated  the 45th anniversary of the day we met in South Africa on Friday 13th March at our favourite Hassop Hall Hotel near Bakewell. It was lucky 13th for us certainly!
 On the way back from our delicious meal we came up the eerily atmospheric Winnat's Pass from Castleton- a view that always makes us glad we live here in the glorious Peak District.

 The sunsets have been stunning- this was taken by our friend Keith and is looking from our farm lane towards the hills of the Goyt Valley.
Another Keith special taken as he strolled up to the farm last week.

Tuesday 24 February 2015

An overdue catch up for 2015!


First of all may we at Cote Bank wish all our "followers" a very happy new year and apologies for the long lapse in postings.
  A farming year follows the seasons with almost monotonous regularity so there is often nothing new to blog about but I am sure you'd like to see a few new photos.

Cracken Edge above Chinley

This was taken  in early January and then this happened!

I love the look of newly fallen snow and the beautiful silence
- but it means extra work for poor old Farmer Nic - here he is on his invaluable quadbike delivering hay to 
some of his heavily pregnant sheep.
 
These are his little "tup" lambs waiting hopefully for their food .
These snow photos were taken by our local historian and amateur photographer Keith on a walk along our footpath - I was busy inside our cosy farmhouse making jam!
 
This is the main road in Chinley impassable for a day except by the intrepid.
My poor little birds needed extra food
  And suddenly it was all gone and my newly planted camellia flowered outside the Old House window along with the usual carpet of crocuses- can Spring be far behind?
Winter work! Taking down the enormous horse chestnut by the side of our house -sadly full of canker
I feel dizzy 5 foot off the ground so found this intrepid local tree feller amazing- plenty of cups of tea went out to keep him warm!

An overview of 2014
Nic's hens are the best we have ever had but are so cheeky- take over my garden as you can see, "help" me when I am gardening and make dust baths inbetween all my best plants- but the eggs are delicious!
We had some amazing sunsets in autumn
And the 2 Nics removed a few branches from the oak tree outside the Old House to make it lighter in the front rooms.
 Our views never change, luckily
  And are enjoyed by our visitors and their dogs.

We changed the double bed in Cherry tree Cottage for a beautifully comfortable John Lewis special with Yorkshire sheep wool as padding.
  It was so popular that we bought the same make for the Old House only upgraded to a 6 foot super-kingsize with new linen to go with both beds.
Spring 2014 outside the Old House back door
New seating and curtains in the Old house sitting room


Chinley and Cote Bank(middle left in the trees) from Eccles Pike
Our oak in summer
 the Crocosmia Lucifer in our garden is always a lovely cheery sight
July 4th was Wells Dressing time at St James' Buxworth- 2014 was one of our best to commemorate the outbreak of the 1st World War.
 The church displayed local memorabilia from both World wars.
2015 we will have the famous knitted village in the church with displays by local societies and the primary schools- June 25th to 4th July - don't miss it!
The 1st weekend in September was the wonderful Chatsworth Country Fair- a fabulous day out.

    It was a good year for hydrangeas
We took our grandchildren to the most moving Staffordshire National Arboretum
 Suddenly it was autumn again and we saw that our dear old 18 year old collie, Jess, was not happy- sleeping the days away, very unsteady on her feet and with other nasty ailments.
With a heavy heart we said goodbye to her.
Jess will not be replaced- at 70 we feel we would not be good companions for a lively puppy but we give extra affection to our surrogate dog-Lola- our son's family Puggle.
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Early December fun in the snow

 Our helicopter pilots doing restoration on the moors came and went from the cottages which is always exciting.
 Now we are looking forward to spring 2015! This was taken last spring from the gazebo in our garden looking over to the Goyt Valley and the hills of Macclesfield.