Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Easter fun, lambs and special birthdays
I have been so busy with Easter B&B visitors that my blog has been a bit neglected and I have yet to master the art of adding a video but watch this space.
I know we shouldn't brag but we do think our little Nicole is just beautiful and this Easter bonnet was almost entirely her own work.
The bees and butterflies and eggs were all laboriously hand drawn by Nicole although her artistic aunt made the actual hen and Karen helped assemble it ready for the school parade.
Karen and Will had also made an Easter egg hunt with clever clues placed around the garden and farmyard, which had the children running and shouting in great excitement. I've done a video of this but the blog doesn't seem to like it! Will try again later.
In the evening William and Karen had us round for a super lamb meal - their house always looks so lovely and welcoming.
We loved this photo taken of our Jess with their dear old Gem taken by our regular visitors, the Hamsons. Gem is now sadly no more but was part of our Cote Bank scene for many years.
They came at Easter with their new dogs who won prizes just after Easter- the new pup, Freya, is showing real promise.
What varied weather we have had thrown at us - just in time for lambing! Although it has been cold, we have been spared rain, for which Nic has been grateful.
He has kept his twin lambs safely in the warmth of the buildings down at Stubbins but the singles up here, which had to be born in the field, have fared a bit worse and quite a few have had to be put in the little field building to give them a bit of shelter and help.
I know we shouldn't brag but we do think our little Nicole is just beautiful and this Easter bonnet was almost entirely her own work.
The bees and butterflies and eggs were all laboriously hand drawn by Nicole although her artistic aunt made the actual hen and Karen helped assemble it ready for the school parade.Easter day brought another fall of snow which looked very pretty for a few hours but had all melted by the time we got back from Easter Sunday church, to the slight disappointment of the children.
They had had a wonderful time early in the morning collecting the chocolate eggs that our hens always lay on Easter morning. Miracles all round at Easter- one of them being the speed at which a chocolate egg will melt when a hen sits on it along with her own egg!
Karen and Will had also made an Easter egg hunt with clever clues placed around the garden and farmyard, which had the children running and shouting in great excitement. I've done a video of this but the blog doesn't seem to like it! Will try again later. In the evening William and Karen had us round for a super lamb meal - their house always looks so lovely and welcoming.
We loved this photo taken of our Jess with their dear old Gem taken by our regular visitors, the Hamsons. Gem is now sadly no more but was part of our Cote Bank scene for many years.They came at Easter with their new dogs who won prizes just after Easter- the new pup, Freya, is showing real promise.
What varied weather we have had thrown at us - just in time for lambing! Although it has been cold, we have been spared rain, for which Nic has been grateful.He has kept his twin lambs safely in the warmth of the buildings down at Stubbins but the singles up here, which had to be born in the field, have fared a bit worse and quite a few have had to be put in the little field building to give them a bit of shelter and help.
Of course we hate having to bottle feed orphan lambs - luckily only two have been rejected by their mothers, who took to one twin and resolutely refused to accept the other- but little Tilly enjoyed feeding the greedy little lambs.
She got the hang of it very well - perhaps having a baby sister helped her- most children can't master keeping the bottle tilted enough but she did very well with a bit of help from Mum.
All finished and the second lamb is waiting for his turn! Jess, as always is in attendance! She just lives for lambing time and accompanies Nic down to Stubbins at dawn to check on the twins and then races along behind the car back here to keep an eagle eye on him as he walks around the singles in the fields around home. She won't be left behind and cries at the door to join him if we think she looks tired.
She got the hang of it very well - perhaps having a baby sister helped her- most children can't master keeping the bottle tilted enough but she did very well with a bit of help from Mum.All finished and the second lamb is waiting for his turn! Jess, as always is in attendance! She just lives for lambing time and accompanies Nic down to Stubbins at dawn to check on the twins and then races along behind the car back here to keep an eagle eye on him as he walks around the singles in the fields around home. She won't be left behind and cries at the door to join him if we think she looks tired. I'm not sure what will happen as she ages - probably will have to go down in the car with him! Next year we hope to lamb everything in the sheds as Nic is getting older and the 2hourly walk around the lambing fields is exhausting for him although he never complains. he just loves his sheep and is very proud of this year's crop of lambs which are particularly fine Gritstones and very healthy and lusty.
The twins have all lambed in the first 18 days -unheard of for us but most welcome as most are now safely out at grass with their mothers.
We do have fun with our guests! This is Harry who celebrated his 18th Birthday here last Sunday and to much hilarity we brought in the breakfast loaf of bread complete with candle for the birthday boy to make a wish on. Harry and Sam have been coming here on holiday with their parents since they were only about 4, so we felt very ancient on Sunday seeing this lovely young man at the grand old age of 18. His band had just won in a national competition in Manchester the previous day so it was celebrations all round.
The Williams boys were particularly impressed with Nic's snazzy sawn off jeans - times is hard in the hills! As Nic wears a boiler suit over his jeans these are rather practical and I think he has rather good legs, so we are all happy!
And not to be outdone, our friend Nick posed for this picture - not sure if his wife will be happy as it certainly does him no favours! It's the hat and the specs that do it!
The twins have all lambed in the first 18 days -unheard of for us but most welcome as most are now safely out at grass with their mothers.We do have fun with our guests! This is Harry who celebrated his 18th Birthday here last Sunday and to much hilarity we brought in the breakfast loaf of bread complete with candle for the birthday boy to make a wish on. Harry and Sam have been coming here on holiday with their parents since they were only about 4, so we felt very ancient on Sunday seeing this lovely young man at the grand old age of 18. His band had just won in a national competition in Manchester the previous day so it was celebrations all round.The Williams boys were particularly impressed with Nic's snazzy sawn off jeans - times is hard in the hills! As Nic wears a boiler suit over his jeans these are rather practical and I think he has rather good legs, so we are all happy!And not to be outdone, our friend Nick posed for this picture - not sure if his wife will be happy as it certainly does him no favours! It's the hat and the specs that do it!Sunday, 30 March 2008
Easter and our visitors enjoy the spring weather.
The daffodils on the front are out and the ash is starting to put out buds - we always watch to see if the oak comes out before the ash because folklore says that, if it does, we will only "have a splash" whereas ash before the oak means we're in for a "soak!"
Last summer was so wet after a lovely dry spring that we certainly want a splash this year.
We have had such variable weather over Easter but that didn't deter our regular visitors who went off up the hills whenever the rain cleared. 
Last summer was so wet after a lovely dry spring that we certainly want a splash this year.
We have had such variable weather over Easter but that didn't deter our regular visitors who went off up the hills whenever the rain cleared. Diamond and Sapphy and their new very pretty Border collie had a thoroughly relaxing holiday after the excitements of Crufts.
These two were great favourite of ours -Gem and Jess Hamson who are sadly now no longer with us but the latest addition to the family is a little star and had a wonderful holiday here over Easter with her older "sisters" Sapphy and Diamond.
Our doggie visitors love the exciting rabbit and sheep smells on their walks and always return exhausted and needing a good drink at the spout in the farmyard.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Snow, daffodils at last; the troops come home and we get a pony!
I suppose we are complacent about winters now and are taken by surprise when we wake up to a snowfall.
There wasn't much snow - just enough to look pretty - this is the view across the farmyard.
Nic always used to say that the farmyard looked best under 6 inches of snow but personally I prefer it so that I can walk without fear of falling over. This year we have only had a day of a light powdering and it went within hours - not even enough for a snowman to be built.
Eccles Pike is always dramatic whatever the weather - if only we got blue skies with the snow! There was a bit of sun but I missed taking the photo in time, hence the rather gloomy view. 
The sheep were as always resilient and just scratched through the thin layer of snow to reach the grass and of course, as lambing is imminent, Nic is feeding them molasses with minerals and extra hay so they certainly don't go hungry.
The next day I was on my way across the hill to Chapel-en-le -Frith when I saw this beautifully dramatic sky over South head and Mount Famine .
You can just see the bypass in the bottom of this picture and some cars had stopped in the layby to admire the stunning view. 
There wasn't much snow - just enough to look pretty - this is the view across the farmyard.Nic always used to say that the farmyard looked best under 6 inches of snow but personally I prefer it so that I can walk without fear of falling over. This year we have only had a day of a light powdering and it went within hours - not even enough for a snowman to be built.Eccles Pike is always dramatic whatever the weather - if only we got blue skies with the snow! There was a bit of sun but I missed taking the photo in time, hence the rather gloomy view. The sheep were as always resilient and just scratched through the thin layer of snow to reach the grass and of course, as lambing is imminent, Nic is feeding them molasses with minerals and extra hay so they certainly don't go hungry.The next day I was on my way across the hill to Chapel-en-le -Frith when I saw this beautifully dramatic sky over South head and Mount Famine .You can just see the bypass in the bottom of this picture and some cars had stopped in the layby to admire the stunning view. One of our favourite walks for our visitors is across Cracken Edge, over the A624 and round Mount Famine to South Head, back into Chinley and home. 
You can just see the edge of the village with Cracken Edge jutting out above it - the farm is out of sight to the left of the picture. 
You can just see the edge of the village with Cracken Edge jutting out above it - the farm is out of sight to the left of the picture. Chinley is quite a sprawling village now and in the last 15 years all the houses down to the right have been built.
In summer these hills will all be beautifully green.
I always feel that spring is on the way when, in spite of gales and lashing rain my brave little daffodils start flowering in the narrow lane just before Windy Bend.
Inevitably a ggiant gap has fallen in the narrow just after Nic had repaired another one close by - truly a hill farmer's work is never done as far as drystone walling is concerned.
The gales didn't affect us much - we had a night of high wind but no trees or even branches came down. other parts of the country weren't as lucky
But it is not all work and last Friday we went over to St Helens to watch Nic's rugby league team snatch victory from Hull in the last 5 minutes of play.
And we also enjoyed a belated birthday meal at our favourite Italian restaurant- the Vecchia Italia - in Chapel-en-le-Frith with our good friends Tony and Effie.
The place was packed and buzzing and the food and welcome was as good as ever. It makes us feel really old as Giovanni's son Salvi is now front of house and we remember when he was a toddler! Dad was on duty in the kitchen
Earlier in the day we had braved a freezingly cold wind to go over to Buxton as the local Mercian Regiment - an amalgamation of the Cheshires and the Sherwood Foresters- was being given the freedom of the Borough and were marching through the town to a ceremony in the Pavilion Gardens. 
The lady Mayoress inspected the troops and Nic and I flew the flag. The lads have been in Afghanistan and it was good to see them back but they must have been chilled to the bone as the wind was icy. it was a moving and impressive ceremony and a good turnout to show our appreciation of their bravery.
The big excitement for our grandchildren has been the arrival of Poppy, a sweet looking but difficult to catch pony!
Karen has spent any spare moments in her busy day enticing the little beast into a smaller field so that she can get her used to being held and eventually ridden.
Nicole is very thrilled with her pony and William is thinking about it but is still much happier if he can sit in the digger when daddy is making the farmyard look tidy!
His face says it all!
And to round off a happy week, Karen had a birthday and little William decorated her cake with me while Daddy and Nicole went to the Trafford Centre to choose a special present
I always feel that spring is on the way when, in spite of gales and lashing rain my brave little daffodils start flowering in the narrow lane just before Windy Bend. Inevitably a ggiant gap has fallen in the narrow just after Nic had repaired another one close by - truly a hill farmer's work is never done as far as drystone walling is concerned.The gales didn't affect us much - we had a night of high wind but no trees or even branches came down. other parts of the country weren't as luckyBut it is not all work and last Friday we went over to St Helens to watch Nic's rugby league team snatch victory from Hull in the last 5 minutes of play.And we also enjoyed a belated birthday meal at our favourite Italian restaurant- the Vecchia Italia - in Chapel-en-le-Frith with our good friends Tony and Effie.The place was packed and buzzing and the food and welcome was as good as ever. It makes us feel really old as Giovanni's son Salvi is now front of house and we remember when he was a toddler! Dad was on duty in the kitchenEarlier in the day we had braved a freezingly cold wind to go over to Buxton as the local Mercian Regiment - an amalgamation of the Cheshires and the Sherwood Foresters- was being given the freedom of the Borough and were marching through the town to a ceremony in the Pavilion Gardens. The lady Mayoress inspected the troops and Nic and I flew the flag. The lads have been in Afghanistan and it was good to see them back but they must have been chilled to the bone as the wind was icy. it was a moving and impressive ceremony and a good turnout to show our appreciation of their bravery.The big excitement for our grandchildren has been the arrival of Poppy, a sweet looking but difficult to catch pony!Karen has spent any spare moments in her busy day enticing the little beast into a smaller field so that she can get her used to being held and eventually ridden.Nicole is very thrilled with her pony and William is thinking about it but is still much happier if he can sit in the digger when daddy is making the farmyard look tidy!His face says it all!And to round off a happy week, Karen had a birthday and little William decorated her cake with me while Daddy and Nicole went to the Trafford Centre to choose a special present
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