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.

Orphans, a new puppy and Buxworth events.

After a jaunt to visit an old friend I am now determined to lick this gremlin and finish posting up to date!The three orphan lambs have done well and are in a nice little croft close by for ease of feeding and care.A huge sycamore tree demolished this wall and it will have to be built up, but at present Nic is busy coping with the dreaded Himalayan Balsam that has taken root in one field - and with shearing by hand three naughty sheep who evaded the round up for shearing. The saying "first catch your sheep" is very true - we gave up after over an hour of fruitless chasing around the fields after them.The shearing went very well this year thanks to a very quick and efficient local shearer - teabreaks like this were few and far between.Isn't the view over the farmstead beautiful? The house and cottages are on the right sheltered by the hill. We now have a badger set on the bank to the left. Not a welcome addition as there is so much TB in the local badgers and farms around us with cattle are in quarantine and unable to sell cattle. We are blessed with a wonderful Mountain rescue team in the Peak District aided when needed by helicopter support. This is actually a rock climbing friend of ours who was lifted off the Welsh hills by their rescue services - his first accident in many years of safe climbing - a badly sprained ankle was luckily the result and nothing more serious.The first week of July is always Buxworth Wells Dressing week and we opened St James' Church in Buxworth and served delicious homemede cakes to many visitors who came to see the two wells at the church and pub. Next year the church might try their hand at a well dressing board ourselves to be placed outside the church!

The flowers were kept simple this year with no theme as in past years but the church looked lovely.We will be re-painting it at long last in August as it has looked very sad and neglected. Its a very friendly church built in the 1870s with money raised by the locals and built using labour given free by the workers in Bugsworth Lime works.

Another excitement was the arrival of Lola, a lively and adorable Puggle - a cross between a pug and a beagle. Her proud owner with her. Our old collie Jess is not too sure what to make of this new baby.Also Jess at 11 has been in the wars and cut her back foot very badly on the mowing machine while "helping" Nic cut thistles. She is deaf now and was running behind the machine instead of in front, so must have misjudged her run. She has been to and fro to the local vets for 3 weeks at vast cost but the paw has been saved with only the loss of the 2 front digits and she is getting around very happily with a slight limp.