Summers here.....

I know, I'm hopeless when it comes to keeping you all posted on the blog. No excuse, but I'll try and bring you up to date. Biomass is now up and running, along with the solar power set up. The smoke from the biomass burner was the first indicator of hot water for us. Either that or we had a new Pope!

The Monkey Puzzle tree that has stood in front of the main house fir many years was discovered to be rotting at the roots, not uncommon following huge variation in temperature and water levels that we have seen over past few years. As a result we invited number one Brother in Law down for a busmans holiday. The tree was taken down in three stages and the wood is now stored at a local wood suppliers whilst we decide what to do with it. Talk of having some GG ukuleles made is being ignored.....

Lambs have grown well, with only the odd hiccup along the way and we have just brought all sheep in closer to the barn in preparation for shearing on Thursday. Pigs Dotty and Noël have also grown well and been a welcome addition to the farm, although today they were loaded into the trailer ready for their road trip tomorrow. It's a one way trip I'm afraid, but we shall remember them fondly when we have our celebration in the Barn in August, with a hog roast! 

Sticking with the animal theme, we welcomed a young deer which was brought to the farm by a friend who found her abandoned on a busy footpath. Cue plenty of oohing, ahhhing and non stop cuddles and eventually she seemed to come back to life, to the point she was able to stand and take some water. We called the local animal rescue, they collected her and I'm pleased to report she made a full recovery. Totally and utterly gorgeous ........

Hmmmm, What else has been going on. Honestly it always seems to be so busy round here, guests are always commenting how whilst it's the perfect place to relax, there is always something happening. Pool is running at a delicious 32 degrees as a result of our new Green energy supply, and couple this with the recent warm spell and it really is rather tropical down in Devon at the moment!

One last thing, we woke early yesterday morning to go to the Tiverton Balloon Festival. Beautiful morning, despite the 5.15 start and we were able to see the magnificent collection of Hot air balloons being inflated and finally rising up into the clearest of morning skies. Simply magical......

Time flies when you're having fun......

I do think I live in a time warp, or maybe it's just I'm having such a good time I don't notice the pages turning on the calendar? Suddenly after a long and oh so wet winter, signs of spring are all around, the lambs are arriving and clocks go forward tonight. The installation of the Biomass and solar panels is nearly reaching completion, but I'm not talking about the whole project until it's absolutely up and running as simply cannot tempt any further delays.

Despite the weather and ongoing ground work, we have managed to welcome our lovely guests and the wonderful guests in turn have made the most of time at Great Gutton. It always make me smile, when on arrival guests often ask about local things going on, tell me their exhaustive plans of what they are going to do and see and show me their list of activities. Then at some point the next day we spot them just wandering about the farm, checking out the livestock, discovering the good old faithful tyre swing and just chilling out. This is part of the magic of the place, it lets people just stop, take a breath and simply catch up with each other. Of course we do host gatherings for all sorts of occasions, Hen weekends, Wedding celebrations, special Birthdays, re unions and friends or families "get togethers". I love the variety.

To business......lambs have started to arrive and the children were thrilled ( and maybe a tiny bit eugh!) to witness one ewe being given a helping hand in delivering her twin lambs. but mother and sons are doing well now and word has spread that Suzi had her hand up the sheeps bottom!

Today, buoyed on by glorious sunshine, we had a bit of a sort out of ewes to lamb and they are now in the "Bonfire field" which is close to the house and doesn't involve the long walk up the steep "Ski field" when we want to check on them. On the whole the ewes tend to manage to deliver their lambs without any intervention but it's nice to know we can keep an eye on them just in case. Once born they are then brought into the "Orchard Maternity" unit for some TLC and some extra nutrition, just to ensure  mum and babies get a good start and again so we can check on them easily. here are our first pair of lambs to arrive  at Great Gutton Farm 2014

After about 12-24 hours I'm afraid it's time for the male lambs to step up to the mark and be introduced to the harsher side of life, when they are castrated. We cannot keep any entire males within the flock and so this has to be done to make good the gene pool. We then "buy in" the use of a ram for our girls from a completely separate flock. That's the science bit and below is a picture of one of our more experienced ewes watching over Johns shoulder as he delivers the rubber ring to her lamb! It's the safest and kindest way to carry the process out and I promise you the young fella was up and running about within moments! 

HAPPY DAYS!