Yurt comes home

Sun shining and with the clocks going back, it was time to get the Yurt dismantled and packed up for the winter

GG sunrise

Out with the dogs this morning to see sun rise over GG.

Party barn

Mid September saw the GG party barn used for Ali and George's wedding reception. Over 150 of us sat down for pies, mash and speeches. A great and very memorable day.

Apples safely gathered in

After two busy weekends picking, pressing and bottling Great Gutton apples the juice harvest is now complete. Friends, family and guests all chipped in to produce the juice which features in the welcome pack guests receive on arrival.

Warm winter evenings

This week saw the delivery of the winters logs. The three main cottages, alongside their central heating, have woodburning stoves and with free logs available most guests get the stoves going during their stay at GG. We try to keep things local so wood delivery is from local farmers using the fire wood business to manage their woodland.

Lesser Horseshoe Bats

Today we learned from the local batman (no silly jokes please) that we are lucky enough to have a colony of Lesser Horseshoe bats living in the attic of Great Gutton. Even more exciting is that it could be a breeding colony. The Lesser Horseshoe bat is very rare in the UK, although relatively common in southwest England and as a result is protected by law.
The batmen (yes there were two of them and no neither is called Robin) used bat detectors to listen to the bats ultrasound signals as they left their roost at dusk this evening. The twenty or so bats spotted and heard will apparently spend all night hunting insects in the hedges, woods and orchards at Great Gutton before returning to the attic at dawn for a well earned rest.

Harvest approaches

As August draws to a close it time to think about harvesting the various fruits at Great Gutton. The big job will be the collection of the apples from the three on farm orchards. The apples are pulped and pressed on the farm to produce the very popular Great Gutton Apple Juice which forms part of the welcome pack for our guests. The 150 or so apple trees have all be planted in the last 10 years as part of the farms Countryside Stewardship Scheme (more of which another time). Traditional Devon cider varieties have been mixed with desert apples in an attempt, over time, to reproduce the three old orchards that would have surrounded the house at the turn of the last century. Apple harvest takes place during October and November the challenge being to pick and mix apples from different trees to make a tasty blend of juice for us all to enjoy over the coming months. The next step is gather the necessary equipment and convince the guests, kids, friends and neighbours to help out! Some will no doubt be more persuadable that others!!