Guilty as charged......

........No excuses for having abandoned the blog. Too busy enjoying the summer and watching all our guests enjoy themselves at the same time. Suddenly though the nights are drawing in, wood fires are being lit and the woolly jumpers are appearing once more. I love the autumn but this year we really have had such a wonderful summer and I'm still not sure I'm quite ready to wave it goodbye. 

However, the blossom that was so fantastic in the spring, has turned to what is looking like a bumper crop for October.

 branches of the trees have actually been breaking with the weight of their fruit, and we have filled  basket upon basket already of fallen apples. Our apple juicing weekends in October are now set and we hope to produce more juice than ever as the trees continue to mature.

And as if we are not spoilt with all the apples, there are pears ripening in the front garden, blackberries coming to an end after a seemingly never ending supply from the hedgerows and a quick walk with the dogs this morning saw my basket filled with field mushrooms before even reaching the top of the hill. The recent damp and warm weather does have some positive after all - I wonder if apple and mushroom crumble would work?

Making Hay while the sun shines.....

....and boy has the sun been shining these past two weeks. Simply fabulous to have warm summer evenings, followed by bright sunny mornings. Sheep and lambs continue to thrive and as you can see, our two pet lambs have remained as friendly as ever. They were weaned off the bottle mid June, but still like to come and say hello if ever we are in the fields - be it to let us sit on them or just to get a lick of an ice lolly! Here's Ella to demonstrate with Jeremy Nom Nom;

And all this sunshine means the grass has been growing like crazy,  so we have made hay to be used next winter- it's all in the planning you know! Neighbouring friends and farmers came to our two fields on Monday to cut, Tuesday was turning time, Wednesday it was all swished into rows in time for the baler to come along, scoop it up and push out the lovely string tied small bales - easy to handle and perfect for our small Shetland flock.

The only down side was walking up and down the steep fields in the heat of the sun - but nothing that another ice lolly all to myself couldn't cure! 

Baaaaa time

Here's the very gorgeous Rachel and her Mummy Helen looking after pet lambs Jeremy Nom

Nom and Lamby whammy ( ridiculous names I know but our kids are to blame!). Of course bottle feeding couldn't take place without our Peggy ably assisting all our holiday makers.my how they've grown and continue to do so in all this glorious sunshine.

It's all in the wood

These are "spars", which in our case are made of hazel. So you split the lengths of hazel and point each end using a bill hook. Then you fold in half and twist at the same time, to create  a sort of wooden staple.  These are then used to fix the straw to what is the roof. Apparently they have tried to reproduce these in plastic but just cannot get the same "springiness" in the man made staples and so the tradition carries on. If the spar is not bent then it is called a "ligger" and this is used on the outside of the ridge for decorative purpose. I'm heading off to see if I can get a picture...

Thatches, matches and no dispatches.....

So the Thatchers are now here, and rather than think of it as a messy straw fest of inconvenience, I'm seeing it as another opportunity to wonder at the glory of this house made of mud and straw. Yes there are ladders and scaffolding everywhere but with Terry and Wayne working their straw filled socks off, it's just great to see a work in progress and learn a little about the art of thatching. 

'twas the night before........

.....The wedding. Richard and Amy celebrate their marriage here at Great Gutton tomorrow and as you can imagine, this week has been hectic as we prepare for their big day. Whilst we grandly call our barn, The Party Barn, it really is quite simply a barn.

But with some muscle defining work with a broom, a huge dollop of gluing and sticking, miles of ladder climbing and some wonderful imaginations, Richard, Amy and their dedicated team of family and friends have transformed it to a Wonderful Wedding Barn. It's all the little touches that I love, spraying baked bean tins for flowers, hand crafting banners and flags, a whisper of netting transforming dull ivy clad walls into a wonderful back drop, drippings of fairy lights.......ooooh I could go on and on, but instead will settle with a few pictures now and the promise of lots more when the big day finally arrives. So it's fingers crossed for sunshine and all the very best to the Delicious Bride and Groom for tomorrow and always.

PS. Did I mention the GLITTER BALL I spotted - dancing shoes are at the ready!

You don't bring me flowers..........

Well actually, 'im indoors may not but some of our guests do and last Friday got off to a great start with the arrival of guests bearing flowers - not just any flowers but a balloon bunch. Fabulous. Rich and his family and friends were returning to Great Gutton for their first weekend  "Gathering" as part of City Life Church Exeter. It was all go as they and our other guests settled in with the promise of sunshine for at least part of the weekend. Now' I'm not saying the BBQ's all came out and folk were sunbathing but I did spot some bare feet in flip flops and there was the odd shiny red nose on Sunday morning. The group marked their gathering with the planting of a tree and so first off they dug up the old tree that 'im indoors had mistakenly slaughtered with some over enthusiastic strimming and replaced it with a Sorbus Commixta Embley to be precise, but to you and me, a Rowan Tree. I now feel the weight of responsibility in getting it to flourish and grow amidst attack from errant strimmers, run away sheep and general neglect. I accept the mission.......