As you may or may not know this blog is mainly about documenting mine and my fiance's journey on the way to our dream of a B&B and small holding. When we tell people our plan their are a few general reactions we get.
SO...what I'm trying to say (in a very round about way) is that the one thing people never say in response to us telling us their dream is why? Why do it? Why put so much effort into it? This is a question I've been thinking about a lot lately and to be honest the reason I've been thinking about it is because I came up with the answer first.
It also reminded me of an article I read in a local village paper many years ago when I lived at home. It was such a non-event moment at the time but looking back it was the catalyst for so much. The article was all about a lady who had lived in the village since she was born. Living in the same house, working the land with her parents and later her husband, living the simple life. She was about 90 something years old and the article was all about how happy she was with her long life. The reporter asked her what was the key to a long and happy life and the lady explained that today too many people spend hours and pounds constantly trying to buy and find happiness. She said that people no longer understand the value of being content. Content with what you have and enjoying it rather than constantly looking for more. She said the key to a happy life was being content with a simple life and that not many people understood that any more.
Our next blow was a big one and came 5 weeks after getting the girls. During the day they stayed in the secure run but when we got in from work and at weekends we would let them out in the garden to free range. At first we nervously watched them like new parents but as the weeks went by we would nip inside the house for something and relaxed as all seemed ok. On the bank holiday Sunday evening we had gone in the house to sort out tea nipping to check on them every ten minutes or so.
Brian found Ginger under a bush with lots of feathers missing but we couldn't tell how injured. We decided to put her in a box until we had found Tikka and sorted Tullulah who was in a much worse state. Brian walked around the coop where he had walked a few times before. This time he spoke as he walked pass the bushes and there was an answering cluck from inside! Tikka had managed to fly 5 foot up onto a branch and hide there silently inches from where the fox escaped on the very day we talked about clipping her wings! Tikka hated being picked up more than the others put together but Brian held out his hands and she jumped into them completely unharmed.
One look at Tullulah and I knew she would never make it to the vets (who I had on the phone). Both her wings were broken and her lungs punctured. Brian made the brave decision of putting her out of her misery himself. I was so proud of him for being able to do it as I knew I couldn't. We know we will have to face things like this on the farm but 5 weeks in seemed a bit too steep a learning curve!
That left us with one brave little chicken all alone in her run. She spent all Monday morning looking for the others and we knew we couldn't leave her on her own. We found a farm close to us that re-homes ex-bats and so went up in the afternoon to get two new ladies.
and beautiful Bella
I wish I could say that's the end of the sadness but unfortunately it's not. 2 weeks after getting the new ladies as they started to settle in we noticed the tell tale signs that Bella was egg bound. She had laid 2 shell-less eggs since we got her so we were expecting a problem with her first proper egg. She was obviously struggling to lay but was still sat up and walking around, unlike Tullulah. We hoped she would be ok but unfortunately she didn't make it through last night :(
The previous tenants had a green house exactly where we wanted the coop so we recycled the paving stones around the edge of the coop to hopefully deter foxes a bit more. Brian also set about building a fence down one edge of the garden and constructed a brilliant little gate too.
So we were all ready for our ladies and all we had to do was go and get them. We had already found a lady out near Blackpool who rescued battery hens and re-homes them. She is also a breeder for Omlet and has a lovely little farm called Happy Chicks which you can check out by clicking here. We set off on Saturday morning nervously excited to be collecting our first animals on the road to our small holding. When we got to the farm Kate, the owner, took us to see the ex-bats. They had already been at the farm for 6 weeks so they were already looking so much healthier. Here is a picture of some of Kate's ex-bats when they arrive,
I'm sure most of you already know the state they are in but I still find it shocking it's allowed. After 6 weeks in Kate's care the girls were already looking a million times better. She picked out 4 girls for us and popped them into carries for the journey home.
When we got in (after a slightly nervous and careful car journey) we showed the girls their new home and they settled in straight away. It was amazing how quickly we got to know the girls characters. We got four so we could name one each and so in no particular order I'd like to introduce the first of the girls, named by me. She's the most ex-bat looking of the girls with a bare chest and bald head but loves her grapes and is always the last to bed (like me). Here is the lovely Tullulah,
Next up we have the prettiest (and nosiest) of all the girls, named by Brian. She's the most chilled out chick who loves nothing more than a good sun bath. Here's the gorgeous Ginger,
Following Ginger is the top lady of our coop. Named by Callum, she likes to be the boss and lets the others know it. She's the first at the gate when we come out to say hello and noisiest second only to Ginger. Here is top chick Tikka,
and last but by no means least, named by Hayley, we have the little chic who loves her treats almost as much as Tikka. She'll happily attack your shoe laces or wellies when you go to say hello. Here's the sweet little Tinkerbell (aka Floppy, can you guess why?)
We had our first egg the very next day we got them but we're pretty sure it was in production before we picked them up and was a bit on the thin side but it was one of the most exciting things ever! I also discovered a use for my lovely giant tea cup :)
We got our first proper egg on Friday which we're pretty sure was layed by Tinkerbell and then another egg followed on Saturday,
We decided we had enough to make and omelet and it was the most yummiest, yellow, satisfying omelet ever!
The girls had a rest on Sunday but then Ginger layed us an egg this morning so hopefully we're going into egg production now. I love the girls so much they are great and having eggs from them is even greater. I've already been wondering what else we could have in the garden that the land lords would let us get away with! Small holding here we come :) Living your dreams is the greatest of all things. I'll leave you with a picture of the girls showing just how relax they really are after a week with us :) This is them Saturday having a bit of a sunbath :)
Chester is a gorgeous place with so many cute shops...
which I now have a good excuse to visit :) I took them to the amazing Trafford Centre on Sunday where I made them spend quite a bit of time in the best shop ever :)
and my lovely Mum bought me a gorgeous bag which I just realised I don't have a pic of yet but I may do a CK post soon so I'll include it in there. So, onto my birthday surprise. My Birthday was on a Monday but on the Friday night before Brian told me to pack a bag as we were going to one of my favourite ever places, Glastonbury! For those of you that haven't been you really need to visit. It's so lovely there. Brian also booked Monday off for me as a surprise. I'm very impressed everyone at work kept it quiet! We stayed in the cutest B&B, look at our lovely room with all the floral prints :)
and lovely little touches like these,
and the owner was Spanish and made the best paella you have ever tasted! We spent Saturday browsing shops and then had a trip to Minehead on Sunday to see the sea,
where we had to dash back from to make our Valentine dinner reservations and ended up running down the high street with me losing my shoe once or twice to make it in time (we were slowed down by laughing so much). My birthday morning started with a gorgeous organic, locally produced fry up, yum yum.
and a view of the Glastonbury high street,
We then had a trip to Stonehenge, (check out gorgeous birthday present bag from amazing sister, close ups to follow)
and then were heading towards Brian's sisters for a visit on the way home but stumbled across this place as we were a bit ahead of time,
it may just look like a barn but look whats inside!
An Aldins cave of floral and shabby country chic! I could have spent all day in here. Then it was off to Brian's sisters for a yummy curry and then home. I had sooo many lovely presents I wouldn't know where to start listing but lets just say all my Cath K and Fairy needs were sated for a while :) Hooray! I'm all caught up. Next post will be exciting news I've been popping with to tell you :)
It was a brilliant place for me and Brian to visit and learn from. It was originally a dairy farm and as most of you probably know, the dairy farming industry isn't doing too well over here so the farmers have two choices-diversify or close. Blaze farm has chosen to diversify and has done it so well they've won awards. It's a really clever set up that me and Brian hope to copy in the future. You drive into the farm and then wonder around the cleverly laid out farm yard with sign posts pointing you to barns with plenty of gorgeous baby animals to look at and stroke like this gorgeous little lamb
and these pretty little calves,
you can then go for a stroll around the nature walk and pond (it was a bit windy but it was March to be fair).
and the best part of it is it's all self directed, no staff needed. After all that you can head in to the farm shop for some of their amazing Hilly Billy ice cream or the tea rooms for some lovely home made scones, Mmmm. They also have a pottery painting shop for kids and adults and a function room to hire. All in all a lovely little place to put a smile on your face...
Oh yes, I've dyed my hair red and purple too :) Right, you still with me? On to news of the new house. Well we're loving it here, especially the space. We were almost sorted inside the house with only a few boxes left when Mr. Sunshine came along and tempted us outside so we've done a bit more in the garden than the house at the mo (hence the lack of indoor pics) So here is the new house with one of the shiny new cars,
and here is the view from the top of the stairs.
This is the corner of the garden I've adopted and did my first proper bit of gardening on. Most if the borders are over grown with brambles so the main mission was to clear them first.
I think I did quite well for an afternoons work,
I've realised I'm here telling you about the new house but I have a definite lack of indoor photos. That will need to be sorted out. I do have this pic of some groovy window stickers I have on the loo window :)
Think that's enough today. My bed is calling me and I'll be to tempted to start telling you the exciting news if I stay any longer. I'll leave you with a sunset from the hall window.
Jessie was a rescue dog but not in the normal sense. She belonged to a friend of a friend who had her from a puppy till she was 7 and gave her up because they we're divorcing and moving to flats.
I was aware they didn't really look after Jessie particularly well but had no idea of the extent to which she was mistreated as I'd only been to their house once, but that's all it took to fall in love with her, she was that special kind of dog.
I don't really want to go over the state she was in when we got her in too much detail, flee infested, hairless, petrified, half her weight, malnourished among other problems. I want to remember her for the gorgeous, loving, crazy dog she was. The pictures are in time order and hopefully the change you can see in her speaks for itself.
We were only lucky enough to spend a year and a half with her and I wish we could have spent longer making up for the bad times but hopefully it was enough.
Jessie had more love for everyone she met than any dog I've know and was a complete flirt with men :) she discovered passions for cheese, brioche and pretty much anything else that was bad for her with us. She had her own way of giving out her special Jessie kisses and hugs when you'd been away long enough for her to miss you (about a day).
She had so many funny quirks that made us giggle such as refusing to wee in the back garden if the grass was longer than 2 inches, spinning in circles to wipe her nose on the (cream) carpet after tea, putting on her most hard-done-to face when being bathed, falling off sofas and beds constantly because she expected you to catch her and so many other comedy moments.
I'm glad she didn't have to suffer for long at the end and happy that she is now with my Great Nan eating cheese mountains and running in fields of short grass. I will always miss my jelly belly bean and can't wait to see her again one day and get my kiss and hug xxx
