In an earlier blog, I did say we would probably pick a different breed for our main flock, because the first lot scoffed our Christmas trees. However, we have just lambed our original batch of ewes, of which 18 ended up in lamb, producing 28 very strong and hardy offspring which basically means we have …
This year we laid our first 600 meters of hedge under the auspices of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Its on the southern border of The Park and Top Barn fields, so you can see it from the drive if you look right travelling towards the farm house. We left a nice lot of ’specimen’ trees …
This is a sort of general round up blog. We got our first batch of honey last autumn, We’ve now moved the bees to Top Strip where the sheep can’t annoy them, and are doubling up to ten hives this summer. We hope to have some to sell to our guests after Christmas. Secondly, against …
Honey, Lucerne, Hippo Junction, rescued fish, and late snow Read More »
Last year we built our clay oven, barbecue, and open fire facility in Middle Stolford (see earlier blog!). All of these were designed from the perspective of an individual from the chalk downlands of Berkshire and Wiltshire, so our first Exmoor winter highlighted the need for a number a number of changes. Firstly, it required …
Cattle can get bored in a barn sometimes, obviously not when there’s food to be scoffed or some fresh bedding to charge about in, but nonetheless, we think it’s important for them to develop new skills in their spare time. So this year my wife taught them how to take selfies, which is very tricky …
If you’ve stayed here before you’ve probably met Farm Cat. I unfairly called her the beast of Exmoor in an earlier blog, but that’s before we got to know her. She was feral when we arrived, the previous owners having failed after numerous attempts to get her in the car when they left. They left …
In late March we took delivery of a batch of 20 pedigree Shropshire shearling ewes, and they started life here in Middle Barn undergoing a number of veterinary procedures much to their general disapproval. After a three hour ride in a trailer the last thing you want is a footbath, several vaccinations, and a worming …
Especially after living in Fortress Lockdown for a year all of us, urban and rural communities alike, have all been cursing this cold, wet, and windy spring. The grass was a long time coming and still isn’t doing what we had hoped for, but there’s enough to be getting on with just about, and things …
Regular visitors to our holiday lets will know that we have been working towards establishing a beef herd at Stolford, and that I have changed my mind dozens of times regarding breed. In the end we settled on British Friesian Hereford crosses, from an organic dairy farm in Leicestershire. We wanted to kick off with …
Once again it’s been a bit of a damp August, but we got about a five day weather window in the early part of the month. Our grazer, Steve Hutchings, managed to mow and bale about a 100 acres in a week. He baled a mixture of haylage in wrapped round bales, and straight meadow …
