Farthest rough pasture

On our last drain clearing expedition we discovered a partly grown over old gate opening into the farthest part of the rough pasture!!

As yet there is no gator access here which means any wood haulage would be wheel barrowed over the pipe steam and then gatored onwards to the barn for splitting and storing….. Ugh…. We know how long that takes!!! So we may reopen this and gate it as it means a gator access directly onto the top of the furthest rough from the lane!!!

And besides we have a ton of gates we have found about the place!!!

Pond!!!

We have found a site for our pond…. Initially a wildlife pond we think… Eventually maybe some ducks for it…..

Dig faster James it’s starting to fill up!!! We’ll line it during a dry spell… And we need to make sure it has a sturdy bottom banking so…..

Clearing the rough pasture

Over the last month James and I have been clearing the rough pasture as this is the new venue for an orchard!! This means more weeds…. More bramble forests and some chainsawing up of goat willows and overhanging branches!

It’s getting to be a fortnightly task!

Drain clearance!!!!! Yes leaves, rocks, silt all blocking the drains and causing the road to get some very large puddles!!! So I am trotting off down the lane each fortnight adorned with my new wellies and a shovel and clearing the drains!!

Upgrading the tin hut!

Winter is coming….
And to be honest it’s blooming freezing for the first night we stay at the tin hut as the oil fired burner warms up enough to get the damp off the air!! So to avoid some of the draughts etc we have made a couple of upgrades!!

curtains!!!! Ahhh the warmth is increasing!!!

That along with putting foil insulation behind all the radiators!!!

The sheep

Our sheep tenants are back in the fields!!!!

Every time we are spotted at the gate (usually with the dog) they run to a further point in the field making photos rather hard to get!!!

The map at the pub

We finally made it to the local pub for dinner on the weekend that James’ parents joined us at the farm!!

They had a map in the pub from the 1890’s and our barn is on there!!!!
Making our 1893 estimate more likely for initial construction (following the lintel which had a date inscribed, which we found in the barn!)