A Word from Westyard

New farmhouse sign: a team effort! There is no doubt we are taking ownership of our farm.  With a bit of a team effort we have cleared the ground at the top of our drive, removed the tatty old sign and transferred it to our ICU unit....aka the Man Cave, where it will undergo intensive treatment for a week or so.  The new sign, a temporary measure, was great fun to make and we all think is far better than the old one.  It may well become a permanent feature.  Recycling at its best...an old roof tile and some white paint from the craft box.  The builders have started.  Our first project was the removal of a conservatory on the front of the farmhouse. From our first viewing of the property we always felt it didn't fit; a south facing conservatory - hot box in summer, ice box in winter...anyhow, its a farmhouse, not a 'country house' that may warrant a front conservatory in which to have tea and cake.  Justifications aside it has now gone.  ...

I realised, this week, just how much my life has changed when, on a popular social media site recently, a friend posted a photo of a view - a blissful country scene of a walk she had taken that morning.  All fields and autumnal scenes across rolling fields.  When I studied the photo all I could see, green with envy, were the neatly cut hedges and freshly mown pastures. We still await the arrival of the hedging contractor...yes, yes - I've been reliably informed he 'takes his time'. I realise how much my husbands life has changed when recently, he relayed to me a conversation he'd had with a work colleague.  It was along the lines of how much the colleague had spent that day on some (hideously expensive) online speaker cables...he'd seen them six months ago on a website and they were twice the price, so he bid, and subsequently won - and was brimming with his half price deal. We winced, together, in a knowing sort of way. My husband then asked the colleague if ...

Its been a great week at Westyard Farm. A week of meeting new neighbours; a week of establishing agricultural contacts for much needed jobs doing on the land; a full week at school for the small girl who has struggled to settle....rounded off with a promised milkshake at our local cafe. Needless to say it was given a double thumbs up and resulted in smiles all round. Morning time: letting out the hens Even the new hens are showing they are feeling at home now by laying us lovely eggs. The small girl has a little basket for her after school job, (the bottom off an egg box laid in the base of the basket, to place carefully picked eggs in...) We've had a few accidents, running to the back door in an excited frenzy when the inevitable happens. Splat – which of course the dog gets to enjoy so they never go to waste. My husband was 'sniped' this week. A new term to us. He was watching an all important tractor attachment on a well known online auction site. After...

My absolutely favourite kitchen gadget, this month, is my Spong's bean slicer - No.633.  It is such an antiquated machine, but never has a bean been better sliced.  It has been tucked away safely for years awaiting this exact moment in time to reappear and be useful, given to me by a dear friend who I hope will soon do the same, reappear and visit our new pad so we can catch up on years and years of life that has swept us by. My absolutely favourite time of year, autumn.  Crispy golden leaves thrown down to the ground by the autumn fairy.  The last of the apples plucked high off the trees and crammed into crumbles rubbing shoulders with ginger chunks topped with lashings of plain yoghurt. My absolutely favourite favourite thing to do, today, was spend some quality time in my new office.  It is a breeze block building, of sizeable proportions, with two doors, a sloping plastic roof and a wall of windows.  It has raised bays of note.  It is m...

We are actually here.  I can hardly believe it.  All our planning.  All the searching.  All the waiting.  It has totally paid off, and here we are at Westyard Farm.  It feels so good to say the name.  It feels so right to hear it.  I keep walking through the farmhouse and the yard shouting the name at the top of my voice....telling it WE ARE HERE! Our first weekend has culminated in some really good projects and ideas.  Gutters and drains unblocked.  Gateways opened and cut back.  We have inherited two bantams, apparently who refused to be collected up when the previous owners left.  Like the rest of the farm, the chicken run is totally overgrown and what was once a great idea is now prey to the ever increasing jungle of wilderness - mother nature gone feral.  Our first job entailed cutting down a chestnut tree that had claimed centrepiece of the run and was rather rudely crowding the joint.  It's branches were low ...