10th May 2011

Yesterday we had a lovely lady from Switerzland, who has taken a sabatical from her job as a lecturer, to travel European with her faithful companion Chilli a scottie dog who was a great character.  Chilli sort of enjoyed the farm tour but was a bit scared of the large pigs.  We wish them well on their epic journey.
I promised  Vicci would post the simple recipe for our cream porridge as our recent russian visitors loved it so much.
The secret is too cook long and slow over a low heat, I never measure out milk and oats just have the milk at the ready if it thickens up too much and add as necessary.  A sinful good glug of double cream at the end of cooking as requested by quite a few of our guests now make it very special. Very naughty but nice and the oats are so good for you !!!

Still got one ewe to lamb but she is taking her time. It was looking very encouraging this morning but nothing has happened

Puppies are now very mobile, and exploring. 

Toby has had one chick with furry feet hatch but no other which is bizzare. Hope more will come over next few days.

Garage just came to take my spitfire away for repair after its crash. Probably will not see it now until after the summer!

Meant to be playing tennis tonight but rain stop play.

Guests had Mel from GM fitness for a personel training session, they used all the gym equipment and were pushed to their limit.  Mel left with 3 trays of eggs for the Cardiff gym, where they go down a storm!

9th May 2011

The Ekaterina family left us today after a 4 day stay. They were here without a car. They were very adventurious walking down to the beach, and train station. Along with cycling and walking to the local pub, all without the need of a map!  They are going back to Moscow tomorrow, so wishing them a good journey.

8th May 2011

No new arrivals last night.  The Godfrey family had a farm tour with their little boy Theo.  He loved the puppies.

Taylor the lamb had his first feel of grass between his hooves.  Both Katie and Taylor are doing really well.


I have a re match at tennis tonight  with Alex so wish me well!

We have Wendy and Graham coming back for a few days with Liqourice their dog.
Vicci is cooking them Slow Roast Belly Pork
Slow Roast Belly of Pork..
Score the rind in wide chunks

Rub with a couple of bruised garlic cloves
Brush olive oil season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and fresh thyme.
Sit on a bed of 2 onions.halved. and 2 tomatoes halved some carrots and a handful of fresh thyme

Cook on a high heat 180/200degrees for a good hour then on a low heat  120 degrees for 8/10 hours
Ideal for Aga cooking.
All the fat will have melted away and left with crispy skin and sweet succulent pork...
Yummy! we served it with leek and spring onion mash, roast carrots with honey and thyme sugar snaps, asparagus and mange tout from the garden.

Followed by a ginger and rhubarb cheesecake

The tennis was  a bit more respectable this time with one set all. Great game!

7th May 2011

We had another arrival this morning!  This time assistance was needed, it was very hard pulling the lamb out, but eventually it he arrived still in one piece!  We have called him Taylor after the family who were staying with us.  Taylor a ram was large with very long legs. I had to help with the first feeding as it is essential that a lamb gets clostrum in the first 6 hours and nothing was happening so I put the lamb to its mothers udder sucessfully.  Last check both mums and both lambs doing really well.

We had terrible thunder and lighting last night and lots of rain, so ideal conditions to muck out the holding pens.

Tried our latest batch of salt cured bacon this morning, very good although I say so myself, should keep us going for a next month.

We celebrated by going down to the fox and hounds for a delicous lunch their Bang Bang Chicken and Honeycombe Ice Cream are the best!

6th May 2011

This morning Denise Taylor and family arrived at Sutton Mawr for a family celebration, it was a double birthday.  They are all Gavin and Stacey fans so have come down to the Island for a bit of a fix!  They fell in love with the puppies.

We sliced up all the bacon, if I say so myself it looks fantastic. Will try it tonight.

Andrew  and Julie Walker arrived to pick up some sausages and parma ham.  We got talking about chickens and the problems he was experiencing with his broody hens.  The local farmer had suggested barb wire in the egg boxes which seemed abit extreme so I presuaded them to take some fertilized eggs for them to sit on.. Lets hope they have some chicks in 21 days.

 The Taylor family returned from Barry Island to a special birthday tea, outside in the courtyard.  They did a great job finishing off all the grub. They have now collapsed watching DVD in their bedroom!

We had a brillant surprise today. We were locking up all the animals and noticed a ewe was seperate from the flock and with closer inspection saw she had given birth to a lovely lamb.  We have named her Katie after Denise's mother who's birthday it is today..

Alex who is over from Moscow, arrived yesterday and informed me he played tennis. So this afternoon he suggested a game though he had not played for 2 years and had a wrist injury he still won the first 5 games, luckly I managed to win 2 in return. Can you image what would of happened if he was fully fit!  I am hoping for a rematch.

4th May 2011

Puppies becoming more active by the day, except for one of the cream boys which loves to sleep! Here are some more photo.

They are really good. We put them out 4 times a day and they all do their business.

Last night Polly clipped their nails, which they seemed to enjoy.

3rd May 2011

Teddy our young calf escaped into the nieghbours field, luckily we had Cel and Hoggy to hand to push her back..  Trio the mum was not happy with him!  Kids...

We planted an enoromous amount of beans seedlings, hope we do not have a  frost.  Had to water the whole garden as no rain forcast for the week and we missed the rain that was forecasted  on the weekend.

The Stamp family left today after a 3 day stay, the boys were mad for tennis and seem to play whenever possible, they saw the Harlem Globetrotters last night in Cardiff.. They are moving to New Zealand to live at the end of the year,  fantastic country and we wish them the best of luck!  Sorry forgot to take a photo, a bit too manic this morning.

Yuri and his family also left,  they went down to the Gower and loved the beaches.  He said we could ring him if we needed help with translation with our next Russian guests due this weekend.   He might regret that!