My Summer Project

This year I am planning to work my way along the back of the Old Dog Kennels and Duck house and around the walls at the end of the Medieval Barn pointing all the stonework. I have finished pointing the Kennels and am now working on the walls at the end of the Barn. I am pointing up the areas of stonework that are not contaminated with Ivy. The plan is to make as much of the stonework stable before I start taking down the stones and removing the Ivy. Work is going quite well, but I think it will take me all summer.

Orchids in the Bog Field

We have a five acre field which is very wet and we can't cultivate it, so we allow a farmer to graze his sheep on it during the winter which really helps maintain it and encourage the wild flowers. This June while walking around the field I noticed a group of wild orchids which I have never seen before and are obviously very happy multiplying in the field. I 'googled' wild orchids and found information about the orchid growing in our field and apparently it is one of several Dactylorhiza orchids, known as the ‘spotted orchids’. In the UK it is locally common in southern England and it favours marshy ground.

The Plough

This year we have decided to plough up the three acre field as the grass in this field is not very good for making hay as it is the thick grassed variety. However we don't have a plough! I investigated the cost of a contractor to plough the field in the autumn, but because it is such a small area is would be expensive. So we decided to buy an old three furrow plough which Rob collected from Okehampton and brought back for Derek (my brother) to repair and update as he would be doing the ploughing. We were also given an old plough for spare parts.