Tuesday 25 June 2019

Handmade Butter

The latest batch of butter is made and now cooling prior to "patting" and wrapping later. Made with lovely double cream from a local dairy farm, it is delicious with nothing added other than a little sea salt.

Saturday 22 June 2019

Self-Heal. Prunella vulgaris

I found this lovely little example on the meadow beside the Burn this morning.  Quite small but still beautiful.


Wednesday 12 June 2019

Northern Marsh Orchids

For the last couple of years, with the help of The North Pennines AONB and Northumberland County Council Highways Dept., some of verges near the Cottage have been protected to conserve several valuable wild flower plants including these Northern Marsh Orchids.  To help the conservation effort the verge mowing is restricted until the Autumn.  Not a perfect regime but it's a start.

The next big problem is to try and reduce the grossly excessive salting on the local roads which is not only killing some species of the roadside trees and wild Dog Roses, but also encouraging coastal plants to colonize the verges......


Tuesday 11 June 2019

Thieves

To the individual who is stealing our eggs and butter at the gate, please stop. It is neither clever or funny. And yes, I have seen your car......


Thieves

To the individual who is stealing our eggs and butter at the gate, please stop. It is neither clever or funny. And yes, I have seen your car.....


Sunday 9 June 2019

Flood Damage

Sadly, our lovely Flag Irises have been flattened by the flood water in our Burn, just as they were starting to flower.  Hopefully they will recover....



Saturday 8 June 2019

Not all ducks are happy..

It has been chucking it down with rain for the last 24hrs now, and everything is drenched.  It's not nice weather and certainly not nice weather for all ducks, Boris our Muscovy Drake was not impressed as he sat on the meadow at lunchtime....


Rain....

It will have been raining then?  The Burn is more full than for a long time, giving it a long overdue scouring.


Thursday 6 June 2019

Iris Sibirica

Thankfully the Iris Sibirica is surviving the carnage in the front garden, and has come into flower today. As work continues to return the plot to a working vegetable and soft fruit garden, the Iris will be transplanted into a more suitable place.


Cherries

So far, it is looking promising for a decent crop of cherries this year.  As always this depends entirely on the wild birds....


Tuesday 4 June 2019

Iris pseudacorus, Flag Iris

Flag Iris, Iris pseudaccorus a native wild Iris found in Britain and Europe.  We have a large and expanding clump in our little Burn, presumably washed downstream from the formal gardens of the old country house upstream of the Cottage.  Last year we collected seed which we will germinate for planting next Spring in the bog areas at the bottom of the orchard.