A week of nature

It has been and eventful week here...

Thursday I went to the kitchen to fix lunch to find one of the swallows that is nesting in the barns opposite the house had flown into our house. I managed to grab it eventually and fling him out the door. I guess they are so used to flying in and out of buildings why should our house be any different?!

We have put up a beaded curtain now to hopefully deter wildlife from venturing inside when we have the door open.

Friday I was walking Star and found that the field next door was home now to a few horses who came to say hello.

Today we finally managed to capture the woodpecker on camera...

...the tawny owl that lives in the left barn came out to snooze in the sun.

...we uncovered a couple of toads while clearing the courtyard.

and a little mouse had supper under the bird feeder.

Finally a sink in the bathroom

Steve & Si worked all hours last weekend to stop the leak at the side of the house and get our bathroom fitted.

We are really fortunate that the previous owners of our house left a brand new bath, sink and toilet to be fitted.

It is great to finally have a sink in the bathroom....we just need to tile, paint and save up for a shower.

A huge thanks to Si for all his help and expertise ;0)

Steve's b.day BBQ

As we had so much stuff to move we didn't end up with any room in the lorry to take our BBQ ;0( and left it behind in Farnborough.

So Steve has managed to construct a temporary new one for us out of some salvaged bits found in the barns.

A feast was had...

Weekend helpers

The clearing of our garden continues, more brambles to burn and another dilapidated barn to knock down. Thanks to Si, Mossy & Rick for their help last weekend.

The ducklings go swimming

As it was a sunny weekend we decided to take the ducks out for their first outing.

Meet Babs & Julio

We picked up our little ducklings this morning. The yellow duckling is an Apricot Crested and the grey/yellow one is an Apricot mix.

Meet Babs & Julio named after Steve's previous bosses, the best leaving present ever, a huge thanks to Emma, Racheal & Nicky.

They are settling in well and are chirping away quite happily.

Star is curious as to what these strange beings are and is excited to have them around, but when introduced she started to lick her lips so we got a little worried and have now made sure they are well out of reach. Maybe we will introduce them again when they are a bit bigger!

Operation garden

With summer approaching we wanted to get some kind of garden in order so we can enjoy the sunshine and have a few BBQ's.

We have decided to make the land at the side of the house into our garden, we plan to knock down the lean to barns to make a sun terrace/BBQ area, clear space for a veg patch and plant and some fruit trees at the bottom to make a mini orchard.

Let the war with the brambles and the stinging nettles commence!

Some of the brambles are so established I swear they are actually trees and that's not including the brambles that are so high they are growing in the trees!

A huge thanks to our Easter weekend family helpers.

We made some serious headway but there is still a way to go.