Hazel, willow, beef and storytelling from Bedfordshire

Spring flowers

Spring flowers
Yes, it’s spring, although for very early May the temperature’s rather low. What a joy to discover some colour. Here three fairly common species that grow in our old meadows in Gravenhurst. Cuckoo flower, a member of the cabbage family, appears in the damper parts of the meadow, in amongst soft rush. The name is [...]

Hurdles for garden design competition

Hurdles for garden design competition
I’ve nearly finished three willow hurdles that will be part of  a garden design competition that a college’s design students are entering. They  were after low impact, local materials, these should fit the bill. I hope they like them – I’m quite pleased! I think the competition is at Earls Court next month. Would be [...]

Coppice day with Clophill Heritage Tr...

Coppice day with Clophill Heritage Trust
A day  spent talking about coppicing, ancient woodland and the stuff we do? Hardly a tough assignment really! Given that this is stuff I should be able to do in my sleep, I did spend a whole load of time preparing for it. This was a trial run for the  Clophill Heritage Trust , a [...]

Balls and how to make willow ones

Balls and how to make willow ones
We’re leading a day in the as yet undiscovered craft of making a ball from nothing but willow, on Sunday 22 March, here in Gravenhurst, Bedfordshire. We will be using willow grown on the farm to create something that’s eye catching, beautiful and unusual, but otherwise has no practical value at all. These are purely [...]

Pond update

Pond update
I know you are all gripped by this stuff and wait with bated breath for the next installment. Well ok, perhaps not, but I thought it worth providing an update on something I wrote a few weeks ago. In early December 2014, we contracted a neighbour, Gordon, to bring a small digger in and clear [...]

Wassledine heifers spotted at Pegsdon

Wassledine heifers spotted at Pegsdon
When we sold three Red Poll heifers to the Wildlife Trut last summer, they went to Flitwick Moor to help keep their vegetation under control. We were told then that they would be spending the winter at Pegsdon Hills Nature reserve, but we haven’t had a chance to visit them since. We heard (through some WT [...]

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