A bit of a catchup - some happy some sad!

We have been a bit lax on the quacking front in the last couple of weeks, so this is by way of a catch up of what has been going on....

Firstly Joanne and Phil - a lovely small wedding in our own garden marquee.  This lovely couple have been visiting us regularly in the gardens for sometime now so we feel that they are family now.  They decided to make sure that their wedding day would be intimate and memorable, they had only close friends and family to the wedding and decided that the gardens here were worth the weather risk -- and it paid off.  The day was super with sunshine all day.  They arrived to the sounds of the live string trio playing in their own private area and small marquee.  It was all idyllic!

Phil and Joanne - On the Swing seat next to the Jinney Ring itself

 Food was served in the marquee form their own menu and the cake was especially made to their specifications.

JR Garden Marquee was just right for a small wedding.

BMW wedding car - had been in the paint shop!

Next up we had the first of two, now well established, pudding nights - this was very well attended and looking through the window everyone looked very happy indeed with the menu - unfortunately none for us!

News of the pond is a bit mixed --- We have another couple of broods of ducklings in the pen, one lot are now out on the pond with the newest ones still under the light to keep them warm.  Of the newest ones there are some speciality breeds, including a Magpie duck and a Cayuga.  We also hear that there are more to join them next week as Hanbury School have hatched some successfully too.  One little duck out of this hatch is a bit disabled and has been hatched with curled toes - (s)he has not made it to the garden yet as they are trying to straighten the toes so that he can walk (he is wearing cardboard shoes at the moment, not sure if it will work yet though!).  

The really sad news is that the big Pekin duck (Jim) has died this weekend - he has not been right since the fox attacked him a few weeks ago - it had already made away with his mate, so he was also lonely, we think. We think we have some of his offspring in the new batches of ducklings so he has left a legacy, but we are all very sad!

We also witnessed something else amiss this week - the Craft Centre sit on mower was stolen right from under our noses in the middle of the night, sadly we could not raise the alarm to get the humans to stop it.  The mower was wheeled up the field alongside the gardens and taken through the footpath gate - disgraceful behaviour, if we could have pecked their eyes out I would have done!  These are people who are not welcome to the gardens ever.  

In the field we have another 6 cows, they seem younger and are being shown the ropes by the others, this is well worth watching.  Talking of worth watching - The Jinney Ring, featuring yours truly and my duck colleagues were on TV again last week C4 "Compare Your Life" http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od/catchup/date/2013/06/13/ -- it is never dull here!