A Duck's Diary from the Jinney Ring Craft Centre

Just some of the stuff that I see here!



Saturday 28 June 2014

Hedgehog and an umbrella Wedding

After a couple of dry weeks, yesterday saw some serious "weather for ducks" at the Jinney Ring, the forecast 'showers' translated into thunder, lightening and extremely heavy down pours.  All this did not manage to spoil Lucy and Andrews wedding we are happy to report, even though they had some outside activities planned into their day.  The gardens were set up for the event with an array of gazebos and they had skittles, horse-shoe throwing and coconut shy, just like a village fete!  The big garden marquee was also ready for them after they arrived (in their lovely Rolls Royce car) for their pre-dinner drinks and photos.





The highlight of the evening (from a ducks eye view) was watching bridegroom Andrew pick up his new bride and run up the garden to the restaurant to stop her dress getting too wet....wow, we were impressed!



Andrew and Lucy just wanted a really relaxed wedding breakfast with food that everyone likes so went for a "grazing" style BBQ meal - just as well it was cooked in side in the restaurant though as a BBQ outside would probably have made it a very damp affair, as it was everyone stayed warm and dry and had a really "chilled out" time with some lovely speeches at the end of the evening.
Behind the scenes making BBQ super

The Bride grooms father Mark was spotted in the children's activity area on his PC during the evening! -- no he had not got bored  - he was checking the couple in for their Honeymoon flight!


Aside from the wedding which was great to watch from the gardens, we also had a visitor in our duck pen - this hedgehog.  He had been found in the gardens rooting about and the gardener suspected he was not very well so gave him something to eat and drink before letting him back outside in the pen for a while.  There are so many slugs about at the moment in the garden it is difficult to think that we was just hungry, but he did seem to perk up a bit when he had been given some cat food!

 
Busy weekend ahead in the gardens - The Roving Crows on stage tonight we hear - surely not more birds!

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Lots of celebrations

Gorgeous weekend for a sunbathing and splashing about, we have had a great time with tons of duck food, (although we will always make you think we are never fed!).  It was a good weekend for celebrations too - on Sunday we had three separate events going on at the dame time:

Firstly the Cain family came along for lunch and to plant a commemorative tree in memory of Christine Cain who was a regular visitor and loved the gardens.  They planted a lovely crimson decorative maple next to the bottom pond.

Second up was a "big birthday for Claire Parry - Claire and her husband have celebrated with us for other occasions as well so we were delighted when she asked us to look after her and the family for this "unmentionable" big birthday (she certainly does not look it!) Shirley also made a cake for the party - lovely summer colours!
Claire and her family

Having her cake and eating it!
The final party was held in our meeting room and started with Kir Royale in the gardens enjoying the lovely sunshine. This party was to celebrate the confirmation communion for Maud.  She looked pretty as a picture and the whole family turned out to celebrate with her.

  

Sunday 8 June 2014

60th Celebrations

After a very wet week we were worrying ourselves about how Christine's 60th birthday party was going to come together yesterday.  Christine and her husband are regular visitor to the Centre (we normally see her husband when he has been cycling - we did not recognize him with out his lycra!).  They put a lot of work and effort into their evening and it would have been a shame if the weather impacted it --- but happily the sun shone at the right time and the party had an opportunity to enjoy the early evening in the gardens with us whilst enjoying their canapés and drinks.  after this they moved into the restaurant which was all decorated out in blue and while, they ate, drank and danced the night away - it all looked and sounded lovely!

We have had a number of daytime parties lately too - some high tea, some special lunches and have also had some smashing people staying overnight through a group called Britstops, they park up their motorhomes in the car park over night and enjoy the Centre during the day before moving on with their travels.  Without fail they come and visit us in the gardens and are very appreciative of everything.

Out on the ponds the newest ducklings have now been let out for their first "swims" - they did really well and took to it like ...well you know what I was going to say!


Unfortunately we lost two of the earlier batch of ducklings when the weather was so wet on Wednesday - they were allowed to stay out because their pen was waterlogged and a fox took two of them and left a third with a nasty gash on his neck - we think that they must have been all huddled up together on the grass and the fox could not believe his luck - it is very sad, but hopefully the others now realize that they need to come to the islands like us.

The next thing on our agenda in the gardens is a wedding followed by the have a go craft day and the Roving Crows in concert (28th June)- we are really looking forward to hearing another bunch of birds "singing"!

Saturday 10 May 2014

Bulldozers in the garden!

It has been a noisy week in the gardens - very difficult to take 'forty winks' but it was interesting watching the activities going on.  There have been two mini diggers and a dumper truck working on the paths and the top pond.  The old paths had got into a bit of a bad state and were proving very painful on our webbed feet as we crossed over so we are glad that they are being taken up and relaid with better materials, it is a bit too soft at the moment but we overhear that the roller is due next week to bed the new surface in.  There is a new path being laid around the whole of the bottom pond too so walking around the garden will be much better for ducks and humans, especially those who are in wheelchairs or on sticks (the humans that is!).

The work on the top pond is pretty interesting too -- we are being partially blamed for the serious erosion that has gone on in the pond (I seriously doubt that my dabbling can be blamed?).  There are now a line of boards around the edge of the pond and these have been back filled with clay which will be planted up with new pond plants very soon.  The only problem is that it is now very hard for us to get out of the pond - we hear that a new ramp is in progress..

New Paths and Pond repairs - work in progress 

It has been an odd time for all of us over the last few weeks - 9 of our Drakes frineds have been found new homes with caring families, so the garden does feel a bit empty.  This has at least taken the pressure off the girls a bit though, and they are much happier! The Drakes look pretty content in their new home too (they are on a large pond in a lovely area near Ullenhall), they took to it all "like ducks to water!"



There are 14 "teenagers" in the rearing area who will be out and about very soon and yesterday another 6 very small ducklings appeared too - they will stay under a lamp for a couple of weeks as they have only just hatched.  These ducklings were hatched by the children from Hanbury First School, they were well looked after (as always).  We are not quite sure what they will become when they grow up - it is possible they will be Call ducks, which will certainly add to the noise in the garden!

A big 'Quacks' 'to Habury School children - great job!

There are more eggs in the incubator so we are expecting it to be a busy pond very soon!

In the Centre we have been seeing lots of visitors for all sorts of parties, courses and activities and plans are hotting up a a big events summer.  We hear that the Animals R Magic event will be bigger than ever this year - lots more animals - we are not that keen on all the attention that the other critters get at this event, but it is for charity to we 'quack and bear' it! 

Next on the agenda is a couple of children's plays in the gardens - 21/22 June - the Meanist Genie and Little Green Fingers - sounds like fun and as it is in a tent in the garden we will get to listen in!


Sunday 13 April 2014

The Big Dog is back


The Big dog was back today for this year's fundraising walk event "Go-walkies" in aid of the Guide Dogs for the blind.  What a lovely day they had for the 50 dogs who took their owners and friends for one of the 3 marked walks 



Here are two Guide dogs 'workers' behaving really well.  One is a brood bitch and the other is potentially going to be a guide dog.

Also today there was a very special occasion celebrated, a ruby wedding party.  They celebrated with bucks fizz followed by high tea in the meeting room which was all decked out in red!.

There has been quite a lot going on generally since a really busy mothers day - we have seen such a lot of old friends in the gardens.  the weather has helped considerably and the lawn was mowed this week which shows how much it has all dried out.  Some of our friends have been going off to new homes too - there are just too many drakes in our crowd and they have been found new homes - just in time as there are also some ducklings in the pen that have just been incubated, it is all change on the ponds!

Saturday 15 February 2014

Love is in the wind!

After an incredibly stormy week in the garden we were very surprised to see such a good turn out to the restaurant on Friday evening - but then we realised why...it was Valentines night.   The restaurant had been dressed up with hearts and red roses and most (but not all!) of the tables were set for two.

There was also a lovely singer - Sam Holmes sang and played her guitar to the diners for about three quarters of an hour and some people enjoyed it so much that they bought her cd too.  We especially enjoyed her song "Charlie" which is on her CD.  We are hopeful she will come back soon and play in the gardens so we can hear her a bit better, it was a bit tricky last night with the huge gusts of wind.


Sam has been 'Tweet' ing a lot about the Jinney Ring - we are now very happy to "quack" a lot about her!!

Valentines was not confined to last night though - this morning we had some lovely couples come in for a romantic breakfast in the conservatory - the selling feature --- they could watch us while they ate!

As well as Valentines in the conservatory we have very recently celebrated a life that has passed - Doreen Terry was a fairly regular customer and really liked the Jinney Ring and so her family chose to come and see her off with an afternoon tea here.  Not only that they have bought a mountain of really colourful primulas but also a lovely cherry tree which has been planted in the gardens here. Apparently Doreen disliked cut flowers, she felt much happier when things were growing - well we will be keeping a beady eye on the tree and will be 'helping' to make sure it flourishes in her memory.

Next thing on the menu is Pancakes and half term activities for the children - we are looking forward to seeing them outside again - surely the weather must start to change soon? - we seem to be the only ones enjoying it!

Saturday 25 January 2014

Mud glorious Mud

We we have done it - we have been working so hard during the last month, and now I feel quite confident to report that we have achieved our goal of taking over the garden properly and turning it into a mud bath (really good treatment for the feathers and the worms love it too!).  The constant bouts of heavy rain have assisted our mission but we have dabbled and dabbled too for the creation.  What do you think?


The shame of it is that all this will have disappeared by summer and the grass will grow back but it is nice while it lasts!

It has been a while since I have written in my diary, and there has been quite a lot going on, especially over Christmas and New Year.  Santa popped in for Weekends into the lovely grotto (with its round 'port hole' window),  we saw lots of children visiting (they came to see us too and all seemed pretty happy!).

'Hanbury In Voice' sang carols and songs to a restaurant jam packed with visitors on Christmas Eve and then it went quiet at about 4pm for two whole days, the only ones in the year that the Centre is closed.   It was not completely quiet though as the local Hunt came right past the Centre on Boxing day - they did look smart!

New Year's Eve in the Restaurant was lovely with everyone dressing very smartly for the 'Agatha Christie Theme' celebration.  There were moustaches on the tables (Hercule Poirot style) and some knitting wool and needles (Miss Marple).  Everyone threw themselves into the spirit of the occasion and an impromptu knitting competition ensued!  Jazz duo 'Blue2' had researched the topic and played music to suit the occasion including the theme tunes to the TV Poirot series and did us proud, then there was dancing to finish the evening - what a lovely evening with a lot of familiar faces.

New Year's day was heaving with folk too - this time they were with us for breakfast which was on the menu for most of the day. The weather wasn't very good but it was good to see so many people coming out, with or without headaches following parties the night before!

Since New year the staff have been having a good sort out and cleaning everything in sight - it is fairly normal to catch up ion jobs in January and there is an especially big sort outs going on the back rooms of the gift shop with a sale of some lovely items so that they can free up space for other things.

Finally - we also hear that once again we have been featured on the TV - this time it was for the BBC's 'Escape to the Country' (Thursday 23rd Jan) . Lots of people saw it and said how good the Centre looked and also how inviting Worcestershire came across - there were some great shots of the Malvern Hills and well as Droitwich town too. (It is on i-player at the moment)  The program was shot last year when the garden was not looking half as muddy as we have made it now - shame really would be good to have our work on film!