Duck's Diary

Getting Cold Feet!

2012-02-04T13:41:00.000Z

Bruhh, it chilly. -9 degrees Celsius last night and the bottom pond is fully frozen over -- there is some free water on the top pond by the waterfall but even this is frozen at the edges (see above). We have all been practising our skating and the Mallards have had some interesting landings on the ice, not what you would call "controlled"!
The ground is also really hard now -- this is however better to feed on as we don't loss the corn in the ground.
Still lots of people coming to feed us I am glad to say but they are not staying outside long, they prefer watching us from the windows holding a cup of hot chocolate. It has just started to snow now too -- the grit is ready to go down in the car park.

Valentine's day is coming up shortly, Chef is working on lots of lovely ideas for the daytime and the evening and there are lots of "hearts" and valentine gifts in the shops now, the glass blower has some lovely heart shaped glass again this year.

The early bird catches the fish....

2012-01-22T10:28:00.001Z

Most mornings on the pond we have a rather large visitor -- a Heron, today he must have had a 'lay-in' as he showed up at about 10am. He is very camera shy and spooks at the slightest movement of people. We are not fond of him as he expects us to vacate our comfortable places just so he can walk into the water!

We are getting well out of his way!

A blowy day here in the gardens, but pretty mild, so we will have plenty of fun on the water today.

Oh, what a giggle!

2012-01-17T14:49:00.001Z

Talulah came to visit us this weekend -- and we all got just a bit excited as she fed us and we pushed forward until she fell backwards over the small wall into the flower bed!! This little girl was not one to cry and shout -- no, she got up and dusted herself off and carried on feeding us, and giggling -- we like her and her mum and sister -- they all giggled!

We have had lots of young couples visiting the gardens and the restaurant over the last week or two -- all planning their weddings, I heard the lady showing them round telling them that we ducks are always guests at the wedding - 'invited or not' -- not sure how to take this!

Anyway may be a few more coming up as Valentines day is nearly upon us - there is a lovely evening planned in the restaurant with music from Blues2Jazz and a lovely menu (no duck!). also don't forget ladies -- it is a leap year!

Carols in the Conservatory

2011-12-24T11:59:00.000Z

It is Christmas Eve and there are a number of folk wandering about with red and white hats on. Everyone seems cheerful and we are getting plenty of corn!

There is music coming from the conservatory from the "Grafton Singers" as they entertain the customers with some Christmas carols, it is really lovely!

The Grafton Singers

While everyone else is off enjoying their turkey dinners I hope we are not forgotten -- the only days in the year that we don't have visitors here (the craft centre is closed) are Christmas day and the following day, we see people every other day so it is a bit of a shock to us, but no doubt we will get fed in the morning as normal by the owners.

The Craft Centre is closed 25th and 26th December and then reopens 27th at 11am. For opening times please click here

Santa and the Guide Dog....

2011-12-16T18:31:00.000Z

Santa with is Naughty and Nice book alongside Linda and Marley

Santa was back again today and he had a very special visitor - Marley. Marley is a guide dog in waiting, that is to say he is still a puppy and has to wait until he is old enough to go for training. In the meanwhile he lives with Linda and learns the basics, part of this means he gets to go into restaurants and other places where dogs don't normally go, all so that he is prepared for his training. Today he met Santa and some of the children who came to visit him, and also curled up in front of the fire and had a little nap! They say it is a 'dogs life'!

Santa with a couple of the Children who visited today

Santa should be back again tomorrow with the Dray rides -- assuming the weather is OK.

Talking of weather -- out in the garden, it has got colder and wetter -- not so many visitors but still getting some dedicated ones who come to feed us. Today the rain, sleet and snow made some lovely puddles for us to play in! The "new" ducklings are now nearly full grown but still do not have all their feathers so are still being put away at night, brrrr they must be a bit chilly now!

Lots of 'Christmas Cheer' everywhere in the centre this week with Christmas lunch parties, and a big birthday party last Sunday. The lights look lovely and the fire makes it look very cosy. This Sunday I hear that there will be Christmas songs and Carols during lunch.

Two little Santa's

2011-12-06T19:06:00.000Z

We don't normally see Santa much out here on the pond, but this year we have seen FOUR so far and it is not even Christmas Eve yet! The first was the Green Santa who is promoting Worcestershire food and living , the second was the Jinney Ring Santa here this weekend for the dray rides. Today we were really privileged and had two "Little Santas" who ran around alot but they did remember to feed us. (I think they are our favourites so far!).

Here they are by the Christmas tree in the lounge.

Whoa...

2011-12-03T13:03:00.000Z

Lots of excitement today -- some huge horses are out in the front car-park, beautifully dressed in brasses pulling a cart filled with children.....and Santa is here too. The horses are getting more attention than us ducks today, I do hope that we still get some food!

The Dray rides are planned from 12-3pm on Sat 10th and Sat 17th as well as today. (No bookings needed).

Santa is also visiting again on 9th, 10th, 15th and 16th December having a hot chocolate and cookie with Children by the fireside. (You do need to book for this one 01527 821272).

Mike from Arkle plants is pretty busy at the moment and has lots of Christmas Trees and wreaths coming in -Our visitors are buying early this year, they can probably remember the snow last year (my webbed feet feel cold just thinking about it!).

Green Santa and Lights

2011-11-24T17:58:00.000Z

The Craft Centre was really bright last night as visitors watched the start of the Jinney Ring Christmas!

Worcestershire’s Green Santa, whose mission is to encourage people to think local and make Christmas a more sustainable celebration, teamed up to with Rachel Johnston one of our regular customers to switch on the centre’s Christmas lights. Rachel rang the bell to start a wave of lights which ran round the front of the centre, it now looks really pretty. All of the craft units have decorated their own trees outside their units -- many have decorations relating to their crafts.

Rachel decorated her chair for the occasion and enjoyed the evening

After the lights were put on Santa went shopping and had a good look around the craft units meeting Soap Maker (Jorg) and having a good look at the blown glass in Topglass.

We managed to get a peak at the activities from the garden but most of the visitors were soon shopping and visiting the restaurant whilst listen to Christmas tunes from accordion player Helen O'Donnell from Droitwich.
There was a lovely smell too -- the mulled wine was chef's first batch of the year and it certainly smelt nice alongside the roasted chestnuts cooking in the BBQ.

The lights are now on every evening from dusk until close.

Xmas is coming

2011-11-17T13:27:00.000Z

Another beautiful day in the garden today - difficult to think it will be December soon!

One sign that Winter is coming is that the three horses left the field this week as it is getting too wet underfoot and cold at night. Warm stables were sounding very attractive! We will miss them.

13 duckings - growing up, now rampaging around the gardens!

The 'rescued' ducklings have come on leaps and bounds since my last diary note, they have been let out to play in the gardens this week. They are quite adventurous and have explored the entire garden swimming on both ponds - normally duckings are a bit slower at getting off the top pond! This lot are a bit cheeky, probably being a large crowd makes them brave!

I did have to follow them out on to the car-park yesterday, just to see what they were looking at. We all got herded back into the garden quite quickly, but not before I had caught glimpse of Christmas preparations. Lights are going up and being tested and I can see that the shop has lots of Christmas stuff out.

Outside the gift shop

There is a late night shopping evening tonight 17th Nov (gift shop only) and all the lights are going to be switched on next week with a Christmas "light up" evening when all the craft units will be open and there will be lots of Christmas food and other things. Worcestershire's own "Green Santa" is coming along to help one of our regular visitors Rachel Johnston to switch on the lights. Rachel is a wonderful lady who is often comes here from Worcester with her carers to watch us on the pond, she is in a wheel chair, so can sometime not come on the grass, she seems to enjoy our antics though! There will be music, chestnuts and other christmassy type things I am told!

Late arrivals

2011-10-25T20:20:00.001+01:00

I could not believe my eyes today as I spied little 'dots' on the bottom pond -- 15 new ducklings fresh off the island with a very diligent mum (but let's face it how can you control 15 babies on your own?).

The garden was pretty busy today therefore it was not long before they created quite a stir and were being fed by the children. They did get cold quite quickly though, so Mum rounded them up onto the side and sat on them to warm them up. Fairly soon humans arrived and tried to catch them all -- they managed to catch all but 3, and of course Mum who was far too quick!

The ducklings are very late arrivals in the season and, without some help developing, will not get their feathers in time for the frosts - even I know enough to accept that the humans are being 'cruel to be kind' by putting the youngsters into a heated pen and feeding them up. This way they should all have a very good chance of survival. It is still possible that they will catch the Mum and the other 3 and put them in too -- if she is not too quick. The pen is in the garden next to the pond so the ducklings can be watched over by all of us.

Loads of people here yesterday and today - some are here for children's pottery classes, some are just starting shopping for Christmas (stock now out) and many just enjoying the mild weather in the garden. We love it - we are getting plenty of duck food!

Floss the Chestnut horse has been popping her head over the fence a bit today too. She is feeling much better now after having a big tooth out last week - what a whopper it was, took a long time to sort out! She is getting ready to go to her winter stable soon - when the weather changes.

Heat Wave, Apples and More....

2011-10-23T14:00:00.002+01:00

My 'scribe' has been on holiday so I am unavoidably behind in the my news, many apologies. (It is probably no surprise to you, but the computer companies have yet to make a keyboard that is 'webfoot' friendly... but who knows what quackers ideas will come next!). As a result I have lots to catch up on over the last few weeks.

Coach trip - BARRA enjoy tea in the garden on 29th September!

The late September heat wave appears to have been very welcome in the gardens here - one group of visitors arrived by coach and had their tea served in glorious sunshine in the gardens, a couple even gave me a taste of their shortbread. They were the Birmingham Air Raid Remembrance Association (BARRA), an very interesting group.

Being birds we are always interested in our fellow species and over the last month we have been visited several times by the RSPB who has set up a stall in the front courtyard. They have been quite successful at recruiting new members we hear so I guess this will protect a few more of us - although have to admit to having a pretty good life here myself!

Also in the front courtyard/carpark we had a lot of excitement on the 16th October with what has now become an annual event of "Apple Pressing". Pressing went on all day and a lot of juice was made for drinking neat and turning into cider - this happens once a year and is in October. Mick and neighbour Matt (who kindly helped out) both had very sore arms next day!

Mick above was crushing apples all day!

I have not been able to see them yet but keep hearing about the exhibition of "Tea Cosies" that has arrived from the Avoncroft Museum and is inside the restaurant, there are apparently some lovely cosies on hanging around the beams on display and for sale. The Tea cosies have been made by volunteers to raise funds for the conservation of the Avoncroft Museum's historic buildings. Sadly, whilst there is a cosy with chickens on, there are none with ducks on --- maybe next time!

Part of the Gift Shop Christmas Display

Even with a heat wave, the gift shop staff have been thinking about Christmas and have now launched their Christmas stock and displays with a preview night (on the same night as the autumn/winter "pudding night"). Don't worry if you missed it though as there is a Christmas late night shopping night (including supper) on 10th November and then a "switch on" of Christmas lights with the full centre open on the 23rd November with music and food, we are looking forward to that as the ponds will be lit up and it looks really pretty in the gardens at night.

Maureen and John - happy events at the Jinney Ring!

This weekend we have had a lovely wedding party here. The couple, Maureen and John, had their first date at the Jinney Ring and then a big engagement party here last year so it wonderful to see them back for their wedding breakfast. They had an intimate party in our meeting room and then a stroll around the gardens as the weather was lovely for yesterday. We hope to see them back for their next celebration soon as they are committed "Jinney Ringers"!

This is not everything that went on but need to "quack on" now .....

Wine and Sunshine!

2011-10-01T17:58:00.000+01:00

What a glorious week on the ponds, the weather heat wave has certainly brought people out and sent us ducks in -- the water that is!

This week we a new craft workshop opened up. Free Bird Framing is a picture framer and sells memorabilia pictures. Peter and Jo Turvey who are running the business have started this weekend having first noticed the unit for sale when they came to the Blues Festival this summer - funny how a Blues Festival can change your life!

Last night we were all kept awake by laughter and light from the restaurant where a wine tasting was going on. Paul Green from Heritage Wines was leading the tasting of the new range of Australian and New Zealand Wines that had literally just landed! They must have been good as everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The Hattery Ladies were here for two days this week rather than just one (we were glad as they are very nice ladies and always pop out to see us!). They had a Hat Sale on with some dashing pieces on display - not quite as jaunty as the Crested Duck's head gear - but close!

On the ponds there is a little sad news as one of the four "reared" ducklings disappeared one evening when they had all declared UDI and refused to go into their pen, not sure but we suspect the fox again! Rosie and Jim (the Hanbury school ducks) are still coming in a t night, too but they are now so huge we think they need to have a bit more exercise in the day - very chunky ducks!

Despite the glorious weather I keep hearing talk of Christmas around the place -- The gift shop are planning to put all their new stock out for a Preview night on the 13th of October - to coincide with "Pudding Night" - what could ladies want more than an evening of exclusive shopping followed by as many puddings as you can eat!

Garden back to normal

2011-09-20T11:37:00.000+01:00

The sculpture trail has ended and customers are collecting their purchases with the remainder going away with the artists - feels odd to have the garden so empty again, particularly with Autumn in the air and the leaves falling too!

Wire Owl by David Metcalfe

Once again the most popular pieces in the sculpture trail were the birds --this is completely unsurprising to us. All of the recycled metal birds have found a new home and so have several of David Metcalfe's wire owls. Top Glass (glass blower in the centre) made a range of glass birds in various colours which will brighten the garden too - these also sold well and more will be available after the end of the trail.

My duck friends admiring the glass birds (Top Glass)

One of the nicest stories heard in the garden was a young couple who purchased the copper lilies on Sunday (made by Jo Floyd pictured on the Duck's diary 25th Aug) - the lady was heard to admire the piece as she had had Cana Lilies in her wedding bouquet - they were just approaching their second wedding anniversary so they bought the piece - it is lovely, we do hope they enjoy it for a good long time!

Talking of anniversaries - we had a 5th Wedding Anniversary party here in the restaurant this Saturday night - a lovely crowd, all very well dressed, they had a nice meal and a good long chat. Despite being locals, many of the guests had not been here before and had certainly not realised what lovely gardens we live in - we hope to see them again soon.

Autumn blowing in

2011-09-11T18:18:00.000+01:00

Gosh it has been blowy this week - the garden is quite open, so it felt quite fierce, but not cold. Sadly the wind blew the gazebo to bits on Monday and the lovely clay horse sculpture from Paul Michael Langford was also blown over - he was not too upset though as it was always intended to be a temporary thing, and was only expected to last a short time when the rain came. It was a lovely sculpture though - he is talking of making one in bronze next year.

With the children retuning to school this week and the change in the weather we have been a bit quieter and can return to leisurely swimming rather than identifying the best customers to chase for food! The most exciting thing to happen this week has been the 4 ducklings in the pen being allowed out - they went mad - we have never seen ducklings move so far so fast they went right down to the bottom pond on the first day (it normally takes a couple of weeks for them to pluck up courage for this!). But the best fun was watching the humans trying to get them off the pond at the end of the day, so that they could return them to the safety of the pen for the night - it took many attempts! These ducklings are smart though - last night they returned to the pen of their own volition - they have worked out where the food is now!

You may remember that these four have a mum and a couple of siblings on the pond (see earlier diary note) and we speculated as to whether she would recognise them when they came back -- she did not and was very careful to ward them off the much smaller siblings (they have not been eating as well as the ones in the pen!)

This Saxophonist by Alan Ross is part of trail

Sculpture trail ends next Sunday. Next event on the books is Wine tasting on 30th September.

Scarecrows or Scareducks?

2011-09-01T10:21:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we had a real scare -- some additions to the sculpture trail but this time they actually moved -- not fast but we definitely saw them move.

A Scarecrows picnic/tea party was set up in the garden (which is a bit ironic really as there are NO PICNIC signs up everywhere... I guess they can't read...) and four "Scarecrows" arrived as part of the sculpture trail.

The "Scarecrows" are local lad and trainee Thespian Joel Davidige, and his friends who are sparing a little time in between rehearsals for their show "In Short" at the Artrix this Saturday.

Accompanying their tea party, they had a Jo Lucas who turned up to busk in the gardens today, beautiful music to swim to!

Tomorrow, 2nd Sept, within the Sculpture Trail programme, Paul Michael Langford is back to finish his clay horse sculpture at the bottom of the garden - he is wonderful to watch - we are looking forward to seeing him again.

What a shower!

2011-08-27T16:33:00.000+01:00

It has been a really active week at the craft centre, firstly the sculpture trail launch and then yesterday an evening wedding party. I heard it said that this was our first "American Bride" and later, when the party were in the garden before dinner, I found out that this was the "English bit" of their nuptials. The Bride and Groom had married in America last week in a garden ceremony with blazing sunshine. Yesterday they had their second celebration in real English style - everyone was in their finest regalia (they all looked great, especially the Bride) - dodging the raindrops. In fact during the evening we probably had more rainfall in the garden than we have in the entire month, including some thunder and lightening. The weather did not appear to worry anyone - they ate dinner and partied in really good spirits, while we ducks danced in the rain - gosh we did enjoy it!

Dodging raindrops - Nick and Lindsey with family

We have the courtyard marquee at the centre until after the bank holiday and I understand that there is a wedding and special event display on show until it goes, so people can see what goes on here, or what could go on here!

The courtyard marquee display

A bit of sad news today - the mother of the ducklings on the pond is now down to two left on the water (four are still being brought up by the humans), one of the ducklings just disappeared (the crows we think) and the other just keeled over, although we have a suspicion he may have got under someone's foot as he had been getting far to close to people!

Lots of Art!

2011-08-25T15:21:00.000+01:00

Art pieces have been arriving in the garden for a week or so now but yesterday there was a real hive of activity with all the pieces being finally put in place and numbered stones being placed by each one (I don't really get this as we don't read that well!). There are lots of different pieces - some I like and some I am not that sure about but as I hear said often "that's what art is about" .

Artist Joe Floyd with his copper rose sculpture

Last night was the launch of the trail but sadly after no rain for ages the skies darkened at about 5pm therefore many of the expected visitors did not show, great shame as it turned into a lovely evening and there was a brilliant choir -- we all really appreciated it.

The Bel Canto Choir from Redditch - Sang beautifully

A real treat was seeing "art in action" - we ducks seldom see this - Paul Michael Langford is building his sculpture live in the gardens -- it is a horse in motion. Floss, Molly and Roxy, the horses in the field are most interested in this, he is sculpting close to the edge of the garden so they can see him (and he can see them!).

Paul Michael Langford - happy to chat while he works.

Josie - she has her camera again!

Finally, on preview night we had one of our very special guests visit - Josie has come to many events, especially the sculptures before and is a great photographer - we do have a lark though - she is trying to get a picture of us with our wings out and we are all having such fun teasing her, we open our wings just long enough for her to get her camera out and then we pretend we have no wings! -- this is just so that she keeps coming back!

The sculpture trail is on everyday until 18th September and is free entry - don't miss it!

August on the pond

2011-08-21T11:00:00.000+01:00

Do you remember the tiny ducklings incubated by Hanbury First School,"Rosie and Jim"? They are now nearly fully grown now and are jolly big ducks! Here they are (left) with their friends "Bubble and Squeak" (right) who are not quite as old but quite a lot smaller - "Bubble" is the same bred of duck (Pekin) as Rosie and Jim but we don't think he will ever catch them up - the only explanation we have come up with is the extremely good care that they had at school! ("Squeak" is a Mini -Appleyard and he/she will never be large). They are all still going back into their pen every night - but methinks that this is just because they have a ready supply of food rather than for safety!

During the week 4 new ducklings were spotted on the top pond - they appeared to be on their own with no mum offering protection. They asked for help from many of my colleagues but none were that interested. Eventually they got cold and just sat on the edge of the pond shivering, fortunately one of the humans spotted them and has now put them in the pen under a hot lamp and they are all fine. It was all a bit of a puzzle though - as to where they came from. The mystery was solved two days later when another 4 ducklings appeared - very similar in colour to the first batch, this time however the mum was with them. The poor mum must have hatched one batch of ducklings early and, knowing the others were still incubating, had to decide which batch to look after. The next four out are being very well looked after as you can see below! Happily the first four should survive too, with a little human intervention. I wonder if mum will recognise them when she see them again?

Proud mum with 4 multicoloured ducklings

It has been quite a busy week in the gardens again this week with lots of visitors. On Tuesday Jets Crafts were here doing decopatch and pottery painting for children in the courses room and Mark from Marksman leisure was here with what looked like giant pods. It tuns out that the children went inside to shoot each other with laser guns - looked great fun - he is coming back!. On Wednesday and Friday the garden was full of lovely music from violin busker Jo Lucas.

The laser "pods"

Blue it was not!

2011-08-15T19:38:00.000+01:00

After much activity in the garden late last week, we found out what was going on on Saturday - it was time for the, now annual, music "Blues" festival -- and, amazingly, it was not even raining!

The garden gradually filled up and so did the field next door (with tents and cars), then the smell of home-made burgers cooking on the BBQ and real ale being poured pervaded the garden. Oddly, we beginning to think that we were not to be the centre of attention in the garden for the large amount of visitors arriving, but fortunately we were not left out - two lovely little lads, who must have spent all their pocket money on duck food for us, arrived just in time (we were very grateful and kept them company for most of the day!)

The music started playing at around 2pm, very gently with Maz Mitrenko. It gradually increased in tempo as styles changed, from the moody Mumbo Jumbo through the Cohen Brothers (who moved on to play at the Worcester Beer Festival after being here!). Then The Outwoods County Riders with their country feel and raunchy sound. The Trevor Burton band started to play as it was getting dark - brilliant, and finally, our old favourites, The Big Blues Tribe finished the evening on a high - the music as all terrific (even for us ducks - although the ducklings did give up early and went back to their pen!).

The event had been billed a a "chilled out" day - have a look at some of the sights we saw and see what you think!

The Spice of Life!

2011-08-01T19:15:00.000+01:00

Saturday night we had quite a hoot with a private party "Polyenesian night". Guests of SPICE "a social, activity and adventure group" came along, ate Polyenesian food and played some silly games including some limbo dancing, and something quite curious with a pineapple! The Jinney Ring staff dressed for the occasion too !

Head Waiter Chris -- getting ready to relax?? I don't think so!

Waiters - Louise and Joel - they limbo'd!

and we had some strange creatures along too.....

Out on the pond - New ducklings Rosie & Jim and Bubble & Squeak were 'thrown out' of their pen today -- they were getting much too comfortable and were hard to persuade out, but when they got on the pond they loved it! It was such a hot day they stayed there for a long time so will probably sleep well tonight (back in their pen of course!!)

Lots of people about at the moment including children - some pottery classes start this week as well as some other children's activities, should keep them busy -- also the restaurant are serving children's lunch boxes this year, they do look good!

What a Garden Party!

2011-07-24T18:36:00.000+01:00

Children making dragon scales for the potters sculpture

It felt like the first day of summer today and what could be nicer than swimming around the ponds quietly in the sun -- but no, it was not to be! The garden was an absolute hive of activity today, partially with the potters who were in the middle of the garden firing with a smoking kiln and children making scales for a dragon (very appropriate with the smoke and fire we felt -- and the dragon is going to be featured in this years garden sculpture trail in starting on 24th August).

As well as this we had music playing most of the afternoon from The Ragtime Jug Orchestra who have visited us before but not in such good weather! They were excellent once again and had some really quirky songs.

The Ragtime Jug Orchestra - Fab!

The highlight for us was the garden games which were all being run for charity, skittles, coconut shy, horseshoes and ye olde stocks. The best bit was when the owner, Malcolm, was put in the stocks and got very wet indeed, we did quack!!.

Malcolm in the Stocks (which came from Avoncroft Museum)

It was not quite the day we had in mind but it was fun having so many people visiting - lots of them fed us as they enjoyed lunch, pimms, ice cream etc. I guess we need to get acclimatised as I hear it is the Blues festival soon - now that is a lot of music!

Rosie and Jim settle in

2011-07-21T11:04:00.001+01:00

Rosie and Jim in the big pen

As rumoured the new ducklings turned up a two days ago - 2 of them had been born at Hanbury First School and have been living a life of luxury between the warm school class room and class teachers Miss Thorne home. They have been very well fed and watered and are now quite big ducklings. The children have named them "Rosie and Jim" .

About a week later than Rosie and Jim were hatched, another smaller duckling hatched on its own at the Jinney Ring- this is a mini Silver Appleyard. Rather than keep the duckling on its own it went off to join Rosie and Jim at school, but because they were so big and rowdy they frightened the smaller duckling. This duckling was named "Squeak" due the the noise it was making!.

Squeak has some black in his feathers

The final arrival was a very late and unexpected duckling again hatched at the Jinney Ring. Because this one is so new it is not much bigger than Squeak and at the moment and they have been put together for company in a smaller pen -- he/she will grow to be like Rosie and Jim eventually, but hopefully the ducks will be firm friends by then so size will not matter! The children have very aptly named this new one "Bubble".

Hanbury First school Reception class came over with teacher Miss Thorne to see the ducklings had settled in OK. I think they went away happy that they were comfortable. The children fed us bigger ducks too so we hope they visit regularly!

Lots of Ministers!

2011-07-17T15:38:00.000+01:00

This weekend started badly with pouring rain, not that it bothered us ducks much (except it puts people off feeding us!), but we knew that we were to be having another wedding here later in the day so we crossed out wings for the day to brightened -- it worked and the sun was out by the time they arrived at about 5pm and once again we got a good look at everyone while pictures were taken.

It turned out that we had 3 minsters with us for the wedding reception - one performed the ceremony, one said grace and the third was the Groom himself (Ron) who retired recently. Probably because he was an ex-minister, the Groom said he was actually looking forward to his speech and performed like a professional, even had a microphone! (Most of the time Grooms hate this bit!). The Bride (Rebecca) looked radiant as did her Bridesmaid, Nicola and her family who are all very close to Rebecca. This group are all 'regulars' at the Jinney Ring, so we were delighted to see them (they all brush up really well!). The party went on until about midnight and we had the ponds lights on so that we could have a good swim in the limelight too!

Next on the agenda we have a garden party (Sunday 24th) -- sounds like we are going to have to keep our heads down for this one with coconut shy, skittles, stocks as well as music on the agenda!

Bit of breaking news (literally) -- 4 new ducklings are rumoured to have hatched and will be out in the garden next week. Two of these have been hatched by Hanbury First School with their new incubator, can't wait to see them.

Finally -- an update on the ducks that went to the Vet -- one is fully back to health, rushing around with his mates, the other is still not walking very well at all but seems happy enough in herself, she is managing to get onto and off the water. She seems to be sensible enough to sleep on the island to keep safe. One thing for sure is that she has had enough of being caught by the humans and force fed anti-biotic, no-way is she being caught again!

Food Food and Chocolate!

2011-07-15T17:04:00.000+01:00

Last week we all noticed that we have been getting fed a lot less bread from the customers of the craft centre and are now being fed corn. Very nice and filling but a definite change -- it turns out that someone has done some research and found out that the amount of bread we were eating was really not good for us as it is not nutritional. With summer holidays upon us and lots more children visiting, the restaurant staff are now buying in corn for the customers to give us (if they want to). For us bread is a lot like chocolate though -- it may not be good for us but we do like it!

Talking of chocolate (even we ducks look for links!) -- last weekend was a The 'Experience Chocolate' weekend run by Chocolate Deli. We had lots of visitors who came and made truffles, lollies and learned about chocolate. The restaurant ran a "chocolate bar" and the chef made a huge chocolate cupcake to raffle. Lots of fun. They also ran two quizzes for the Guide Dogs for the Blind (and had a visit from a brand new puppy -- who got a lot of fuss).

Chocolate lollies - made by the children

A visit to the Vet

2011-07-01T18:51:00.000+01:00

Two of my friends in the garden have been limping badly lately and have been confined to the pen in the hope that they recover naturally. Sadly they have not got any better so they were taken off in a cardboard box yesterday and we feared the worst! Happily, it turned out that they had had a visit to the Vet and they are now back and taking medicine for their problems. They both seem to be getting better and hope to be on the pond again soon. (Neither is that happy about the medicine though -- tastes horrible!)

Confined to bed!

We have a bit of a mystery at the moment -- several of my Indian Runner duck friends have disappeared very recently -- including the lovely new duckling that was protected for so long. Some of my fellows think it is the fox, but I haven't seen any evidence of this and they are not very "meaty". We are now all on alert, keeping a very good eye out watching comings and goings, foxes and people!

A hot weekend

2011-07-01T18:16:00.000+01:00

Last weekend we had another bride and groom and their party spend the afternoon with us in the gardens. The sky was not blue but is was hot and the rain held off for them. They looked fantastic, especially the Bride Lynsey who was radiant, and they had some lovely photos taken with us too!

Arriving at the Centre

Lynsey and her "MC" brother

The party arrived about 2:30pm and had sandwiches and drinks with many guests exploring the craft units but as usual the Falconry was the favourite attraction and we lost some of the guests for quite a while to the thrills of the new owl and falcon. They disappeared for dinner at about 6pm and then we watched them through the conservatory windows. They had a lovely menu which the Bride and Groom chose -- it included a pie (Grooms choice) which although it is unusual for a wedding was very popular!

Speech time

In the evening the party all danced in the marquee far into the night - we had regular bulletins as many of the guests came to cool off in the garden. The Bride and Groom had chosen a complete playlist to ensure maximum dancing -- a really good mix!

The marquee all lit up ready to dance the night away

The marquee has gone again now and we are getting ready for our next excitement which is the "Experience Chocolate" weekend on 9th/10th July. Chocolate Deli have all sorts of chocolately treats in store for visitors all weekend and the shop and restaurant are joining in too!

2011 Beer Festival

2011-06-19T16:18:00.000+01:00

There were lot of machinations earlier this week as to where to put this years Beer Festival - the weather forecast was indicating fairly poor conditions for Friday and showers, so should it be in the garden on the main building? In the end the tent went up in the garden and so did the beer racks and the festival started out Friday at 3pm with showers, gradually improving through the weekend to Sunday when it was windy but warm. Lots of people coming and going and some great beers -- "Miss Whiplash" (Batemans) and "Mad Goose" (Purity) bothered us ducks a bit, as did "Dr Morton's Hare Straightener" (Sheffield Beer Works) which sounded more like a medicine rather than a beer. The first beer to go was the "Natural Blonde" (Birds Brewery -- Bromsgrove) which probably tells a tale about our customers!

16 beers on the rack with 5 ciders

We had plenty of entertainment in the garden -- lots to watch beside the customers

Jo Lucas busking on her violin Saturday and Sunday - She is one of Violin Maker William Piper's Customers.

One Step Beyond danced between the showers on Saturday.

The Ragtime Jug Orchestra from The Forest of Dean

Saturday evening we had local guitar player Mick Quickfall and his friend playing and singing for us, this was followed by the Ragtime Jug orchestra (above), they entertained us with a mix of blues and folk - they had the customers joining in shaking pill pots, what a lark!

In the middle of all this we also had skittles being played and the arrival of the "Big Dog" (below) collecting funds for the Guide dogs for the blind. Mark Treverton of Marksman Leisure also kindly loaned his laser blast game to raise some funds for charity during the festival -- we were glad that this was inside though, as it meant we were safe on the pond. Talking of the pond.... timing being all, one of my duck friends took the festival as an invitation to introduce her new duckings to the world - 8 mallard ducklings that showed no fear at all!

"Big Dog" danced on the car park!

Special visitors

2011-06-15T19:23:00.000+01:00

We knew that there was something going on when we were woken up on Thursday morning with the clanging of pipes -- the courtyard marquee was going up, so we suspected a wedding for the weekend. Lots of comings and goings later, the wedding party arrived on Saturday, just after a heavy down pour of rain that had everyone worried. Fortunately, the sky cleared just as the Bride and Groom arrived and everyone was able to enjoy there welcome drink in the gardens while they took photographs. The guests were all meandering back into the marquee for speeches when the second down pour arrived and we thought that we had seen the last of them, but it did cheer up again later and we had a lovely surprise when the Bride and Groom came and fed us -- you would have thought that they would have had too much to do to worry about us, we were thrilled !

Matt and Rebekah made time for us on their special day, we think they will be very happy!

A quiet moment - Father of the Bride and Page

There were some cheeky pages at this wedding - we did have to keep our eyes on them!

The day after the wedding was atrocious, weather-wise - even for us ducks, however the restaurant looked pretty busy serving Sunday lunch -- probably comfort food! We did not get of this and bread was scare -- it was just too wet. There was a Wedding Fayre in the marquee all day Sunday and some very brave couples came along to see the 4 local wedding venues that were here. We heard that it was a good show and lots of interested parties came -- despite the rain.

Monday we had a dry day and lots of visitors - many with foreign accents. It turned out to be a "Twinning Visit" between Ross-on-Wye and Betzdorf, Germany. They had a great visit to Avoncroft Museum in the morning and came to us for lunch and the afternoon. We got a good look at everyone, as spent a long time in the garden with the Falconry birds and were very complimentary about it -- can't see what all the fuss is about, the birds of prey are interesting but they don't chat like we do!

Just as we thought it was all over -- another group of special visitors arrived on Tuesday - The Redditch and Bromsgrove Carers Support Group had an open day with us and invited many of the hard working carers in the area, some lovely people and we were really pleased to see them and they seemed to have a good day out.

The Carers Carline used the Courtyard Marquee for their stands.

Now can I get some sleep? Oh no...... it would appear not , the Beer Tent has just gone up for the annual beer festival which starts Friday!

Worcester Arts Trail

2011-05-27T14:34:00.001+01:00

Bank holidays are normally pretty good for bread consumption - plenty of people dropping in to see us no matter what the weather, but this year may be busier than normal as some of the artists here are inviting people in as part of the first ever Worcestershire Arts Trail which is on now until the end of bank holiday Monday.

To celebrate the start of the trail Stuart Fletcher and his team in Top Glass are 'ringing the changes' with new ornaments on the tree outside his workshop in the courtyard. These glass bells work well inside and outside and can have clangers in or not, whatever you fancy!

We have local artist Ian Ridley here too for this period (in the meeting room) - he has some lovely landscapes on sale, and he does smile so don't worry about the photo!

Out on the ponds - the 2011 hatch are out and about, they really enjoyed their first swim and are now proving difficult to round up and put away again. The only fear at the moment is that the moorhens attack them - they are still hatching their own chicks and are being very aggressive!

The Big Dog!

2011-05-23T12:24:00.000+01:00

We had lots of dogs her this weekend and one "Big Dog" for our charity event in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind. "GoWalkies" was really well supported with both people and dogs, on line and on foot.

This is Paddy (the Big Dog) who is the Go Walkies Mascot alongside a couple well prepared walkers

We were a bit worried about pandemonium around the ponds with all these dogs arriving but they were all really well behaved as they went off for their 3 mile circular walk taking them up to Hanbury Church and through some of the Hanbury Hall park lands.

There were some guide dog puppies in training as well as working guides dogs around but also a good selection of pets of all sizes and shapes. It was very windy but fortunately dry - it was however too windy for the normal guide dog marquee so they used the forest school shelter to set up their merchandise.

It has not been used for this before!

The event raised about £1,400 for the charity and was lovely to run - a big thanks to all the guide dog helpers and participants for making it such an interesting day - it is not often we get do see such a lot of canines under control!

Other news around the centre -

No sign of Henry the Peregrine Falcon that went missing a few weeks ago, we now fear that we will not see him again sadly. The Falconers are still sad about this and hope he is surviving in the wild. They do have some new birds including a Lanner Falcon which will start to work soon.

The new Muscovey ducks that were given a home here when their owner died recently have settled in and are now venturing off the islands a bit - they were so fat when they came that they could hardly walk - they were clearly not having to do enough for their corn! They have lost a bit now but still "waddle"!

The 2011 hatch are progressing well and should be out of their pen in the next couple weeks - it is alway fun to watch them take their first proper swim!

Coming up this bank holiday weekend 6 of the Jinney Ring artist studios are participating in the Worcestershire Arts Trail which starts Friday and runs over the bank holiday weekend.

As always lots going on!

The 2011 hatch

2011-05-09T10:15:00.000+01:00

The chickens have moved on to a new home this weekend so the new ducklings are now out in the big pen. It is a big world for them at the moment and most of them are exploring with vigour, and have had their first swim.

There is one bird missing from the garden at the moment - Henry the Perigrin Falcon is missing - he went for a extra-curricular flight over a week ago during a flying demonstration and has not returned - the falconers are very worried about him as he was not bred to survive in the wild.

The news from the craft centre is that that Digital Wizardry the graphic design craft unit have moved on (to bigger premises, as they had outgrown the unit) and a new soap business is setting up. Jorg Muschner whose new unit is called "The Blue Lemon" is making artisan soaps from natural ingredients. He is due to open on 1st June but hopes to be making product before that time.

Plenty of visitors dropping in!

2011-05-01T19:04:00.000+01:00

As always on a Bank Holiday weekends, this is another hectic one here, well all except for Friday morning of course, when understandably most people were glued to the TV watching the Royal Wedding. We did have some visitors in garden while this was going on though - a Canada Goose called in for a cuppa (pond water of course) and a bit of a rest and then a group of 10 cyclists made us their first port of call on their 100 mile journey - they were all making the most of the time off work!

A flying visitor - popped in for a drink before continuing journey

A bacon bap before saddling up again only 80 miles left !

At the Jinney Ring, the staff put out the bunting for the Royal Wedding and then held a High Tea in the restaurant - all very "English" with sandwiches and scones! Most of those working managed to catch glimpses of the ceremony during the day.

A very "English" afternoon

On Saturday and Sunday we had our own little celebration here with the arrival of "drainpipe duck"'s babies - they started "pipping" on Friday and by Sunday nine out of the eleven eggs had hatched and the ducklings were swimming on the pond. Mum has now abandoned the drainpipe and is keeping her babies around the pond area.

Proud parents take the ducklings out for their first swim.

St Georges Day and Early Arrivals

2011-04-27T10:27:00.000+01:00

A very patriotic pottery event on St George's Day

Saturday in the courtyard was really busy with potential knights making their own shields! The Potters ran pottery workshops for children all day showing children how to roll, shape and decorate the raw clay. They have now an array of shields in the kiln ready for firing which will be ready for pick up very soon. As well as making shields they also made a dragon "scale" will be used as part of a large sculpture which will be fired outside in the garden on 24th August with a process called "Raku" - quite appropriate in making a dragon as it is a very fiery process! Once the scales have been fired the final sculpture will be exhibited as part of the annual sculpture trail at the Craft Centre.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind charity also came along and help out and we had a couple of very well behaved Labrador dogs here for the day.

All of this was going on right next to where "Drainpipe Duck" is sitting on her eggs - she sat quietly with most people not even aware she was there, throughout the whole day, she only left the nest for a very short time - what a good mum!

A baby runner duck - first out!

Talking of ducks - we hear that there have been some very early arrivals in the incubator - this little one arrived out of the blue (it was a blue egg too!) at least a 10 days before he was expected. The mum must have started sitting on the eggs before they were collected. A couple of days latter there were another couple. These ducks have a much higher chance of survival bred like this, rather than in the open - we have already seen the Carrion Crow waiting around the ponds and the Moorhens are on the prowl! I hear that the babies will be in the gardens sometime today - the electricity has been wired up so that they can keep warm at night in the new pen.

Heat, Horses and Deluxe Coop

2011-04-22T16:43:00.000+01:00

We are very glad our new "swimming pool" is fixed, especially with the heat of the last week or so - some of the people in the garden looked as though they might want to join us in the water at times! Can't complain though - after the freezing temperatures all winter, we much prefer this!

The gardens are getting better each day under the careful supervision of Dayel who is watering the new grass regularly and now gardeners Chris and Jean have put back some pond plants too. Won't be long before we have all the fences down and are fully back to normal. Good thing too as it is pretty busy here at the moment and lots of people in the gardens enjoying hot cross buns, and today fish and chips (Good Friday). Tomorrow we have St Georges Day stuff going on with the potters holding drop in workshops making dragon scales and shields!

The chickens are in the shade of their new coop by the pond.

The Chickens are particularly pleased at the moment as they have some new "luxury accommodation" with a lovely view of the pond. They are still being put away at night though as the fox could still get into the pen.

Roxy - looking well groomed!

In the field life is becoming more active too - Floss and Molly the two chestnut mares have a new friend, Roxy - she is only 6 and has quite a 'personality'. This week she let herself, and the others, into the falconry flying area by playing with the gate catch - we will watch her antics with interest, especially when the cows get here next week! Georgia (Roxy's human slave) and her Mum have been working hard with Roxy's mane and tail in the photo, trying to thin it out as she is so hot - very fashionable we think it will catch on!

Floss and Molly enjoying the lush grass

A Flying Visit!

2011-04-12T16:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterday morning we had a flying visit from two lovely geese - we think they were Greylag Geese flying back up to Scotland. They had a bit of a rest on our ponds and were off again pretty quickly. Great to see them though.

Another regular visitor have also arrived this week - 'Floss', the chestnut Mare who spends summers in the fields next to the Jinney Ring is back and this year she has some company - another chestnut Mare called 'Molly' - she is a bit younger than Floss and has lots of energy! Just need the cows back now and it will really feel like summer is coming!

Ponds have now been completely refilled and the grass is looking pretty good.

Mother's day and Drainpipe Duck!

2011-04-05T18:12:00.001+01:00

Last weekend was really really busy here - both Saturday and Sunday with lots of people buying presents for, and celebrating Mothering Sunday here. There were so many cars on Sunday that they had to open the field up for parking - I think everyone got fed and watered well though, as the restaurant staff worked their socks off and even served desserts to tables to keep the queues down. The weather was nice for most of the time so the garden was also pretty full. (The new grass is now growing, so it will not be long before the back garden is back to normal and the whole garden accessible again.). All Mums' who had lunch were given a bunch of little daffodils and discount voucher for the gift shop, so there was plenty of colour around.

The evening restaurant was busy last week too, so we did not get as much sleep as normal on the ponds - on Thurday night the "Pudding Night" was full with lots of sweet toothed folk enjoying a bit of "naughty but nice". On Saturday night a private 60th birthday party turned into an "engagement party" - everyone was very pleased about this, lots to celebate!.

Talking romance - most of my duck friends are "in love" at the moment and everyone is looking for their own bit of "space" to raise their families. This duck has found a nice sheltered spot in the courtyard outside the restaurant - it may be nice and sheltered but is it not that safe as there are a lot of visitors and some dogs that will pass her nest ! She is currently sitting on 11 eggs.

While we are waiting for the fist batch of ducklings to arrive we have some chicks in the garden growing up - they are close to the gardeners area on the right as you go out of the restaurant. One of the local schools incubated the eggs and now they are growing up here before they go off to a new home.

Goodbye to John a friend and a craftsman!

2011-03-25T19:45:00.000Z

Yesterday we all said a very sad goodbye to one of our long standing craftsmen from the Jinney Ring. John Baldwin, who had been resident here first "Spinney Craft" and then "From the Tree", had sadly lost his battle to cancer and at the age of 56, died peacefully in his sleep.

John was quite a character during his time here - an ex-marine and ex-policeman he had seen something of the world and had a wealth of tales and an excellent sense of humour. He was also a very strong hockey player and had very good legs ... he was seen in his shorts at work for most of the year! We will all miss John but are glad he is now released from the cancer and the suffering of the last few years. John's son Phillip has taken over the business and developed it and his wife Carolyn is heavily involved in the business too (as well as helping out in several of the other workshops).

The funeral was at Worcester Cremetorium with the funeral wake held here at the Jinney Ring - it was a lovely warm spring day just right to remember John in the gardens here where he spend so much time.

The garden has been opened up a little more now with fences being moved. as the repair work in the garden takes hold.

Make up night

2011-03-11T11:16:00.000Z

Esther of Esther Marie Make-up was here on Wednesday night for a real "Ladies Night". She showed the ladies that attended how to make up their faces in a very natural way to bring out the best in themselves. Also on show were the "Hattery" - the milliners (who are at the the Jinney Ring every Friday) came along with some of their hats. After this the ladies all had supper and a good laugh. What a lovely evening!

Esther demonstrating on her model Penny

Pancake Day

2011-03-08T15:32:00.000Z

What a lovely day it is today - the sun is out and so are the visitors!
They are apparently all here for Pancakes - the Kitchen staff have not stopped making them today, sweet and savoury.

As the weather is so nice the garden has dried enough for some turf to be laid around the ponds - the edges look much better now, won't be long until the grass is growing again and they can take the temporary fencing down for us to get nearer to the bread supply!.

New Flowers!

2011-03-04T16:40:00.000Z

It is all change on the gardening front - Rachel who has been looking after the gardens here for the last two years has left the Jinney Ring to go to work as a tutor/gardener in Stourbridge. While she was at the Jinney Ring she had some works experience assistance each week and showed natural talent for teaching and encouraging youngsters so we think she will do well at this and everyone here wishes her the best of luck.

We are about to enter a really busy time of year gardening here so Jean and Mike from Arkle Plants have agreed to help out getting things going and then Christine Evans (Mike's wife) will take over the gardening on a part time basis at the end of April. This week Primroses and little daffodils have been planted in the pots and spring colour is already starting to emerge. In the meanwhile Dayel Durney who is doing many gardening and maintenance jobs around site, is busy finishing off the pond edging with clay and new turf. Soon the ground will be dry enough to reseed some of the grass areas where we carried out the pond repair work earlier in the year.

Juiliet Doyle opens new Florists Shop at the Jinney Ring

As well as colour coming into the gardens we also now have a Florist on site who is already selling daffodils for spring. Juliet Doyle has a thriving internet business in synthetic wedding flowers and accessories but now what has taken the plunge and opened up next to the restaurant. It is great to have some colour on show!

On the ponds - my friends and I are starting to pair up with our soul mates and are thinking about having families....... It can be a bit traumatic at this time of year but the ducklings make it all worthwhile!!

More fun and games on the water

2011-02-19T12:35:00.000Z

It is always a quiet time in Jan and Feb, as it is a bit cold and damp in the gardens, so it is no surprise to us that our bread quota is reduced at the moment, but it does help us get in shape ready for the new season!

We have had some more laughs with the maintenance manager in the last two weeks - there was a big problem with the drains (yuk!) so he had to dig up the flower beds a bit to reveal a manhole cover that we had never discovered before - the drains hole was so deep that he disappeared for quite some time and we did think that we would have to get help - until we heard him shout as the drain finally cleared - in a rush towards him - never seen him move so fast! Similar fun was had fixing the frost damaged water system - suddenly there he was, wetter than we are with the back pressure! It is never dull here - we did quack!!

The gardens have suffered some plant losses over the winter - some of the shrubs look dead but the gardener is going to wait a bit before digging anything else - just in case. Work in the garden is mainly about repairing the lawns after the pond damage at the moment and new pond plants will be installed in March/April time. All should be back to normal soon.

Happily most of my duck friends have survived the winter very well and now we also have a new comer - a Muscovy duck that was rescued after a dog bit it. She is fitting in very well and will probably settle with us.

The Craft Centre is getting busier again now and there is lots going on, mostly inside - there was a Cider Making evening at the end of January where "apple pressers" tasted each others cider and learned some of the tricks of the trade from local cider maker Steve Cooper of Tardebigge Cider. Sounded like a lot of fun!

Getting ready for Valentine's day, Glass blower Stuart Fletcher and the Team from Top Glass adorned the tree outside there workshop with glass red hearts - looks lovely particularly when the sun shines (sadly it was not when the picture was taken!).

Coming up - An Antiques evening on 23rd Feb and a Ladies Night on 9th March.

Snow Palace

2010-12-23T12:35:00.000Z

Just by the ponds in the back gardens there is an area that we know as the "piggery" (this dates back to the days when the building was a farm and pigs were kept in what is now the gardening area). One night this week we had a burst pipe and it created a Snow Queen's palace effect ....

The Craft Centre has managed to stay open through the snow (except Saturday 19th when the heavy snow made it impossible), but many of the staff have struggled to get in so those that did make it have been covering in all areas - mucking in together. We are not seeing many people out in the gardens as it is still bitterly cold. The fox is still around but he shows up quite well in the snow so we are wary!

We understand that we are going to have some singing here tomorrow on Christmas Eve as Hanbury Church are relocating their christmas Eve Service to the Jinney Ring rather than risk people getting up the very steep hill in the icy conditions - this should be lovely! After this the Craft Centre is closed for Chirstmas day and Boxing Day, reopening on the 27th at 11am.

We would like to wish all our followers and readers a "Quacking" good Christmas!

White World....

2010-12-19T12:46:00.000Z

It is so cold at the moment that even walking on the snow is painful - when we got fed this morning it was easier to sit down to eat than stand on the frozen surface. We did all feel a lot warmer with some corn inside us though.

Yesterday was a white out in the garden - the snow did not stop from morning until night, about 10 - 12 inches - amazing. This morning the sky is blue and it looks truely lovey for miles.

View to the Malverns from the Conservatory door

The snow on the back gate shows how much snow fell yesterday!

The roads around seem to be moving today (yesterday they were not good!) and a few folk have ventured out to see us. Some of the staff here have had trouble getting off their drives and have not been able to get to work so there is a skeleton crew - but they are all mucking in to get the place up and running again.

Marcus and Tom - who work in the Kitchen are helping move the snow

Mick drives the mini-digger which has a snow plough on the front - Matt lives on site and is kindly helping out!

The path to the restaurant - past the wishing-well.

Some of the craft workshop holders have made it in today as they have customers coming for Christmas Presents - Belinda Terry and "From the Tree" are here and the others are doing their best to get in if they can. The car park is cleared at the front and the gift shop and restaurant will be open until at least 4pm.

Sad and very cold week in the garden!

2010-12-04T13:18:00.001Z

We are all very sad this week as Jessica the Bengal Eagle owl, who lived at the Falconry at the end of the garden has died. She had been poorly for about a week but the Vet could not find out what was wrong with her. She had a very enlarged liver, but no-one knew why. Jessica was only 17 and could have lived for twice this based on other owls of her type. Dave and Danielle, the on site Falconers, are really upset as is everyone in the garden and the Craft Centre, as she was a real character and also gave you a good welcome when you visited. Jess was a bit of a celebrity, often appearing on TV/film or at shows (see below). We will miss her.

We have had the water trickling all week trying to keep the top pond free of ice as far as possible - still seeing the fox everynight, but I think even he is a bit chilly at -10 degrees celius. The Craft Centre has been a bit quiet this week considering it is Christmas, but listening to those that came, the roads are very well gritted this time, so there is no problem visiting us --- and we are a bit short of bread at the moment (we are getting more corn though, as we do need the internal heating!!).

Snow and other decorations

2010-11-30T19:28:00.000Z

Over night we had a bit of snow and it was once again very cold on our webbed feet. The ponds are pretty iced up at the moment and the water input was frozen over. This did get sorted out today and there is now a bit more swimming area in the pond as some of the ice has defrosted. We are now a little less worried that the fox can visit us over the ice in the night - he did last night - we saw the foot prints in the morning!! Fortunately all were ducks were 'present and correct' as far as I can tell in the morning.

Lyn, the daytime Restaurant Manager loves Christmas - she has been counting the days to get the trees up in the restaurant. Today we watched as the snow was shaken from the trees (provided by Arkle Plants in the Craft Centre) and taken inside. The tree by the window looks lovely, all lit up, there are two others that we cannot see so well from the garden, one of them by the roaring log fire. Lyn has been singing carols all afternoon while she was decorating the trees - however her colleagues begged her to stop as it was driving customers away!! We have proper carol singers to look forward to, on Christmas Eve (the Grafton Singers will be in the conservatory from 11:30am).

The big tree outside will go up very soon and the lights go up tomorrow, with all this snow it looks really festive, even if most folk want to get inside to have a hot drink!

There are some other birds in the garden at the moment - a large Red Kite and an Owl - neither much of a threat, as they are wooden sculptures from artist John Moss - these lovely sculptures are not expected to be here long as they will make ideal Christmas presents for wildlife lovers. John exhibited his work here in our annual sculpture trail last September and his work sold so well that he sent us some more for Christmas.

John Moss making one of the Owls that we have at the front of the Craft Centre

Pond progress

2010-11-24T11:30:00.000Z

The pond works are now pretty much complete and they are being refilled with water, which in itself is taking quite some days.

As the weather was so horrible while the work was going on the diggers have chewed up the gardens a bit but we are all helping to get it back to normal. It is however likely to be next spring when the ground is properly repaired. The field will need rolling where the trucks have been going up and down, but again it will be spring before this is done. The cows and the horse have now had enough of the mud and tractors and have gone off to local farms for the winter and a bit of inside comfort! - No such luxury for us ducks - our duck houses have even been moved from the top island and are going to be relocated onto the bottom island while it can be accessed (as the water is low) - I guess this is "moving house" duck style, we haven't had to pack up much!

We ducks are throughly enjoying life at the moment - we love having some clean water and a new island (well it feels that way) and we are helping flatten the mud down by checking for worms very regularly - you can see our footprints everywhere!

Even though the pond themselves are now finished there are still quite a lot of other things to do - one of them is to tidy up the overgrown islands - today Mick was up the trees on the big island - he was Jinney Ring's own Monkey Man yesterday ! Today he is going to burn some of the excess wood and brush ... it is never dull here!

'Monkey Man' Mick downsizing a Poplar on the lower island

Elsewhere in the centre Christmas is coming ... the Christmas trees are on order and will be here this week - the lights go on on the 1st December and the Restaurant will be very pretty.

Lizzie has her calf

2010-11-08T12:28:00.000Z

"Lizzie", The gorgeous Dexter cow that was in the field for most of the summer this year has had her first calf - it is a girl and she is already very adventurous!

Lizzie is back on the farm at the moment, having just given birth, but we are promised that she will be back with her calf in the spring time.

At the moment the calf has been nicknamed "dripping" - poor little thing! - What she needs is a proper name and Craft Centre visitors are being invited to come up with something suitable for her. The best name will be chosen in the summer once everyone has had a chance to see her. The competition to name her is going to be run for charity. A name can be submitted for £1 and the winning entry will be decided by a panel of a regular customer, a Jinney Ring employee and the Owner's son.

The prize will be a meal for two in the farmhouse restaurant. All proceeds of the competition will go to "The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association"

The digger is here....

2010-11-08T12:02:00.000Z

A week late, the pond work has just started and it is pouring with rain - talk about 'mud, mud glorious mud' - there is nothing glourious about this - there must be at least 1 meter of slit in the bottom of this pond. My duck friends and I are staying well clear at on the bottom pond while this goes on - the moorhens (who are not that bright!) are still popping in and out though.

Listening to the chaps on the big machines it should not take too long - a couple of weeks at the most and we will be back to normal.

"Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud"

2010-10-22T13:11:00.001+01:00

Work on the top pond has started and the pond has been partially drained. Mick (seen above) is looking elegant in his waders rescuing the Carp that are at the bottom of the pool. They are being transported to the bottom pool where they should be quite happy.

We ducks are observing proceedings with interest - however have pretty much migrated to the bottom pond for now.

Lots of other stuff going on but with the cold snap the log fire now lit in the lounge and we are seeing less people in the garden as they are sticking to the cosy lounge area.

On the weekend before last we had some lively parties on with a Court Leet Ladies Dinner followed on Saturday evening with a 50th party (which was a 1980's theme - some fantastic costumes, make-up and huge hair!) and then, on Sunday a lovely family Golden Wedding party in the evening, all went really well but the staff did looked pretty tired at the end of the weekend.

On the 14th October there was a charity "make-over" event here too called "A Girls Night In" with supper and a make up demonstration from Esther Marie. About 60 people all came along and raised some money for Age UK which is one of the Jinney Ring charities of the year. We could see the demo through the conservatory window - looked pretty good but, generally we ducks prefer the mud and water treatments ourselves!

Finally on 17th Oct we had an Apple Pressing day - this was really interesting with people bring in their windfall apples and having them pressed into apple juice - the smell was quite intoxicating through the gardens, and this was before conversion into cider! (which many of the "pressers" were planning to do). There is a bit of history with this event. In the early days of the Jinney Ring there was apparently an old working cider press here and this was used for a few years before it broke down and became obsolete. The press is still here, but only as a garden ornament. Many people still remember the old days, even though it was 20+ years ago, therefore this year it was thought worth bringing in a working press with the help of Oliver Carpenter (dressed in Red) who works with the "Slow Food" organisation in Worcestershire. This event was such fun that a repeat next year appears to be on the cards. If you came along do let us have your thoughts for the future.

Letting off Steam...

2010-09-21T11:36:00.001+01:00

There is always something going on here - planned or unplanned!

This weekend was the Hanbury Steam Rally (perversely not in Hanbury but in Stoke Prior, next village up the road). We normally hear some pretty big and slow vehicles trundling up and down the road when the rally is on, but this weekend got a much closer look, as one rather large steam engine broke down right outside the craft centre on the road. The drivers worked really hard on it for a couple of hours but, sadly, were unable to get it going again and had to catch a lift home from a very large lowloader. Malcolm (one of the Jinney Ring owners) spent and hour or so directing traffic around the lovely old vehicles (there was an old tractor with plough with it) as there was a lot of traffic on the road.

The steam engine stuck on the road

Old tractor/plough parked up at the back of the Jinney Ring for a while Sunday night.

Meanwhile in the gardens - the sculpture trail is going well - lots of interest even when the weather is a bit inclement. My Duck colleagues and I are now learning to live with the cats, dogs and birds made from recycled metal parts from artist Gavin Darby (see below). The exhibition goes on until 30th September.

Plans are afoot to restore the top pond in the garden and I have heard discussions about fencing off areas to allow big diggers and dumper trucks in to dredge the pond and rebuild the edges. The leak on the top pond is getting worse and the level is making it hard for us to get out of the pond easily now, so I will be glad when this is completed, even if it means a bit of disruption in October.

Alligator in my garden!

2010-09-11T19:28:00.000+01:00

Well this was a bit unexpected....!! It certainly gave us all a start when we saw the alligator climbing out of the bottom pond until we realised he was not real. He is part of this years garden sculpture which started on the 8th September and goes on to the 30th. There are lots of other "concerning" things around the garden - dogs and cats and a horse being amongst them.

Lots of people are walking around and admiring these unmoving creatures - it is taking some of the attention away of us at the moment but fortunately none of them like bread so we come into our own at this point.

There are some more interlopers into the garden now - 4 baby chickens have taken over residence in the cage on the lawn, (the crested ducklings have started to refuse to go in at night and declared independence like the rest of us at last!). I hear tell that the chicks only here for another couple of weeks before they go to a loving home (one of the staff in the gift shop).

We had another lovely wedding here just before the sculptures went out - a 1966 camper van arrived with the bride and groom - it was rather special.

We also had a choir singing in the garden during the canapé reception and photographs, they were very good - the Bride even joined them as she is part of the group. Once again the whole thing was beautiful especially the Bride and Groom. We even got fed by the bridesmaids - what could be better?

A really Blue day!!

2010-08-23T15:35:00.000+01:00

It was the second Jinney Ring Blues Festival on Saturday (21st) and quite a day it was....

The garden was pretty busy in the three days running up to the festival with marquees going up, beer arriving and mowing all going on but, as Saturday came closer, there there was growing concern about the black clouds over the Malvens! The, apparently well known, adage from these parts was heard several times "If you can see clouds over the Malvern's it is going to rain - if you can't - it is raining already!!"

Saturday morning dawned and we ducks could not see the Malvern hills - it was like we were inside the cloud, and it was raining!. Never-the-less work continued and more marquees went up, a trailer with bales of straw arrived and it was clear that the Festival was going to happen. As the morning passed and the festival gates opened the real stalwarts arrived, some in wellies, all with coats and umbrellas - there was a really good spirit in the air!

"Pete-the-Wagon" turned up in his shorts, (clearly an optimist) - his two girls helped the team finish off the preparations on the site as Pete set up (see below)

"Pete the Wagon" - An old fashioned wheel rite from Stratford, restores these lovely old wagons and makes mushrooms!

Gloomy over the Malverns - but at least we could see them at this point!

Happily the weather brightened up considerably in the afternoon and we saw no more rain until just before the end of the evening. There were six great bands playing during the day covering a terrific range of music - one band had a harmonica player leading the music! There was plenty of beer, lots of food including Chef Shirley's homemade burgers and kebabs on top of the normal suppers and lunches.

Despite the damp it was a really good spirited occasion and at the end of the evening there was dancing and some pretty "happy" folk. We ducks thought it best to stay on the water for most of the time but we did get a pretty good view throughout the event. Surprisingly the baby ducks asked to go to bed (in their cage) at about 6pm and slept through most of the evening!.

Simon "Honeyboy" Hickling - quite a harmonica player!

Some chilled out, some chilly! The sun was out most of the afternoon and it was warmish - honest!

Andy Ford of Hanbury band "Reflections" enjoying the day with family and friends

Many of the visitors stayed over in campers or tents, they were rewarded by a beautiful day on Sunday and had breakfast in the farmhouse restaurant. "The Big Blues Tribe" Band leader and organiser Oliver Carpenter of Jigsaw Community Festivals arrived about 9:00 to start dismantling the massive tent and even as they did this the team were planning for next year!

What a "quacking" weekend!

2010-08-10T16:59:00.000+01:00

Our garden was extremely busy and full of some very well dressed visitors (how they walk in those heels I just don't know...) on Saturday.

A large marquee went up on the Thursday and, much to'ing and fro'ing of equipment, bottles etc went on for a couple of days and then, Saturday at about 1 o'clock, the garden was full of wedding guests closely followed by the beautiful bride and her hansom groom. The weather was reasonably kind to them as just as they came out of church the sun appeared and stayed around until about 2.30 for photographs - most of them taken here. At 2:30 the heavens opens and everyone went inside just in time to eat.

They had a great party in the marquee, which was decorated out in black and white and even had a black and white dance floor. We ducks could see in through the windows but were shooed away fairly regularly when we tried to go inside!

We did not get to bed til late but it was enormous fun watching the antics and the outfits so we did not mind much.

On Sunday there was yet more activity on in the marquee with a Wedding Fayre - lots of exhibitors including one that brought along a bed - Premier Inn, sadly, did not bring Lenny Henry - but who knows for next year!

The marquee (from Hanbury Marquees) has just been taken down again and the garden is back to normal - the staff here look a bit tired, but it all went very well so they are now working hard toward the next function which is the Blues Festival on 21st August, I am told by my feathered friends that this involves another type of tent and lots more people.

Where has our pond gone?

2010-08-03T19:23:00.000+01:00

We ducks have been getting increasingly concerned that water has been "evaporating" at an alarming pace on the top pond for the last couple of weeks so we were relieved to see maintenance manager Mick in his waders on Monday coming into the pond to check it out.

We have been doing our own "research" - that is scratching around at the sides of the pond and, only recently, found a bit of a hole - we all worked at it pretty diligently to expose it nicely for him to see - he did not seem that pleased though, and has now made plans to fill it in with clay later this week, there is gratitude for you! He says that there is a much bigger job needed as the ponds need dredging and rebuilding as there is significant errosion, but this will have to wait until October - ohh what joy, plenty of mud to play in!

He also had his waders on for another reason it transpired .... the new ducklings had had their second outing out and were swimming on the bottom pond. They had gone into the thick bullrushes and were under attack from a couple of rather aggressive moorhens. Happily all ducklings survived and are once again back in their pen.

Baby Barn Owls at Arden Falconry

Plenty of children about at the moment feeding us - not doing my diet much good but very tasty! They are also visiting the new baby barn owls at Arden Falconry which are growing fast (but are still at that very ugly stage!). Some of them, the children that is, are also doing pottery short classes with Sophia Binney which are good fun.

Final news for this Blog - we thought we had the FBI here last week - the carpark had 3 black transit vans parked up early one evening - it tuned out that Chocolate Deli were installing some airconditioning equipment, as the heat was stopping the chocolate setting properly - it is "well cool" in their unit now!

Exhausting weekend.....

2010-07-25T16:06:00.000+01:00

What a busy weekend this has been, well it all started on Thursday evening when we had a lovely crowd in for a retirement party in the evening - they were far from "retiring" and danced and laughed their way through the evening, popping out in the gardens to chat with us ducks from time to time (although I have to say that the ducklings in the pen are generally getting most attention).

After this we had a lovely wedding here yesterday - they were a bit late coming from the church (very "thorough" photographers - I heard it said!) but worth the wait .... both the bride and groom looked fantastic as they stepped out of their vintage car outside the marquee.

The next thing I saw was one of our resident Harris Hawkes on the arm of his hander coming up to meet the guests. Apparently the Bride Groom loves the birds of prey and was determined to get some photos on his wedding day. They all went off down the garden for more photos at this point before going in to the marquee for speeches and dinner. Shirley (Head Chef) not only designed and cooked a lovely menu for the evening (no duck!) also made the cake for the couple.

Then just as we were hoping for a quiet nap on the pond we find that there is yet more excitment planned for today - an antiques valuation day. David Walters and his colleague have been on hand to chat to people all day - there have been many curious shapped packages brought in and he has been very busy indeed. Listening to folk in the garden afterwards he appears to have a lot of knowledge and is most interesting.

David Walters - Antiques Expert

Hopefully tomorrow will be a quieter day - but rumour has it that the schools have broken up now, so I expect we ill get a lot more visitors. There are some childrens pottery courses going on (Sophie Binney) and of course there are the new baby barn owls (4) that Arden Falconry are looking after to interest the youngsters this holiday (as well as feeding us of course!).

Crested ducklings come to the Garden

2010-07-12T18:36:00.000+01:00

Another batch of ducklings have just arrived in the pen - 7 this time, and three have "bobbles" on their heads, most curious!

The ducklings are once again a mixture with 1 Peking, 1 Aylesbury, 4 call ducks (of which 3 are crested) and 1 black mixed duck. I heard it said that the hatch rate was very poor with the eggs this time, probably as it is well into the season and the eggs are not so good. None the less the new additions are already attracting attention in their baby hutch.

All of these ducklings are once again incubated so are relying on humans to keep them warm and fed. Rumour has it we may some "natural" ducklings in a few weeks too, as one my mates is now "sitting" on a batch of eggs in one of the nice houses on the island, the worry is whether they will survive as the crows are now worse than ever with their offspring visiting us regularly too.

Talking of ponds - Mick, the maintenance manager has spent the day digging a very large hole in the middle of the gardens as he thinks we have a leak somewhere - in the end it looks like errosion at the pond edges causing the seapage - it needs to be fixed very soon and it is a big job. There was talk of tractors and clay for the Autumn .....can't wait....!!!

Lizzie

2010-07-10T17:17:00.000+01:00

We have been observing that the cows in the field have been growing up and outwards at a fair pace since they arrived, however one has been growing outwards much quicker! This week we found out why - she is expecting a calf, this is wonderful news.

"Lizzie" as she is known is a long legged Dexter and is a year or so older than the other cows in the field - she fits in well with them as they are not yet full grown and Dexters are a small breed of cow. She is a cow that knows her own mind and takes no nonsense from the youngsters - just as well in her condition.

The calf is expected some time late in August. The farmer visited this week and will probably take her home for the birth - but we hope to have news and pictures!

At the moment the grass is looking a bit worn out in the near fields so the cows and the horse have been let into the top meadow so we are seeing a bit less of them, except when they come to drink at the water trough.

They are out and about.....

2010-06-26T15:50:00.000+01:00

The incubated ducklings are now out and about around the ponds - they are largely stick together and rush around (many of them are runner ducks) and are enjoying the sunshine and the ponds.

We have also had some late mallard ducklings arrive, mum seems to be looking after them well so far.

Finally - look at this beauty. This duck is one of the 6 six that survived from our own egg collection earlier - he/she is an Appleyard cross and we are delighted to have had some reminder of the lovely Appleyards that the fox robbed us of earlier in the year. Quite a character!

Wedding Bells for Jinney Ring Gardener

2010-06-26T14:55:00.000+01:00

Rachel - our hard working gardener gets married today in Worcester. Can you believe that she was not going to have flowers for her big day?.... Fortunately no-one here thought that this was "quite right" so arranged for local Hanbuy florist Anna Brian to come an take some of the flowers from our (her) gardens here and make a lovely scented bouquet and button hole for Joe (Groom). The bouquet was pink and yellow (to match her dress) and had some beautiful roses. Anna said that it was a delight to cut the flowers yesterday as it was such a fantastic day in the early morning (when it was not too hot for the flowers).

Rachel spends almost every day, even in the winter, out in the gardens with us and is always looking after our well being - we wish her a fantastic wedding day and a great future with Joe. The only thing is she is now off on honeymoon for 2 weeks and we, and her garden, will miss her!

Garden and Countryside

2010-06-23T16:25:00.000+01:00

Last week Jinney Ring Gardener, Rachel, had some help in the gardens from a young works experience chap and his teacher. He was from central Birmingham and had visited our gardens and fallen in love with them. Between them all they created a new flower bed at the bottom of the site and planted it up - it looks great and we are very grateful to the team for making the garden better. Rachel has however asked us Ducks not to "ferret around" in the bark for a bit though - to let the plants settle. The bed is next to the fence line at the bottom of the overflow carpark, where there is also a new hedge planted - it is a wildlife hedge and has a range of different hedge plants in that are designed to work with the insects and birds. It will all take a while to get established.

Talking wildlife (apart from me) I am told that the meadow field is particularly lovely at the moment - this is one field away from the Jinney Ring and can be accessed from the footpath through the wood at the end of the site. Pictures below:

The owners are holding off cutting for hay until the wild flower seeds have dropped and then the meadow will be well replenished next year. There are footpaths through the field which take you to the school and the church - a really nice walk!

Life on the pond is pretty good at the moment with great sunshine - the babies are growing fast in the cage on the lawn, but do not yet have their oil glands properly developed, so do not swim well!! - They get waterlogged fast and would sink if not helped out! Have you ever seen a waterlogged duck - looks very commical!

As to activities in the Craft Centre - there is lots of "Not the world cup" stuff going on - this Friday (25th June) we are getting ready for a "Mad Hatters Tea Party" which will be in the garden (so we can join in). Cream teas and Pimms are promised with lots of hats from "the hattery" who are a group of miliners working at the craft centre each Friday (they often come out to see us when they are here). There is also the chance to see Jamie Olivers new cookware range "Jamie at Home" (3pm - 9pm).

The Jinney Ring also had a stand at the BBC Gardeners World Show last week - I overheard some of the staff saying that it was a good show but hard to resist the smells coming from the food show next door!

What a busy weekend!

2010-05-31T14:10:00.000+01:00

The baby ducks are now out and about - they like 'teenagers' at the moment - a bit gangly and eating all the time! They are out during the day and still coming in at night (well mostly!).

They, and we, have been very heavily socializing this bankholiday weekend with beer festival customers - the beer tent was in the garden and so was the entertainment. Firday saw Droitwich Blues Duo "Broke Down Engine" playing both ouside and inside.

"One Step Beyond" appalachian step dancers performed on Saturday and Sunday (and were such good sports through the rain on Saturday!) as did local guitarist Mick Quickfall

Saturday night was a bit chilly and wet but folk group "Just Good Friends" played on in the beer tent and did a great job.

One Step Beyond

Mick Quickfall

Visitors had the choice of 20 real ales (most of them local) and 5 ciders - many have worked their way through the whole list. Favourites seem to be the "Triple Chocohollic", "Bottom Knocker" and "Matrix".

Mark Treverton from Marksman Leisure was also on hand most of the weekend to test wits shooting laser clays. There were skittles (courtesy of local man John Ford) and horseshoes (thanks to Bob and Leigh -farriers to Floss the horse in the field!) to keep the children (and adults) entertained.

It has been a very mixed weather weekend with Saturday being wet and then a lot of wind Sunday (the wind caused a bit of unexpected entertainment with one of the Marquees sailing away - fortunately everyone took it in good spirits and helped take it apart, bend tubes included!) .

All in all it has been a very fun and busy few days - and it is not over yet - the festival goes on until the end of today (Monday).

Stop Press....

While all this has been going on we have also had some new arrivals - some more incubated ducklings. Thety have not made it outside yet as they have only just hatched. They are real cuties - Mini Silver AppleYards, White Runners and Mixed Runners. We are still hoping for a few more to hatch in the next few days. Look out for them in the garden in the next week or so.

Unusual visitors

2010-05-19T14:47:00.000+01:00

The night before last two surprise visitors dropped in on a lovely sunny evening when all the customers had disappeared.

They are a male (b/w) and female Tufted Duck

They were not here long - probably just stopping off on their way to Scotland - they are commonly found up the west coast of the country - we have not seen them on our ponds before!

Also seen last night, standing bold as brass in the middle of the garden was a very fine FOX - not quite to welcome - we all made it to water pretty quick!

Very smart cars!

2010-05-17T14:58:00.000+01:00

This weekend we all had a lovely treat - the Historic Car society arrived for tea with their rather smart cars.
Here are just a couple.

There were 33 cars in all, lots to see and some very enthuiastic people looking arround them.

Weather getting a bit better now and it is quite pleasant in the garden. The incubated ducklings are growing fast and we are all getting much better at watching for the crows although they have eaten an aweful lot of our eggs.

In the Restaurant they are well along with preparations for the beer festival (on bank holiday weekend) - 20 real ales (most of them from local breweries) have been ordered and 5 ciders. Lots of games and some music in the garden are now sorted out - should be fun!

Criminal found!

2010-05-05T10:29:00.000+01:00

Another horrific night last night in the garden - we all kept look out and saw no one but in the morning 14 ducklings have vanished, now only have 10 left, we are all so sad.

Humans came and moved the pen and have found the culprit - a weasle or stoat run has been dug under the duck house and came out under the house ramp where it could not be seen. They have now moved the pen with the remaining ducklings and are building a new house for them. We can't have another night like that!

At least the mystery is solved and faith in human kind is restored!

Thanks to those who are as upset as we are for you kind thoughts.

The "wild" white ducklings reported two blogs ago are now 5 in number but they are growing very well and as each day passes have more chances of reaching maturity - it is a tough life in the country!

There is also another white duck sitting on eggs at the moment.

Talking of my feathered friends - spotted a wild barn owl in the back field last night.... lovely to see, wonder if it has a nest nearby?

"Ducknap" !!! and Cows

2010-05-04T19:21:00.000+01:00

Crime has occurred in my back yard! - someone has stolen 8 of the new ducklings from the pen in the middle of the garden. We are all extremely shocked, and very sad about this. We sincelerly hope that the "Criminal" knows how to look after the little ones as they are only a week old and need a lot of warmth, proper chick food (not corn or bread) and plenty of water at this stage of their lives. If they get wise they will just return them to the pen quickly, otherwise I have heard the owners of the Centre saying that they will be looking back on the CCTV footage, whatever this means. It is sad that humans can be so uncaring and take these ducklings out of such a lovely place to grow up.....

The Cows and the Horse are here - I am told by the older ducks, that this is normal for this time of year and that I should get used to them peering at us over the fence and making a lot of noise. They are all very young and are fascinated by everything new, as they have been inside all winter and it is all very exciting to them. (There is an absolutely beautiful black cow with such a pretty face that I am already very fond of). The horse "Floss" is already wooing the visitors in the centre and seems to spend most of her day "chatting" to the girls and boys. Wish I had a job like that! She also seems to be taking the lead with cows and often leads the youngsters around the field at pace.

"Floss" is in charge of the young cows again

Some good, some bad

2010-04-30T18:42:00.000+01:00

Sadly the 17 ducklings are now down to only 6. The Moorhens have been particularly vicious this year and far worse that the crows (Mick, the site manager, did manage to "pepper" one of the crows so this probably put them off a bit). The big problem was that our Mother Duck just had too much to do watching all ot the babies once they started to get active! The good news is that 6 appears to be a managable number and Mum is particularly protective over them so they are growing up quite fast.

Stop Press - 32 new ducklings have just appeared in the cage in the garden - they have been incubated from the eggs rescued from around the Centre Gardens so should fit in well once they have grown a bit. They are staying warm via a hot lamp (and by cuddling up). There is a mixture of parentage to be seen, some yellows but quite a lot of blacks, greys and of course some mallards.

Come and see them before they get too big!

Everyone is talking about the forthcoming election in the garden at the moment - we are not too sure how the "cuts" will affect our corn supply or bread from the customers and we are a little bit worried.....

On Polling night they are holding a special "political" supper in the restaurant - no talk - just dishes that will have political names - could be fun as long as there is some for us too. £12 for 2 courses.

How will she manage all these ducklings?

2010-04-24T15:48:00.000+01:00

We have had our suspicions for a while now that one of the group was about to have a family - she has been missing at meal times and was no where to be seen. Now we can see why... she has 17 ducklings under her wing and is trying very hard to keep control of them all at once - not an easy task. There are alsorts of things for her to worry about - Moorhens (who are frightful bullies and jealous types), carion crow, foxes and people (who can get too close and step on them).

Looking at her brood she has clearly had a wild time of it with black ones as well as all the yellows (which will be whites).

Rumour also has it that there are more on the way elsewhere - more ducks sitting and some of their eggs have also dissapeared into the incubator.

Now that the weather has improved and the evenings are a lot lighter we are seeing a lot more activity in the gardens and elsewhere. This week there was a very smelly Curry Night in the restaurant on Thursday.

Saturday and Sundays are nice too - several visitors are walking or cycling out early to have breakfast with us in the garden (9:30 - 11:45 Sat & Sun)

Coming up there is a Spanish night and a beer festival in May (in the gardens). Should be fun - we love people watching (especially when they bring us bread).

Quacked to soon!

2010-03-29T14:38:00.000+01:00

Well, the mud puddle is back, and it appears we had a false Spring. I am not worried about it but the humans are a bit fed up!

I am going a a bit further afield - yes, litterally "to the field" for extra excitement (and bugs) at the moment and my friends and I keep getting chased back inside the fences with mutterings of "for their own safety" - I don't really get it at all!

Talk about ducks making a noise cackling - on Thursday last week you should have heard the shieks - there were a group of very happy ladies enjoying the wine tasting! Kept me awake anyway.

Easter is coming - all those good eggs

2010-03-23T19:44:00.000Z

It has got a lot busier in the garden now that the weather has improved a little, our 'mud hole' at the bottom of the garden is, sadly, drying out and not nearly so much fun for paddling. 'Mothers day' here was an especially busy day with loads of bread being shared with us. Everyone seemed in pretty good humour after carvery lunch which went on all afternoon. People also seemed pretty happy that they had not had to queue again for their puddings as there were waitresses to look after them (only on busy days they say). Most people came out afterwards for a gentle stoll around the ponds and a look around the craft units.

Lots of people are buying the raffle tickets for Chocolate Deli's big egg (raising funds for the Urology department of Redditch Hospital), seems like a lot of chocolate for just one person to eat!.

Rachel, the Gardener, has been working pretty hard digging and clearing - she has planted two new hedges in the last fortnight and laid a mountain of woodchippings down (which was a pity as the pile was ideal for nesting in and one of my friends laid an egg in it before she could move it anywhere!) One of the hedges which is next to the overflow carpark is a wildlife hedge and should be pretty interesting for insects when it grows up a bit. The other one is in the wooded area (Sophies Wood), this is where the local school children come for their 'forest school' lessons and the shelter has just been rebuilt and it is really smart now.

The daffodils are coming out now and some of my duck friends have started sitting on nests all day - should have some new ducklings soon!

For Easter the girls who are here every friday doing Millinery (the Hattery) are bringing lots of 'Easter bonnets' (well, it's a Hat sale really) - lots of hats at silly prices (2nd and 3rd April), On good friday, Fish is on the menu in the farmhoue restaurant and on Easter Sunday it is another all day Carvery (Turkey & Beef this time)- great news, the more people the more bread for me!!

How about this for an Egg!

2010-03-04T14:05:00.000Z

Getting on fine out here in the garden, and it is even getting a little bit warmer (I have now seen the sun for the first time!). We, that is my duck friends and I, have been hard at work creating a really lovely "mud hole" at the end of the garden by the rose arch, we love it but Rachel, the gardener is not so keen, she keeps shooing us off........ but we will win ultimately as she is not here after 5pm or on weekends ! Sadly, one of my new friends has disappeared and rumour has it that the Fox "dun it" so we are now being more careful at night.

I am told that we have a lot to look forward to this Spring, not only are there many frolics on the pond ahead but there are eggs........ Walking round to the front of the craft centre, I can now see a large sign for a "Big Egg" this one is made of chocolate and is taller than a window pane and it is in the window of Chocolate Deli. They are raffling it for charity (£1/ticket) and it is being drawn on Good Friday (2nd April) by "Helen" from Radio Wyvern.

All I can say is that I hope all eggs are not this big, otherwise it could be a very painful process indeed!

The Big Egg!

Out at last

2010-02-25T14:30:00.000Z

Well, they finally let me out on my own - well actually, truth be told I refused to be "collected" at the end of the day. My human carers were a bit busy with a couple of parties that they had on in Ring's Restaurant on Saturday night (a surprise 30th party, alongside a surprise 60th), so it was a bit dark and I took the opportunity to scarper to the Island with my new friends. (I have now decided that I am a white duck and therefore am hanging out with my soul mates). The humans have not yet relaxed about me being out and keep coming out and counting us all, just to make sure I am here..... but so far so good, it is a bit chilly but I have plenty of feathers now so am managing fine.

We did have some fun watching a kids party this weekend - 10 or so boys were playing laser tag in the garden and woods - you should have seen them when they finished, they were plastered in mud, so much so that the ladies in the restaurant made them take their shoes off before going in for their birthday teaparty. They were all pretty happy though! And I thought we enjoyed the mud.........

Lucky or what?

2010-02-18T09:58:00.000Z

I was born just before Christmas 2009. The ice was thick on the pond and there was very limited swimming for the other ducks, with snow on the ground and only one small area of "water" around the waterfall of the top pond.

Frankly, I should not be here at all - it was far to cold for me, but my Mum is a young duck who is very inexperienced at this baby duck stuff! She turffed me out of the warm duck house and i felt my feet freezing into the ice so thought it was all over.....until a large blue net fell over my head and I was rudely picked up and pushed down the front of an anorak by a person heard to say "well you have no chance, but let's see".

It all began there really - from the anorak to the top of the Aga in a plastic box, then graduating to a cardboard box with an electric lightbulb to keep me warm. Occasionally I had a run around the kitchen floor and swam in the sink to give me something to do. The food was pretty good and the company "interesting". Since December I have grown into a white duck (they tell me I am an "Aylesbury") and have got too big for the sink and ended up swimming in the bath twice a day.

As to the company - besides the humans I have met three large dogs - one wants to play with me, one wants to sit and watch while the golden one wants to eat me, but we have come to an understanding on that now I am glad to say! The cat was initially a worry, but she seems pretty "chilled" now and we can walk about in the same room by pretending to ignore each other.

The big event last week was a move to outside - I now spend my days with the other ducks on the pond and I love it. Still not really sure whether I should hang out with the "commoners" (they call them mallards!) or stick with the white ducks but I'm sure I will work it out in time. The white ducks seem to have the craft centre customers better trained, as they come out when required with bread for us, so will probably stick with them.

At the moment I am being taken back to the comfort of the Aga at night as it is still cold but I am looking forward to partying on the islands with the others shortly.

During the day there is plenty to watch and see from the gardens and ponds. This week for instance there has been a man running "have a go" sessions for laser shooting (including Laser Tag and Laser Clays) as well as Archery. I will certainly keep well away from this, even if they are not real bullets!