Love was in the air!

Last night the conservatory was full of couples intent on romance for St Valentine's night.  The restaurant was set up with hearts and roses ready for the 4 course meal and the live music from father and daughter Jazz duo "Blue2".

The conservatory set up for a romantic dinner

Scrummy home-made trio of desserts - something for everyone !

"Blue2" -- In a serious moment!  They made a lovely sound

It must be half term, as there are certainly a lot of children about this week -- good news for us ducks as we are getting loads of corn! There is lots going on with Pottery activities and Mosaic sessions for all.

Despite the recent cold weather the garden has warmed up and is not too bad at all at the moment, makes us feel that spring is around the corner - let's hope so!  The craft units are starting to get a bit busier here too with lots of new work going on -- as an example when I put my head into the glass blowing unit today I find that are currently making some fantastic large glass swirls for a chandelier (a commission), they have to make 90 of them!  (I don't often look in this unit as it does remind me of the oven!).

The Framer (Freebird) is working hard on a new range of bespoke vinyl products too -- he is putting together memorable items for special years (say birthday, engagement or wedding years) as keepsakes.  He is framing photographs alongside things like concert tickets or vinyl records from a particular year with some relevant quotations.  They make great gifts and are brilliant for a bedroom or study wall  -- for all age groups and ideal for the person who has everything.......I am planning to order a Vinyl 45 of the "Birdie Song" by the Tweets alongside a ticket for the 2009 Game Fair at Ragley (where my Dad came from, I think!) and of course a picture of me, only problem is not sure where I would hang it as the duck house is a bit small!

Getting Cold Feet!

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.