A Flying Visit!

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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.