Exhausting weekend.....

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

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

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.....

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

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

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!

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.