Letting off Steam...

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!

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!!

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!

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?

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.....

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....!!!