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.

Snow Palace

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....

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!

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

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

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

"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"