Worcester Arts Trail

Bank holidays are normally pretty good for bread consumption - plenty of people dropping in to see us no matter what the weather, but this year may be busier than normal as some of the artists here are inviting people in as part of the first ever Worcestershire Arts Trail which is on now until the end of bank holiday Monday.

To celebrate the start of the trail Stuart Fletcher and his team in Top Glass are 'ringing the changes' with new ornaments on the tree outside his workshop in the courtyard.  These glass bells work well inside and outside and can have clangers in or not, whatever you fancy!

We have local artist Ian Ridley here too for this period (in the meeting room) - he has some lovely landscapes on sale, and he does smile so don't worry about the photo!

Out on the ponds - the 2011 hatch are out and about, they really enjoyed their first swim and are now proving difficult to round up and put away again.  The only fear at the moment is that the moorhens attack them - they are still hatching their own chicks and are being very aggressive!

The Big Dog!

We had lots of dogs her this weekend and one "Big Dog" for our charity event in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind.  "GoWalkies" was really well supported with both people and dogs, on line and on foot.  

This is Paddy (the Big Dog) who is the Go Walkies Mascot alongside  a couple well prepared walkers

We were a bit worried about pandemonium around the ponds with all these dogs arriving but they were all really well behaved as they went off for their 3 mile circular walk taking them up to Hanbury Church and through some of the Hanbury Hall park lands.   

There were some guide dog puppies in training as well as working guides dogs around but also a good selection of pets of all sizes and shapes.  It was very windy but fortunately dry - it was however too windy for the normal guide dog marquee so they used the forest school shelter to set up their merchandise.

It has not been used for this before!

The event raised about £1,400 for the charity and was lovely to run - a big thanks to all the guide dog helpers and participants for making it such an interesting day - it is not often we get do see such a lot of canines under control!

Other news around the centre - 

No sign of Henry the Peregrine Falcon that went missing a few weeks ago, we now fear that we will not see him again sadly.  The Falconers are still sad about this and hope he is surviving in the wild.  They do have some new birds including a Lanner Falcon which will start to work soon.  

The new Muscovey ducks that were given a home here when their owner died recently have settled in and are now venturing off the islands a bit - they were so fat when they came that they could hardly walk - they were clearly not having to do enough for their corn!  They have lost a bit now but still "waddle"!

The 2011 hatch are progressing well and should be out of their pen in the next couple weeks - it is alway fun to watch them take their first proper swim!

Coming up this bank holiday weekend 6 of the Jinney Ring artist studios are participating in the Worcestershire Arts Trail which starts Friday and runs over the bank holiday weekend. 

As always lots going on! 

The 2011 hatch

The chickens have moved on to a new home this weekend so the new ducklings are now out in the big pen.  It is a big world for them at the moment and most of them are exploring with vigour, and have had their first swim.

There is one bird missing from the garden at the moment - Henry the Perigrin Falcon is missing - he went for a extra-curricular flight over a week ago during a flying demonstration and has not returned - the falconers are very worried about him as he was not bred to survive in the wild.

The news from the craft centre is that that Digital Wizardry the graphic design craft unit have moved on (to bigger premises, as they had outgrown the unit) and a new soap business is setting up.  Jorg Muschner whose new unit is called "The Blue Lemon" is making artisan soaps from natural ingredients.  He is due to open on 1st June but hopes to be making product before that time.

Plenty of visitors dropping in!

As always on a Bank Holiday weekends, this is another hectic one here,  well all except for Friday morning of course, when understandably most people were glued to the TV watching the Royal Wedding.  We did have some visitors in garden while this was going on though - a Canada Goose called in for a cuppa (pond water of course) and a bit of a rest and then a group of 10 cyclists made us their first port of call on their 100 mile journey - they were all making the most of the time off work!

A flying visitor - popped in for a drink before continuing journey

A bacon bap before saddling up again only 80 miles left !

At the Jinney Ring, the staff put out the bunting for the Royal Wedding and then held a High Tea in the restaurant - all very "English" with sandwiches and scones!  Most of those working managed to catch glimpses of the ceremony during the day.

A very "English" afternoon

On Saturday and Sunday we had our own little celebration here with the arrival of "drainpipe duck"'s babies - they started "pipping" on Friday and by Sunday nine out of the eleven eggs had hatched and the ducklings were swimming on the pond.  Mum has now abandoned the drainpipe and is keeping her babies around the pond area.

Proud parents take the ducklings out for their first swim.

St Georges Day and Early Arrivals

A very patriotic pottery event on St George's Day

Saturday in the courtyard was really busy with potential knights making their own shields!  The Potters ran pottery workshops for children all day showing children how to roll, shape and decorate the raw clay.  They have now an array of shields in the kiln ready for firing which will be ready for pick up very soon.  As well as making shields they also made a dragon "scale" will be used as part of a large sculpture which will be fired outside in the garden on 24th August with a process called "Raku" - quite appropriate in making a dragon as it is a very fiery process!  Once the scales have been fired the final sculpture will be exhibited as part of the annual sculpture trail at the Craft Centre.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind charity also came along and help out and we had a couple of very well behaved Labrador dogs here for the day.

All of this was going on right next to where "Drainpipe Duck" is sitting on her eggs - she sat quietly with most people not even aware she was there, throughout the whole day, she only left the nest for a very short time - what a good mum!

A baby runner duck - first out!

Talking of ducks - we hear that there have been some very early arrivals in the incubator - this little one arrived out of the blue (it was a blue egg too!) at least a 10 days before he was expected.  The mum must have started sitting on the eggs before they were collected.  A couple of days latter there were another couple.  These ducks have a much higher chance of survival bred like this, rather than in the open - we have already seen the Carrion Crow waiting around the ponds and the Moorhens are on the prowl!  I hear that the babies will be in the gardens sometime today - the electricity has been wired up so that they can keep warm at night in the new pen.

Heat, Horses and Deluxe Coop

We are very glad our new "swimming pool" is fixed, especially with the heat of the last week or so - some of the people in the garden looked as though they might want to join us in the water at times!  Can't complain though - after the freezing temperatures all winter, we much prefer this!

The gardens are getting better each day under the careful supervision of Dayel who is watering the new grass regularly and now gardeners Chris and Jean have put back some pond plants too.  Won't be long before we have all the fences down and are fully back to normal.  Good thing too as it is pretty busy here at the moment and lots of people in the gardens enjoying hot cross buns, and today fish and chips (Good Friday).  Tomorrow we have St Georges Day stuff going on with the potters holding drop in workshops making dragon scales and shields!

The chickens are in the shade of their new coop by the pond.

The Chickens are particularly pleased at the moment as they have some new "luxury accommodation" with a lovely view of the pond.  They are still being put away at night though as the fox could still get into the pen.

Roxy - looking well groomed!

In the field life is becoming more active too - Floss and Molly the two chestnut mares have a new friend, Roxy - she is only 6 and has quite a 'personality'. This week she let herself, and the others, into the falconry flying area by playing with the gate catch - we will watch her antics with interest, especially when the cows get here next week!  Georgia (Roxy's human slave) and her Mum have been working hard with Roxy's mane and tail in the photo, trying to thin it out as she is so hot - very fashionable we think it will catch on!

Floss and Molly enjoying the lush grass 

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.