Cows and Ceilidh!

This weekend was hot and' hopping' in the gardens !!

We knew something was afoot on Wednesday morning last week when the guys from  Hanbury Marquees arrived in the garden with some boards and started laying them out on the lawn - the cows arrived soon after to make suitable helpful suggestions and "cowments"

The guys were already "moo ving" as fast as they could!

A day or so later a splendid marquee was up -- it is the biggest we have seen in the gardens here.  Lots of work then ensued, setting it up to make it look really special for Bride Amy and Groom Simon who got married in Northfield on Saturday and then brought their guests here to celebrate their marriage.

The couple could not have had better weather for their special day - and they had a big surprise waiting when they came into the garden as Amy's Mum and Dad had arranged a piper to pipe them into the gardens  -  another first at the Jinney Ring!

Amy and Simon -- a lovely couple and a super day!

The marquee was boarded throughout, as the couple chose a ceilidh band and dance for their party - this was really successful with everyone dancing and clapping in no-time. The band "Big Jessie" talked them through the dances and then they all had go -- not bad considering it was such a warm night!  As you can imagine we kept out of the way and stayed on the ponds most of the night but we could see that it was great fun...

It was a good job the marquee was so big when the dancing started! 

Everyone was quite tired by the end of the night and went off to bed - they were a very nice group and left the garden really tidy and clean for us - we hope to see many of them again, although the guests seemed to be from all over country and some from abroad too.

The next day the staff worked really hard to tidy up the marquee and move all the furniture for a Wedding Fayre, so once again we did not get much sleep!  Within the Wedding Fayre we had flute players "Champagne Flutes" and Electric Violin Player Pete Hartley playing to the visitors and to the garden, both were lovely to hear.  There were a good number of local wedding service providers including flowers, jewellery, fireworks beauty and hats.  Lots of brides and grooms came along to have look.

All sorts of things for a wedding!

We would like to think that this week will be a bit quieter but is does not look like it as there is another wedding next weekend just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations  -  oh well sleep is for the other birds!!

Breaking news -- a couple of mallard ducklings have just hatched in the incubator - we are waiting for more arrivals shortly.......

Bunting and Balloons

Laura and Mike got married yesterday at Hanbury Church.  They had decided they wanted a really relaxed day and chose the Jinney Ring to celebrate in their own style.  Laura's mum on the other hand was not quite so relaxed -- she was busy making bunting and table runners right up to the wedding day - and what a good job she did - the style of decoration looked lovely in the restaurant and conservatory and was perfect for party.  Laura and Mike opted for a pig roast for their meal, this was cooked outside slowly all day and was apparently very moist and tasty accompanied with salads and babs.  DJ Richard then had them all dancing well into the night (in the conservatory). We watched them through the windows, great fun!

Bunting and Balloons!

Bride Laura resting her feet!  Mum is in the foreground.

The weather has not been very warm this week but there has been a lot more planting going on in the Jubilee Garden -- We ducks have continued to try to help out and have been "pruning" the new blue flowers for Jean -- oddly she is not pleased with us at all!

All the flowering baskets are out now so we are hoping no more frost.  

Getting ready for the Diamond Jubilee

Top Glass have kicked off the Jinney Ring Diamond Jubilee celebrations in style this week and have  changed the glass tree decorations this week to get ready!  It looks stunning!  All of these pieces are for sale but we hope they don't go too quickly as it is creating quite a talking point for visitors.

The red white and blue tree decorations at the front steps

The centre is also now adorned with union jack bunting and the gardeners are well into the planting for the Diamond jubilee flower beds, despite the rain and all the help all of us (ducks) are giving them!

Adorned!

To celebrate the Jubilee the centre has a High Tea planned in a large marquee on the lawn on Sunday 3rd June and also a "folk in the garden" afternoon on Tuesday 5th June.

On Monday 4th June Hanbury Village are celebrating in style too with a picnic at the village hall in the daytime and then a barn dance and other music at the Jinney Ring in the Evening.  There will also be a beacon lit at the Church so everyone in the garden will see it

News from out on the ponds - the ducklings have moved in from the school and are now out and about on the ponds - they are beautiful ducks and really friendly - I watched them lifted out of the pond tonight to get them back into the pen..... the school children have obviously been taming them a little too well!

Windy week!

The wind last Sunday caused a lot of ruffled feathers and not that many visitors - we were blown all over the place and it was not that nice on the ponds.  There were a number of trees down around the centre, but fortunately the one that fell in the forest school area managed to narrowly miss the shelter.  Monday was a day of tidying up, picking up benches and cutting up the fallen trees !

 A near miss - it was tidied up by the time Hanbury School came to visit.

We hear that the ducklings at the school are growing fast and are now due to be with us next week - this will mean that the others will need to move into the larger duck house, it is about time as they are also growing fast - they will probably be out on the pond this week.  

The cows arrived back in the field yesterday -- you should have seen them charge around - we think it is the first time they have been let out this year, they are still pretty frisky now.  Good to see them back though as the grass is now so so long!.

This weekend has been a bit brighter weather wise, with plenty of visitors. Yesterday we had a classroom full of bee-keepers too.  They were on a course and this seems to be something that is increasingly popular here, partially as the local bee-keepers have hives here and are regularly checking them throughout the summer months.  They do look strange in their white gear walking through the fields (the cows find it fascinating too!).

Next week the site will start getting decorated for the Jubilee -- lots of red white and blue, bunting, plants and some glass too --- can't wait for the parties!  http://www.jinneyring.co.uk/acatalog/Diamond_Jubilee_Celebrations.html

"School" Ducklings and a Hand-Fasting Ceremony!

News just in from Hanbury First School - the Reception class have now hatched 4 of the 7 eggs they were incubating for us and have a clutch of gorgeous ducklings.....

In true Hanbury School style they have named them all, they are Sonny, Cher, Elvis and Ringo!  Me thinks that the names may be influenced by someone a bit older this year !  (Last year we had Rosie and Jim - who are both still doing very well in the garden here).  Apologies for the pictures being rotated -- could not get my beak sorted to change them round - just thought you could move your head as they are lovely photos.....

The children will look after the ducklings for a while and we are likely to have them back with us in the garden at the end of May -- just lucky for them they are not here today with the wind blowing a gale!

Talking of gales - a small marquee/tent was put up in the garden on Friday so we knew something was going  on on the weekend.  It turned out to be a pagan "hand-fasting" ceremony.  Ella and Steve wanted to formally make lasting vows and celebrate their engagement here, so organised a ceremony which would have been in the gardens if the weather had been better.  All was not lost though, the conservatory was cleared out of furniture and the ceremony was held there instead.  It was a lovely ceremony with some brilliant costumes and heartfelt words.  Here are a few pictures:

The Priestess calling on the Elements to bless the Hand fasting

Ella and Steve are now "Handfasted" (engaged)

Proof that they have made their vows.

Friends participated in the ceremony

The menu for the evening was especially designed to have a medieval theme and had "pottage" and a "three-bird roast" included (not too keen on this last one myself!), as well as harvest mead to drink.
The whole thing was really lovely as well as great fun!.

There is plenty of planning afoot at the moment with a very busy couple summer planned -  lots of discussion this week about the forthcoming wedding fayre (27th May) and the jubilee events - not only are the gardeners working (against the weather) to create a patriotic theme but there is a High Tea planned (3rd June) and Hanbury Village has a barn dance and beacon all going on here on the 4th June.

Children Children everywhere.....!

I overhead a discussion amongst the staff today that the Jinney Ring had it's first ever low grade review on Trip Advisor with the reviewer saying that we are not good for 'a family day out' -- they should have been here this weekend - we have have children doing all sorts of things and there are lots of them.

Firstly there was a pottery birthday party in the courses room for Georgia and her 11 friends - looks like they were concentrating hard on their art above, then today children are being invited to make crowns and do some more pottery in one of the craft units to celebrate St Georges Day. We are seeing lots of lovely crowns in the garden.

Luke giving us his best "King" face!

Mollie and her mum - she worked really hard on her lovely crown

This afternoon there is another children's party here too - a chocolate party run by the Chocolate Deli - we see lots of these children come out smiling with very brown faces, and it is not paint!

Apart from the children it has been a busy week with the arrival of some more ducklings -  these ones were rescued by a kind lady in Inkberrow who found them on the road where their mother had been killed by a car.  The ducklings are all Mallards and are tiny - they have now been safely housed with our other duckling and he/she is happy to have the company. They are in the garden pen but spending a lot of time under the lamp at present as the weather is a bit chilly still.  We have lots more eggs about to go in the incubator next week so should have some mixed and white ducklings in about a month.  The crows are sadly still about so are taking a most of the eggs before we can sit on them!

Nancy - 84 pots in and very tired!

Nancy the potter has also had a busy weekend, she has been throwing a huge number of pots!  Nancy committed to throw 100 pots in one day (yesterday) and finally got there quite late in the evening, she is happy though as she raised quite a lot of money for her daughter's charity work in Africa. (Dig Deep)  http://www.jinneyring.co.uk/acatalog/The-Big-Throw-.html 

Despite the fact that Nancy was doing all this work in a unit at the front of the site we know all about what she is doing, as we have been spending a lot of the time in the car park lately and have also been venturing out onto the road as well -- for some reason, we keep getting shooed back into the gardens and signs have gone up 'warning' people to be careful about us -- I don't really get this, we are just interested in what is going on -- and if we stop the traffic in the process, is it a big problem???

We are just interested!

Look out Sandals Villas!

A bit of a bleak time this week sadly, the two new ducklings, who arrived a week or so ago, went out into the pen (inside a small fully wired cage) but sadly some very nasty creature got into the area in the night and managed to kill the yellow duckling through the cage.  We were all very sad about this and Mick, the Site Manager, has been tracking the culprit down to stop it coming back again.

In the meanwhile the other duckling has been coming out during the day and is then taken in again at night just in case!  The new duckling has fortunately got a bit a company in the pen, during the day, as the miniature "Silver Appleyard"  female ducks have been having a bit of a rough time in the open garden (during the mating season), so have asked to come into the pen for a rest, (yes, really)!  You can see one above where her head is recovering.  She is pictured with the new duckling, who is growing fast, they seem to be getting on just fine - let's hope it turns out to be a female, we have a few too many males at the moment!

The other bit of surprising news is that the remaining eggs in the incubator have not hatched out and therefore ducklings that we normally see now are just not around. This, alongside the fact that the crows are stealing our eggs before we get chance to sit on them, is causing some consternation.  I hear that there are now plans a foot to set some more eggs in the incubator next week so, webbed feet crossed ,we will see a new brood soon.   Also this week we had a new duck house arrive on the pond -- this one is on stilts and sits on the water -- to stop the crows walking in -- it is a deluxe villa (Sandals watch out!) and we have all been fighting about it - but as you can see from the egg in it, it has already found a new tenant!

We have had one grown up new addition this week too, a new female white duck arrived with tales of the fox absconding with her companions from her old home - she was a bit traumatized but has settled in here fine now, her owners thought it would be kinder to have her join our crowd.

As it has been Easter holidays we have had plenty of children visiting us this week and plenty of corn too.  There have been Mosaic and Pottery classes on site for the them.  There has also been plenty going on in the gardens getting ready for the red white and blue theme for the diamond jubilee and the Olympics later in the year - rumour has it that the glass blower has been making something new for it too!