Sneaking a peek...and 110 years

A hectic and fun weekend in the garden again this week - the weather is certainly making live more entertaining for us with lots and lots of visitors as well as some parties too.

This weekend we had a 60th party in the restaurant with neighbour Sue coming to celebrate with us in style. Sue chose a traditional English salad/picnic menu including a welcome drink of Cider punch.  The party was in the conservatory so we could see the proceeding including some great dancing later on - the music was great and everyone in the party mood!

In the garden marquee there was another party going on celebrating Bobbi's 50th birthday - so we celebrated 110 years all in one night - not bad.  The marquee party also enjoyed the English menu - it worked so well on a very warm night!  As the daylight ended so the candles were lit and the whole ambiance was pretty chilled out quite special.  We had a peek in but someone spotted us too

Sneaking a peek!

Enjoying the warm evening in the marquee

 
Sunday, the fun continued with another party in the gardens, this time to celebrate a very young life - this was a christening party for Jacob.  The Christening had been at Hanbury church so we heard the bells ring for him before they came down for food and fun.

While the staff were working in the gardens we managed to catch up with the news a bit, here are a couple tidbits:

Gina - one of the Chefs reporting seeing some of my colleagues holidaying in Zante - swimming in the sea would you believe it...they did not need to go so far for the good weather this year.

Mallards - Just about to play volley ball in Zante?

Caroline - has just been skydiving - we white ducks don't fly, so we can't image what possessed her - but she has raised money for charity so she is not completely mad... Bravo!

I'd be quacking too at this point!

Caroline - normally in a green shirt at JR

Sam - who supervises in the restaurant and runs a lot of the events front of house has just come back to work after two weeks off when she cracked her ribs -- she was not skydiving - just slipped in the shower - she clearly needs feet like mine!

More fame.... and more friends!

This week we had yet more TV cameras in the Centre and we ducks got filmed yet again - the fame is quite going to our heads now!  This time it was the BBC with a team from "Escape to the Country" .  A couple were being shown some properties in Worcestershire and the Jinney Ring was being filmed as a place to visit and get involved in craft activities.  There was some filming in the restaurant with the regular painting group 'The Art Circle' and also quite a lot with in the woodwork craft unit where they make the Jigsaw trees.  Great fun, and at least we ducks were not expected to re-shoot our scenes, unlike the humans - after all we professionals are word perfect - quack, quack!!

The lovely weather has brought lots of extra visitors to the garden and also we have some new friends in the field....

Wally

Foal

The new additions are firstly Wally - a beautiful bay chap who has not stopped eating since he got here - he could not believe his luck when he saw our grass!  The Foal is only a year old and is equally partial to his grass.  When they first arrived they charged around the field with the resident herd of cows following on behind - we wondered what all the fuss was about but it was sheer exuberance!

The horses are here for the summer and it is good to see them.

Birds of a different feather!

It is positively 'raucous' in the garden at the moment with the, now young adult, ducklings demanding food of everyone that comes into the garden - they have no manners at all and seem to think humans are just here to feed them!  The worrying thing is that there are more little ones coming through, some 'teenagers' on the water pen and now some new ducklings in the pen (above).  The ones above are 'interlopers' as they are new breeds, 3 'magpie' ducks (as their name suggests these will be black and white when fully grown) and 3 Cayuga ducks which will be blackish green.   There are two white ones keeping them company too and one of these seems to have a crest, which is great!  Four of these ducklings where incubated and hatched by the reception class at Hanbury School - they do a very good job and the children do love them so.

Sadly the little duckling with the bad feet (in the last entry) did not make it, he was doing well but fell over backwards in the night and could not right himself so got too cold, we were very sad about this but hopefully we have learnt a thing or too about fixing feet.

The Centre and garden have been pretty busy this week, lots of new visitors too.  Today there was a chocolate party going on, and in the week the Pottery had a Raku firing evening for their class, this is done in outside in a big dustbin, all pretty exciting!

One bit of very sad news though, we heard that Mary, one of the regular amateur artists from the Thursday Art Circle has just passed away - we will miss her very much.  

The Art Circle are going to be on TV soon - we have the team from Escape from the Country filming here on Tuesday and they have been asked to be in the background.  I expect we will see them out in the gardens too - especially my crested friend who is so photogenic!

A bit of a catchup - some happy some sad!

We have been a bit lax on the quacking front in the last couple of weeks, so this is by way of a catch up of what has been going on....

Firstly Joanne and Phil - a lovely small wedding in our own garden marquee.  This lovely couple have been visiting us regularly in the gardens for sometime now so we feel that they are family now.  They decided to make sure that their wedding day would be intimate and memorable, they had only close friends and family to the wedding and decided that the gardens here were worth the weather risk -- and it paid off.  The day was super with sunshine all day.  They arrived to the sounds of the live string trio playing in their own private area and small marquee.  It was all idyllic!

Phil and Joanne - On the Swing seat next to the Jinney Ring itself

 Food was served in the marquee form their own menu and the cake was especially made to their specifications.

JR Garden Marquee was just right for a small wedding.

BMW wedding car - had been in the paint shop!

Next up we had the first of two, now well established, pudding nights - this was very well attended and looking through the window everyone looked very happy indeed with the menu - unfortunately none for us!

News of the pond is a bit mixed --- We have another couple of broods of ducklings in the pen, one lot are now out on the pond with the newest ones still under the light to keep them warm.  Of the newest ones there are some speciality breeds, including a Magpie duck and a Cayuga.  We also hear that there are more to join them next week as Hanbury School have hatched some successfully too.  One little duck out of this hatch is a bit disabled and has been hatched with curled toes - (s)he has not made it to the garden yet as they are trying to straighten the toes so that he can walk (he is wearing cardboard shoes at the moment, not sure if it will work yet though!).  

The really sad news is that the big Pekin duck (Jim) has died this weekend - he has not been right since the fox attacked him a few weeks ago - it had already made away with his mate, so he was also lonely, we think. We think we have some of his offspring in the new batches of ducklings so he has left a legacy, but we are all very sad!

We also witnessed something else amiss this week - the Craft Centre sit on mower was stolen right from under our noses in the middle of the night, sadly we could not raise the alarm to get the humans to stop it.  The mower was wheeled up the field alongside the gardens and taken through the footpath gate - disgraceful behaviour, if we could have pecked their eyes out I would have done!  These are people who are not welcome to the gardens ever.  

In the field we have another 6 cows, they seem younger and are being shown the ropes by the others, this is well worth watching.  Talking of worth watching - The Jinney Ring, featuring yours truly and my duck colleagues were on TV again last week C4 "Compare Your Life" http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od/catchup/date/2013/06/13/ -- it is never dull here!

Wedding, Pippins and Weather

Summer is always such a great time here in the gardens, we see so much going on and love the activity.

In the last couple of weeks it has been particularly busy with a big wedding on Bank Holiday Sunday and then a charity day on the Monday.

Rachel and Shane and their families have been visiting us a for while now and planning their marquee wedding.  In the two weeks leading up to the big day we were getting a bit concerned about the weather but crossing our webbed feet seemed to have worked and the day was gorgeous (but walking was hard!).

Shane, Rachel and Rachel's parent caught in between formal shots - Mum is never off guard though!

The bridal party arrived at about 4pm in two fantastic cars A Rolls Royce Phantom and Jaguar, (they had been married in their local church in Dudley).    Local Flutists - "Champagne Flutes" played beautifully outside in the gardens during their welcome drinks and canapes.There was also a chap drawing cartoon pictures of the guests - everyone seemed to like them too. They moved inside for dinner at about 6 o clock.  The sun was going down and was shinning into the marquee which was opened up so we could see the proceedings nicely - all very civilized with some lovely speeches at the end. Cake cutting and dancing followed

Champagne Flutes

It was a lovely day and better still they did not forget us - all of the bridesmaids had duck food for favours - so we got our wedding breakfast too!

Not quite as good as wedding cake but still appreciated!

The following day we had a lot more visitors - the local nursery Pippins (one of the JR charities for 2013) ran a fun day called "Laugh with Pippins" .  Magic Russ came along and did a great show for the kids, there were pony rides, bouncy castle and all sorts of garden games.  In the evening the laughing continued to comic Mick Martin, however this was not as well attended as the organizers had hoped.  

Half term followed and the rain came - by the time we saw the children that week they were a bit stir crazy and needed to run about --- we stayed on the water, until they brought out the corn!

Yamas!

Last Friday was "Greek Night" in the restaurant.  The staff dressed the restaurant up with blue and white Greek flags and balloons and there was a full selection of traditional Greek fayre supplied in plenty from the kitchens.  To complete the evening we also had Clarion playing Greek Musics and there was dancing too.

It was a lovely evening, making everyone think of holidays!  Glasses were raised with the traditional salutation "Yamas" (Cheers) heard on occasion.  There was no plate throwing though - maybe next time!

Music and dancing 

An unexpectedly gorgeous day was an added bonus for Jon and Lin last Sunday who celebrated their Ruby Anniversary with us.  It was a really romantic day for this couple who also renewed their wedding vows in the church where they got married in central Birmingham before coming to us for their 'reception'.  The weather was so good that that they were able to enjoy Pimms in the garden before eating in the private room next to the restaurant.  When the meal was over it was still warm enough for coffee in the garden and the children to run around.  Everyone looked so smart, particularly the happy couple.  They did not wear their original outfits but both have stayed slim so enough to 40 years on - not bad we think!

Happily married - John and Lin 

We love to see our regular customers celebrate here - it is a very special trust that they put in us and we are determined to give them a great time.

In the gardens it is a bit fraught - the fox has been visiting us and many of my friends have disappeared lately - we are on guard but it is difficult to stay awake all night.  The new ducklings are still happy to go inside their pens at night but the older ducks are not keen on this - however they are not keen on being eaten either!
The cows are back in the fields now too so there are lots of noises in the night to distract us!

Classic cars

Since our last diary entry we have had some smashing weather in the gardens and lots of visitors - especially on bank holiday Monday.  Some of the visitors that day were dogs - we are never that keen as they seem to have a particular interest in what we are doing, but they were all pretty well behaved so we did not need to worry too much.  The dogs were on best behaviour and many of them were well groomed ready for their "pet portraits"   - this was a charity shoot by Foreverly photography.  They donated £5 to the guide dogs for the blind for each shoot.

The sunshine was a lovely treat for all of us in the gardens but it soon gave way to windier and wetter days.  Happily though it has not put people coming out to see us, this morning for instance we were visited by Hanbury Bell Ringers, a large group of cyclists and some classic car enthusiasts.  Just look at these....

The ducklings in the pen are growing up fast now and are getting to the precocious stage and are escaping under the water at will - at the moment the wide world is still a bit scary for them but it won't be long before they are out and about around the gardens!