Tredarrup

Tredarrup - catching up

2008-08-25T10:06:00.004Z

So with a busy summer season blog entries have escaped us.....so time for a quick catch up.
A summer with both our cottages full and visitors enjoying the space of both Mill Barn and Stable Cottage, and plenty of homemade cake, during a summer of mixed weather.
In the chicken world, plenty of eggs and a patient that resulted in a trip to the vets - yes we took a chicken to the vet - as she pushed out far too big an egg and ended up in chicken hospital....but the damage has been repaired and she's back laying eggs! Many broody hens and much more news soon...
Our cattle - all 4 girls are in calf so we're looking forward to new arrivals in Oct/Nov this year and will keep up with updates.
The vegetable patch - yet another bad year after being full of promise, blight on potatoes, tomatoes destroyed, courgettes so full of water turned to mush and little growing with so much rain and not much chance of planting more out....
More news coming soon from our new look blog so watch this space....

Celebrating Food and Farming

2008-06-19T12:02:00.004Z

With Cornwall being a county full of so much local and seasonal produce, buying great food that's at the right time of year and not had many air or other miles is not that hard to do. september 07 to July 08 has been the Year of Food and Farming, a nationwide effort to reconnect to the countryside and raise awareness of the origins and impact of our food on our health and the environment, so to celebrate Cornwall's food and drink the Eden Project are celebrating this weekend with a Midsummer's weekend in Eden's Garden, a great reason to visit for the first time or once more!

Know your onions - strawberries galore

2008-06-14T19:00:00.004Z

Anyone that grows their own will know that last year was not the best of years, blight on the potatoes & tomatoes, early sun, rain at the wrong time - so not a very productive year. But for 2008 so far so good, great sunshine with an odd sprinkle of night time rain .......the onions are looking good, potatoes have reached flowering so about to be harvested, tomatoes, salad, courgettes all coming on - but in top place is our strawberries!!! Every year we yield a good harvest and eat punnet after punnet throughout June and into July, can't get fresher and can't get more local - just plain as you pick, with a bit sugar or in true Cornish tradition with a dollop of clotted cream or Kelly's vanilla ice-cream or possibly with homemade elderflower sorbet, delicious! There's always some for our guests, especially Stable Cottage as their planters are bursting with them - then when we just can't eat them as quick as they ripen it's into the freezer, turned into sorbet or ice-cream or cheesecake topping...yum yum!

Waste Neutral - reduce reuse, recycle

2008-06-10T15:18:00.005Z

The inspirational Eden Project remains one of the most popular visitor attractions in Cornwall, our Tredarrup visitors included. And with reading so very much at the moment about recycling, waste and climate change the Eden project are champions of many such things including the Waste Neutral scheme. And so some towns in Cornwall are following the example of others and are now plastic bag free - some of the small steps to make a difference.
Apparently we create a staggering 500,000 tonnes of waste every year in Cornwall - a population of aprx 500,000 but with aprx 5.5million visitors a year. And with everyone feeling the pinch as food prices, along with a lot else, continue to rise, frightening that in the UK the amount of food thrown away is at a cost to our pocket of £8billion a year !!!

Sunshine and loads and loads of foxgloves

2008-06-08T18:43:00.002Z

Blazing hot sunshine and a blaze of hot pink, in all our walls and in all the hedgerows -loads and loads of foxgloves more than I've ever seen before....

All green and lush

2008-06-05T11:37:00.002Z

With the sun and rain, all the countryside has come alive. The mixture of weather has meant that our Cornish hedgerows are full of flowers and the grass is lush and green (our cows can't keep up with it!) and the farmers have already started their first cut of silage and wheat with the fields now turning into a patchwork of colours. Our strawberries are coming on with the first ripe one today and vegetable patch is both growing and gone wild where I have yet to clear back all of the winter's growth - behind as always.... potatoes in full flow so all crossed for no blight this year.
The birds are busy around the place, getting through 2 feeders a day, they have so many young and all the new chickens are now laying so 6-8 eggs a day, until they start moulting that is!

Tredarrup Magical Moments

2008-05-11T10:00:00.003Z

The 1st of May brought with it some beautiful weather - warm sunny days, sunburst night time skies and magical clear mornings. We wake early at Tredarrup and it is a time that was once described to me as 'the birds' time of day' and it really is. Much of Tredarrup is about the animals and birds and over the past 5 years we have nurtured our bird population, and it shows. The morning stillness and silence is a time to watch and listen - the tens of house sparrows flitting about and feeding, our many swallows swooping through the air feeding on the wing and looking where to build this years nest. The pied wagtails pottering about and cleaning their feathers with the early morning dew, the blue tits feeding their young - any many more.
And our chickens of course (you've yet to meet the newest ones) , that come 7am are already queued by the chicken shed door waiting to come outside. PURE MAGIC...........

Visiting Cornwall in May

2008-04-30T11:49:00.003Z

Cornwall loves festivals and May is a month of many.....here are just some:
1st - Obby Oss Day, Padstow. A wonderful spectacle, a Spring festival reputed to be the oldest dance festival in the country.
3rd& 4th - Bolster day, St Agnes. Puppets, crowd involvement, crafts, music, dancing.
5th - St Ives May Day. The town celebrates the coming of Spring.
8th - Helstone Flora Day. Whole town decorated with greenery and dancing starts at 7am!
8th-17th - Daphne du Maurier Festival, Fowey. Arts and literature in and around.
26-31st - Fal River festival. Celebrating the culture of the Fal Estuary.
View our May availability.

May Day - Obby Oss

2008-04-25T10:24:00.003Z

May day will soon be here and so too will Obby Oss day in Padstow. This old tradition celebrates the arrival of Spring and may even be an ancient fertility festival. Those born in Padstow traditionally dress in white, with family loyalties dictating whether they follow the 'Red'/original Oss, or the 'Blue'/peace Oss. Both Oss' are similar in appearance and perform a dancing ritual accompanied by an hypnotic folk song around the town. Each Oss is lead by a group of followers as they make their way through the narrow streets and around the harbour. The festivities start at 10am with the 'Blue' Oss making its first appearance from its stable, followed at 11am by the appearance of the 'Red' Oss from its home. Celebrations go on all day until the Oss' finally go to bed after 10pm.

Meet the Birds - The Chickens - Egg laying

2008-04-24T13:52:00.004Z

Spot the difference. 3 eggs (on right) laid today, 2 brown from our Cornish ambers and the little white is from Squark, a brown bantam. And just to compare the difference on the left is an egg from the black bantam and a neighbour's duck egg (great for cakes), not hard to guess which one !?

Meet the birds - The new chickens are on the move!

2008-04-23T16:55:00.002Z

So the sunny weather has sent the new chickens out up the lane, wandering around new territories and......laying eggs !!! But couldn't say which ones are laying eggs as they both produce brown eggs and that's what they are but not enough for all four to be laying, alongside the bantams.
Both the ambers and the speckleds have been joining the bantams on their daily adventures in and around Tredarrup. And we'll be adding to the flock as we're buying 2 or 3 more black or brown to add to the team ! Here's hoping we'll be able to supply you with our own eggs sometime soon during your stay at Tredarrup.

A great meal out....

2008-04-22T10:49:00.001Z

Custard in Padstow, well worth a meal out...delicious !!!

Meet The Birds - our swallows are back

2008-04-17T11:31:00.006Z

Yesterday, 16th April our first swallow arrived back at Tredarrup. Whilst walking the dogs I was treated to my own air display in the evening light, with the familiar chattering of our first male (they arrive first) back for the summer with others soon to follow. Last year's first arrival was 13th April (see April archive). They are a magical site and loved by many that stay at Tredarrup.

Some previous visitors in what is now Mill Barn's main bedroom

& hanging out on the telephone line

AGA baked chocolate cake

2008-04-16T12:30:00.005Z

In our kitchen we have an AGA classic with 4 ovens. It was installed in the 40s when electric was put into the house and we love it....It's great for jams (made rhubarb and blackberry at the weekend), chutneys, drying tomatoes/mushrooms, the top keeps my teapot warm, the 4 ovens means juggling Sunday roast is easy and best of all it makes the best cakes ...as our visitors often tell me. It runs on solid fuel and provides our main source of heating in the house. There is a debate over how environmentally friendly AGAs are but they have always been made from recycled materials and now they offer many types of fuel - but for us the fact is it has been in for 60+ years, 1 AGA vs how many cookers that could have been, I don't use a tumble drier my AGA drys for me (if the washing line can't) and even helps with the ironing (a tip that I've been told my many including AGA expert Mary Berry).

Meet the animals - chicken update

2008-04-11T09:23:00.003Z

So today's update on the chicken front...
Our 4 new chickens are now out and about, although they don't go too far preferring to stay around Mill Barn and my vegetable patch (not good news when it comes to planting out!). Organic corn in the morning is a big hit and they follow me whenever I go in the direction of the shed as could mean more food. The 3 remaining bantams are still venturing further going on their daily adventure (and at least egg laying in the shed for now) but they too are keen on the vegetable patch at the end of the day so what hope my young seedlings will have ? And none are sharp to go back in the shed especially if Jet fancies a bit of a play and gives chase !!!!

The weather - we're confused and so are the swallows!!!

2008-04-08T14:18:00.004Z

April and no it's not April showers but just a bit of everything including snow and frost. No snowmen here but yesterday morning on the moor I almost became a snowman.. then the afternoon was t-shirt weather (well almost a bit of a cold wind) but not what you might expect this time of year but then last April did bring on a bit of a heatwave... And yes not only are us humans confused but our loyal swallows must have followed last weeks warm thermals as on Sunday we spotted our first - well first three - but they are yet to make a summer whilst the frost remains!!

For those that have asked for more pictures...we will aim to capture the cattle for their up to date portrait some time soon !! And the chickens if they ever go much further than their hen house !

Reduce your food waste......

2008-03-31T13:28:00.002Z

Something we try very hard to do at Tredarrup is to encourage our visitors to reduce, reuse and recycle, which includes composting. The fact that a third of the food we buy in the UK ends up being thrown away (and that's without the packing and carrier bags -more on that another time), when it could still be eaten or put to another use. With our attempts to encourage others the amount of rubbish we generate from the complex has reduced year on year and now I see that there is a new website to help us all even more www.lovefoodhatewaste.com . So have a look and see if there is anything more that you can do to help make a difference....

Meet the Animals - our cattle and chickens..

2008-03-27T15:11:00.003Z

Our animals have changed since we last introduced them all to you.... Our Dexter herd has become smaller and we now have Nina, Nancy (both cows), Alice and Arabella (both heifers) and young bully. We have had a visit from the local bull so we hope all our ladies will have new calves in October - the first time for Alice & Arabella and we'll then be back up to nine...

On the chicken front we have four of our original bantams, which have recently been joined by two Cornish Ambers (white) and two Cornish speckleds. We kept them locked in when they first arrived so they got used to their new home for a day but they have been slow to get used to life outdoors roaming free...the ambers ventured out the first day then went back inside for a couple of days and the speckleds, after reluctance to leave the hen house, have started to potter about but they all stay close to home and have not yet gone on the daily adventure as our bantams do. But they are slowly getting used to a life of being outdoors...

Meet The Animals.....update... JET

2008-03-26T15:53:00.006Z

There have been many additions and changes to our animals here at Tredarrup over the last 6 months - the main being our new dog, Jet (on left). Our October visitors saw him when he was a tiny puppy, could be picked up and slept in a cardboard box, but no longer as he gets bigger by the week and is now as tall as Molly our other Labrador. But he is very friendly and always welcoming to our visitors !
Next animal news... changes with our cattle and the new chickens that are taking some persuading to leave the shed !!!!

Spring weather and a new moon

2008-03-18T14:43:00.002Z

Off to a slow start this year with our blog, our apologies and our posts will now become more regular with all our news.....
No damage from last weeks strong winds, just a bit tree battered with twigs down and the salt from the sea washed up the valley and onto the windows !!!!
Whatever the say about the weather, and this month has been a bit like that, today was a glorious day. Out walking on Trebarwith beach this morning the sea was bright turquoise and the sun was shinning and the air crisp. Here's hoping for the Easter weekend following Friday's full moon. Happy egg hunting!!
More posts soon....and pictures.

Earth Pilgrim: Dartmoor - an inspiration....

2008-01-21T17:34:00.000Z

At the weekend we watched the BBC's Earth pilgrim: A year on Dartmoor.
Not only was it a beautiful vision of the landscape of the Dartmoor you pass on the way to Tredarrup but, as was intended, Satish Kumar took you on a spiritual journey into the landscape. A world-renowned ecologist, former Jain monk and pilgrim for peace, through changing seasons, Satish walks the moor and explores ancient woods and rivers, which are home to a wealth of wildlife including red deer, emperor moths, starling roosts, kestrels and foxes. His meditations on the natural world are lyrical, uplifting and timely. And he left us with this thought for our future:
"we must become the change we want to see, in the world" Mahatma Gandhi

If you missed it you can watch again via the BBC website's i>Player
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search/?q=earth+pilgrim&go=Find+Programmes

Happy New Year.....

2008-01-19T11:59:00.000Z

My first entry for 2008...and one that purely shows the beauty of the mornings, at Tredarrup, at this time of year. Pink skies and the buzz of our visiting starlings. We have woken up many a morning to a sky that glows pink as the sun comes up across the valley to the sound of the flocks of starlings that chatter in our trees and then woosh away across the fields like a moving cloud ( if you ever saw the Bill Oddie clip you'll know what I mean!)...winter magic. Happy 2008.

4th October and over 21 degrees !!!!!!

2007-10-04T13:13:00.000Z

Yet another weather surprise this year, the beginning of October, its over 21 degrees (with the forecast to stay the same over the weekend), the shorts and sandals are back out, our sweet peas are flowering for the first time and everything we cut back has now started growing again !!! Who knows what the rest of October will bring !?

Red Sky at night

2007-09-30T10:26:00.000Z

The end of September has it seems brought us autumn but with it we have had dry, sunny crisp days, the type when Cornwall looks so good, all is lush, the sun is shinning but the seasonal change is coming. The fruit on the hedgerows has almost gone, the birds have had their fill, the blackberries left are past their best and the sloes drying out even before the frost. Last night was the most fantastic red sky which has brought with it a beautiful sunny Sunday as we see out September and look forward to October.........

Know your onions - the vegetable patch and summer

2007-09-22T09:37:00.001Z

July and August were so busy, with both Mill Barn and Stable cottage full with visitors that our blog entries have become non existent - our apologies....

So with a lot of rain followed by late sun the vegetable patch was not very productive - the onions loved it, the root vegetables and the salad - that could hold on against the slug onslaught ! But the blight once under control did reduce our potato crop and although the tomatoes looked like they had survived and we may have got green tomato chutney at least, they have now turned black with the disease... not a good year for gardeners and all that grow their own have said the same but then next year is another year..

One unexpected addition to the vegetable patch was that of our bantam Squark. She disappeared one night, appearing during the day briefly then one Sunday afternoon I discovered her amongst a patch of nettles sitting on 10 eggs.....followed not long after by 3 chicks that all took to roaming free and scratching about amongst my new plantings - great for slug control but not for young seedlings. Then followed a chick from mother hen so we now have them all pottering around together, and learning to fly after leaving the security of the vegetable patch !

With the coming of Autumn we noticed a different quiet today - our swallows have left us for another year to start their journey back to Africa - but they'll be back, as they always are.

Looking after the animals

2007-07-18T11:30:00.000Z

All animals need looking after and our days at Tredarrup start with walking the Molly dog, letting the chickens out, filling the bird feeders and checking the cattle - that they're all OK and at the moment whilst the field is separated for our winter feed to grow that they have not managed to get across to where the grass is greener, and longer!
Friday was a big cattle day (in the driving rain!). All cattle when kept over 30 months (max months for meat stock with some exceptions) the horn on their feet grows so they need their nails cut and filed - a pedicure with a difference. Our cows are put into a crush that holds them still put on their side and the pedicure begins - but not with the same amount of pleasure us humans experience I don't think! Then our young bull calves - one had the pinch so he's now a steer (all men wince!) the other - bully boy- we are keeping as a young bull so he had to be de-horned and have his nose pierced for a nice bull nose ring.
After it all the cattle were very pleased to go back into the field and we peeled off the layers of wet and muddy clothes and boots and enjoyed a cuppa.

Raspberry or strawberry muffins...

2007-07-12T09:52:00.000Z

Coming to the end of our soft fruit, thanks to the rain...decided to try some new ways to use up what is left....so an evening of baking (beats the rubbish on TV!) raspberry muffins, strawberry muffins and strawberry curd! The curd is delicious like strawberry syrup and the muffins I did try and be a bit more wholesome and used wholemeal flour and they are not too sweet. Think I'll be trying both recipes with the blackberries later in the year.. And just when I sit down to a couple with cup of coffee I see on the Internet daily headlines the government thinking of introducing a 'fat tax' will have to keep up with all the Tredarrup jobs to make sure doesn't happen to us!

*Just in case as link not always working - Becky's Raspberry Muffins Recipe
A raspberry muffins breakfast recipe http://bandb.about.com/od/breadrecipes/r/rasp_muffins.htm

Village fete time of year..

2007-07-11T12:14:00.000Z

It's that time of year when the countryside has weekend after weekend of 'the village fete'.
We had ours this Saturday at Michaelstow and my job this year was serving the teas - great as it's inside (in case it does rain and it does !) and you get first view of the mountains of great homemade food. Our table was brimming with homemade pasties, flans, apple pies, cakes, scones, all enticing beyond your dreams...and in aid of a good cause - our beautiful local church. One year a guest in our cottages braved the rain to attend but asked 'who all the food was for?' Well all that attend and it's well worth a visit - we love our food in Cornwall!
So after filling my own plate and pouring a cup of tea (great value at £2) I began 3hrs of tea pouring and making sure peoples plates were full enough - and at the end just the odd slice of cake left !
I never underestimate how much work the local ladies have put in to all the baking at any of these local events, put I really did when last night I embarked on my own pastie making and after 4hrs and 20plus pasties I was in need of a sit down.
You see I believe that Cornwall is a great food county both for the produce it has to offer and the home cooking skills, and if ever you were in doubt just visit a cornish household for dinner or indeed a village fete and you (and your tummy!) will be in no doubt whatsoever.....

Know your onions - potato blight

2007-07-10T10:35:00.001Z

After being behind in our vegetable plot the weather has pushed us back even further. The one thing loving the weather (apart from the slugs) are our onions - sure to be rather on the large side this year from the lashings of rain.... The strawberries have been good (what's left to be turned into strawberry curd) but now they are getting waterlogged or slugged ! A young visitor, Jess, helped me put my tomato plants in the ground, which are growing but not very fast as they've had the rain but not enough sun, others in pots got waterlogged and went mouldy and my potatoes have now got blight which I'm trying to stop spreading to the tomatoes but it has ultimately affected the potato crop...and I can't plant out my winter crops for fear of them being slugged to nothing..

But it seems I'm not alone, in our Riverford box newsletter this week they to are fighting the weather and have potato blight and are behind with their winter planting. I hear on the news it will affect this years UK potato supply especially for organic growers. Potatoes are a hungry fertiliser crop and one that absorbs all that's added therefore making the organic option far more appealing...but obviously by choosing the organic route we succumb to more damage from disease and slugs !!

Roll on sunshine, I'm sure it's coming !!!

Meat with a conscience

2007-07-09T08:16:00.000Z

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall first made us really think about it then followed Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey and many others now I'm sure. And today 'meat with a conscience' is very much on our mind.

Today started with a 5.45am alarm as it was time to say goodbye to one of our cattle, something that we both don't take lightly. But what are the options - and we often consider them - to give up meat or be more aware of the livelihood of the animal when buying and eating ? Our countryside would not be the same without cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, we would not have the enjoyment of them being there and the fields would be in ruin. We are lucky here in that respect that we know our animals have had a good full life and been cared for to our best. But what it has made us think of the most is that we should appreciate that all lives really are of value and we should respect what is on our plate.

Some ways you can help

Our climate - rain, floods and now bright sunshine

2007-06-26T14:08:00.000Z

Climate change is such a burning issue, and one that we believe to be important. Although Cornwall has had rain and Boscastle did get some flooding again we were not the hardest hit with the more Northern areas of England getting the worst of it in what they say is England's wettest June ever..... Our swallows were struggling yesterday to fly any higher than between the legs of the cattle, keeping below the wind and the rain.

Each year there is something else that is measured as being the worst/hottest/wettest so that must mean that our planet is changing. At Tredarrup we do try to make a difference, we are not perfect but we do as much as we can and there are so many things that we can all do to make a difference from recycling to using low energy bulbs to just letting nettles grow (within reason). Although the nettles sting (but there is always a dock leaf nearby!) there are many reasons to keep them, especially for the butterflies. The nettle supports more than 40 species of insect, including peacock, red admiral, small tortoiseshell and comma butterflies. Many nettle patches host over wintering aphids, which are an early food source for ladybirds, blue tits and other woodland birds. They are also good in the garden as a natural and free plant food.
For other ideas on how to do one thing for nature be inspired by the animals in the series Saving Planet Earth and get some tips from their website http://www.bbc.co.uk/savingplanetearth/

The approaching Summer Solstice

2007-06-19T14:30:00.000Z

With summer about to officially begin the days are so long with it not getting dark here until well after 10pm. It's warm and all is growing at a rapid pace.....including the grass for the cows and what I have managed to plant in the vegetable patch. Every year I'm always behind I've never managed to be organised enough (or found the time) to have all my seeds on the go in February, but somehow most things catch up !!! And this year I have to be particularly careful what goes directly into the ground as the chickens like a good pick over - great for keeping back the slugs but not for new seedlings !!

Cornish strawberries, swallows and a sneaky chicken....

2007-06-09T11:41:00.001Z

Hot sunshine and the planters are bursting with bright red ripe strawberries - sweet and ready to eat, with clotted cream of course or elderflower sorbet made from the thick blossom on our elder trees! This hot sunshine following on from the rain in May has been ideal for all things to grow and flourish.
Another beautiful Tredarrup sunset last night whilst the swallows were busy at work, catching insects on the wing and chattering. They have taken up home in Mill Barn's porch and in our sheds - we are sure they have already had some young.
Spot the chicken !!!! Squark, one of our little brown bantams has decided not to lay her eggs in the hen house, but in one of Stable Cottage's planters!!!

Fantastic clear blue skies

2007-06-05T11:20:00.000Z

It's that time of year when everything has truly come alive.....days when you want to be outdoors and enjoying the Cornish countryside and coast. After some rain and now hot clear blue sky days the hedgerows are lush with pink campion, buttercups and daisies, the farmers are cutting silage (feed for cattle made from grass) and the birds are busy feeding their young.
Our cattle are enjoying the sunshine and the new grass in the field..and the chickens are enjoying a good dust bath in the shade....and there's work to be done in the vegetable patch!

Chickens on the bird table

2007-05-13T14:11:00.000Z

One of the chickens' favourite past times is hanging around under the bird table for all the seed that our many birds leave behind...but today a new trick, on the roof!
How many chickens can you get on a bird table roof ? And still counting !

Meet Our Cattle - The Calves

2007-05-03T11:20:00.000Z

Meet Our Cattle - The Calves

2007-05-03T11:10:00.000Z

Our two young bull calves, born this February and March. The bigger one (behind) was born in February (Nina's his Mum) and is a real bruiser, running with the big boys in the herd and giving Mum the run around. The smaller (at front) was born in March (Nancy's his Mum) and loves to play with his smaller mate, although he was sick at the end of last week, he had a lump in his throat and the vet had to come and give him an injection.

Meet Our Cattle - The Cows and their Calves

2007-05-03T11:03:00.000Z

Our two cows - Nancy (on the left) and Nina (on the right) with their young bull calves. Nancy is also the mum of Arabella and Nina of our Dexter steer. They have now had quite a few calves between them, Nancy is coming up to 7yrs old and Nina is now 13. Nina is also the Mum of Nancy's Dad , confused ?!

Meet Our Cattle - Alice

2007-05-03T10:57:00.000Z

Alice is another of our young Dexter heifers. She is particularly small, although Dexters are smaller than common breeds of cattle - she is now 19 months old and will follow me and the feed bucket as she was hand reared when only a couple of months old.

Meet Our Cattle - The Rest of The Herd

2007-05-03T10:48:00.000Z

We have a suckler herd of 10 cattle at Tredarrup, seven Dexters and three Jersey/Aberdeen Angus. Let us introduce you....... From the left, our three Jersey/Aberdeen Angus steers, then our Dexter steer, then Arabella our young Dexter heifer (a cow under 3 yrs that has not yet had a calf).

Wild garlic in the hedgerows

2007-05-02T11:35:00.000Z

Our local hedgerows in Treveighan are full of wild garlic, ramsons (a bulbous perennial). You can smell them as you walk down the lane, especially if a tractor has brushed past and crushed some of the leaves. They like damp woods and hedgebanks and the leaves carpet large areas from March followed by the flowers in April.

Edible, the leaf is quite mild in taste and we use in salads and to flavour pasta, the flowers also look great in a salad...

Our bluebells

2007-05-02T11:31:00.000Z

The fantastic sunshine has opened up all the English bluebells in our woodland, combined with pink campion and wild garlic. The air is full of the fantastic scent as you sit on the bench and look out at the view.....

May Day Obby Oss

2007-04-18T10:04:00.000Z

The diary will be getting busy over the next couple of months with lots of events and traditions to be celebrated, the first main one being the May Day Obby Oss celebrations at Padstow. A very old and ancient tradition steeped in legend and mystery, something that you positvely feel when the hypnotic drums strike up click on this link and go to May song for a sample. But Beware the OSS! http://home.freeuk.com/bribbonobbyoss/

Our swallows have arrived...

2007-04-13T16:46:00.000Z

With the fantastic weather, spotted last night, whilst enjoying another stunning sun go down, four swallows..... They were quite small so may well be our youngsters from last year already back. The males come first so there may well be more on the way, to be followed by the females. We had four pairs last year all of which had 3/4 clutches of young so we look forward to another summer of swallow chitter chatter, air dives and fly bys......and hopefully not too many that pop in to Mill Barn for a flying visit !

Summer Sunshine

2007-04-04T08:00:00.000Z

With April has come the best of weather, Easter sunshine. Fantastic warm sun that is putting a growing spurt on everything - lush grass, hedgerow flowers and the new lambs and our calves.
The bright daylight has brought clear skies and beautiful sunsets out over the valley towards the sea, a great time for coastal walks and being by the sea. Cornwall at it's best, I love this time of year....

With Summer came a new arrival ......

2007-03-25T11:46:00.000Z

Nancy, our other dexter cow had her calf early this morning....
We got close enough, in the tractor, to check all was OK but it was all sleepy, it's eyes still milky white and legs like jelly not quite yet ready for the world..so not sure if bull or heifer calf yet.
More to follow.

Spring to Summer

2007-03-24T19:44:00.000Z

Today was the most beautiful of days with clear blue skies and really warn sunshine.
In the fields, early this morning, the tiny lambs were enjoying the warmth of the sun, our bull calf (now almost 4 weeks) was giving chase to all the other cows only to then flop in a heap in the sun in need of sleep - well he is still young after all... And our bantams kept stopping when they fell into pockets of sunshine curled in their heads, fluffed their feathers and had a quick nap.
The sunshine seems to have brought everything alive, the grass is growing (which is good for our cows) the hedgerows are full of primroses, the daffodils are in full flower and not long now until the bluebells open out in our woodland. Must get on with the vegetable patch am very behind with preparing and planting....
With a day like today we look forward to the extra evening hours after the clocks change tonight. Here comes the Summer......

Know your Onions

2007-03-18T10:53:00.000Z

Cornwall is a County of positive food action, there are hundreds of small producers selling an enormous range of produce. Via our blog we will regularly post useful information about local producers that you might benefit from when holidaying in our County, we will also post information about local events and happenings. With all this talk these days about 'Food Miles' and seasonal veg we thought this small chart from the Plough to Plate campaign might be useful to clarify what Meat and Veg is seasonal at different times of the year.

The days you long for

2007-03-13T10:49:00.000Z

After the dark and this year very wet days of Winter today is the kind of day we long for, bright warm sunshine with the countryside starting to burst with the joy of Spring. The view from the Beacon hill at the back of Tredarrup across to Roughtor was stunning this morning, large white fluffy clouds drifting across the landscape created a patchwork over the Moorland interjected by the electric yellow of the gorse which, although flowers all year round, is at its best at the moment. Several Skylarks rose as though to announce the onset of Spring spiralling ever higher in an attempt to either attract a mate or lay claim over their territory, the Sun was positively warm a hint of things to come.

Chicken Chat

2007-03-12T08:23:00.000Z

There's been a bust up in the chicken household, being the time of year when family matters are firmly on most animals mind, in particular our two cockerels, competition for female company in the chicken house reached fever pitch yesterday with the result there was a big 'punch up' between the two boys (not un-usual), bearing in mind there are seven ladies you think an amicable arrangement could have been reached, but alas no, one boy wants it all! The inside of the chicken house looked more like a boxing ring or Bodmin on a Saturday night, anyway the fancy cockerel has moved home to a penthouse bachelor pad in our hay barn. Although we suspect its not over yet as we have already caught him smooching behind the fruit cage with a couple of the girls. More to follow........

The grass is growing

2007-03-08T14:20:00.000Z

First the early spring flowers next the grass gets going, to the delight of our cattle! All animals that graze prefer the fresh stuff and whilst the grass we cut last Summer has sustained them over the Winter they are ignoring that in prefernce to the Fresh new shoots. Which means that soon we can stop putting Haylage (which was cut in big bails) out for them.

Which would you prefer?

Meet the Animals

2007-03-08T14:13:00.000Z

We're the Bantam family, 2 Cockerels, Mum and 6 youngsters. We lay smaller eggs than chickens but some say they're tastier. Like all the animals here at Tredarrup we are 100% free range and organic. More info on us and our mates in a while.

Meet the Animals

2007-03-08T14:07:00.000Z

Hi from Tabbie - I was once a feral cat that lived in one of the barns with my black and white sister who still lives wild but comes every night for her tea. I now live in a posh Rabbit hutch on the doorstep. See you soon

Meet the Animals

2007-03-08T13:59:00.000Z

This is Molly our 4 year old pedigree black Labrador with her favourite toy a Yellow toy duck kindly donated by one of our guests. Molly is hoping to have a family this year so watch this space for news!

First pictures of Nina's new calf

2007-02-28T16:18:00.000Z

Nina's calf is now up and about and chasing round the field. After being nudged around by all the others when first born Mum took him (yes we are sure it's a little bull calf) aside to have a rest. Both now recovered the calf is playing around with the herd, managing to get through the mud from so much rain (he's only about 40cm high !) and keeping Mum on her toes....but he soon gets worn out and needs a good sleep to regain his energy....

Snowdrops - and a new arrival with our cattle

2007-02-26T13:54:00.000Z

The snow drops are amazing this year, big groups up our lane and in the garden. At the moment they have the drive to themselves as after a quick start the daffodils are yet to be in full glory along with the primroses, then wild garlic.

Our new arrival - we were woken this morning by our cattle announcing a new addition to our heard... Nina, our oldest Dexter cow gave birth early this morning, both are doing well but we are yet to be able to get close enough to see if it is a bull or heifer calf - we are waiting on the next one due any day. More details and a picture in our next entry along with news of our chickens that have just joined us at Tredarrup....

The daffodils are already here

2007-01-21T13:14:00.000Z

The first signs of Spring... the daffodils are already coming up at the bottom of our lane, with the snow drops hot on their heals.
Daffodils have been a popular site in Cornwall for many years with some varieties named after Cornish villages. Grown here, with the benefit of our weather, and then sold as cut flowers in the UK and beyond, they were once transported up to Covent Garden using the railway line. They say that the bulbs you see by the side of the road and in our hedgerows, were thrown out by growers during the Second World War when non-food crops could not be cultivated...

Happy New Year

2007-01-05T14:30:00.000Z

Happy New Year from Tredarrup......

Watch this space for our news of what's happening here at Tredarrup, North Cornwall, UK. Meet the animals, watch the seasons, keep an eye on the Cornish Countryside, local news, things to do and our great restaurants and local produce.