Lambing Time

Well its that time of year now when all thought turn to lambing time. Everything else is on hold, well sort of anyway! All the sheep that are due to lamb first have been inside for a couple of weeks or so now and some are looking ready to pop, especially the sheep due to have 3 or 4 lambs.
Its been a very slow start over the last week but today is busy. Ive just nipped in to check emails and phone messages whilst waiting for two ewes to give birth to their second lambs.
Then hopefully when I go back out they will have had them and I can pen them up to bond.
These two lambs were born a couple of hours ago. They now have full tummies and are resting up!

Decorating

Today is a day I was beginning to think would never happen. Finally I finished the decorating!! This is my little helper of this week, my niece Rachel who is on half term holidays, she wouldnt look at the camera, but was brilliant at emulsioning walls for me even though she had never done it before.
Tomorrow the new dining room carpet is being fitted and we can then put everything back together, hang pictures and curtains and we will be ready for restarting with guests on Monday.
Dads coming to plant trays of primulas and daffodils so hopefully things should look brighter outside
All done just in time!!

A Visit to Ripley Castle

Yesterday the Yorkshire members of Farm Stay were invited to take a tour of Ripley Castle near Harrogate. We all met up in the Boars Head where we had coffee and homemade biscuits and a quick tour of some of the hotel rooms and the Bistro by the manager. Afterwards we went with our tour guide Margaret and went round the castle finishing in the Tudor tower, which apparently is haunted by the late Lady Alicia Ingleby. There was a definate chill in the room and Maggie reported a definate standing up of the hairs on the back of her neck!!
We followed this with a wonderful lunch in the Castle and the chance to tour the gardens. Unfortunately it was raining so we just heading for the lovely shops in the courtyard.
A big thank you must go to Alison Crawford for inviting us and for her very kind and generous hospitality.
It was a lovely opportunity to meet up with great friends, in the picture below Caroline Barker -Cundall Lodge B&B, Maggie Johnson - MAllard grange B&B, Rosemary Hyslop - Layhead Farm Cotts, Fay Grace - Life Hill Farm B&B, and me. The picture was taken by Katrina Gray - the Wold Cottage B&B.
This was probably the last leisurely day I will have for a while as we have now started lambing, but thats for a future blog!!

Bentham Sheep Sale

Last night Chris offered our niece Rachel and i a night out, food included.
Ooooooo we thought, that sounds good.
As the day went on the night was, it seems, ajoined to an evening sheep sale at Bentham Auction Mart.
We did sooooo try and get out of it, we made wonderful excuses to stay home, but it looked like our efforts may cause offence so as always you go with the flow dont you!!!!
So at Bentham we met up wiith our Cheshire friends John and Rachael Gate, and we had a really pleasant evening.
We had Gourmet tea ( everything with chips, peas and serious condensation running down the walls!!! Huge mugs of tea and bread and butter included) in the mart Cafe and then we watched the sale.
It was an annual sale of Individual Breeding sheep including Dalesbred, Swaledale, Blue Faced Leicester, Teeswater, Zwartbles and Herdwicks.
Our friends bought 4 Herdwicks which now go off to a charmed life in Cheshire, far away from the Lakes Hills and we came away having only bought our tea.
Although Chris tried hard to buy some sheep he kept dropping out of the bidding, no good at all!!! Cant help thinking that if I had been beside him giving a nudge and a 'get on' he might have bought something! In our household I am renound for being a bad influence at Auctions!!!!! However all in all not a bad evening!!