Hopper Lane Dominos Champions!!

Last night at Pateley Bridge Memorial Hall the finals night of the Nidderdale Domino League took place. The Hopper Lane Hotel, Blubberhouses, team, led by Capt Chris Ryder were victorious in winning the overall league and taking the cup. I sent my camera along to capture some live action but it looks like serious stuff!!
Sadly on the night none of the team won any individual prizes except in the raffle. However a good night was had by all, Im told!!

Otley V Wharfedale at Rugby!

We had a really good afternoon out today. Our Accountants Hollings, Crowe and Storr of Otley were sponsoring Otley Rugby Club in their local derby with Wharfedale. Theres always a lot of interest in this derby and it was a good game well attended.
We started by having lunch in the clubhouse with Derek and Penny (accountants) and various other clients of theirs and then going out to watch the match.
Its funny how some people in the crowd get very excited and there was lots of shouting, cheering and jeering (especially at the ref!!) People kept asking him if he was blind but there was no guide dog around so I suspect he wasnt!! He must be thick skinned though!!!!!!
The game started very slowly and I was standing there thinking about all the things I could be doing at home but then it livened up and both teams started scoring. Otley kept the upper hand throughout and in the end had a fabulous victory of 31 - 14. The bottom picture shows an Otley player about to take the last kick of the day which was a successful conversion.
All in all a good afternoon as it turned out. And the sun shone, it was a beautiful day!

YAA and ARC Addington Cheque Presentation

This picture, taken by our PR Man Robin Moule of Moule Media Skipton, shows the Farm Stay Ladies Lindsey Hitchen, Rosemary Hyslop, Christine Clarkson, Jayne Ryder and myself along with Lee Davidson and Tony Doveston of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Ian Bell of ARC Addington as we presented the cheque from the breakfast.

After our extremely intersting and informative visit we 'Ladies who Lunch' went across the road to Murgatroyds Fish and Chip Shop for lunch. Well it was a cold day and we needed to keep warm somehow!!

Yorkshire Air Ambulance

This morning 5 of the Farm Stay ladies who were involved with the Charity breakfast went along to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Station at Leeds Airport. The purpose of the visit was to present the team with their cheque of the money raised at the Breakfast event.
We were joined by Ian Bell of ARC Addington who also received his cheque
We met the YAA team and had a really interesting tour, led by Lee Davidson, Chief Paramedic. We saw how the calls come in and how they are handled and what decisions are taken regarding whether or not the helicopter is deployed. We had a look in the Helicopter, which cost a whopping 2.4 million pounds!!
We also met the BBC team who are based there to film 'Helicopter Heroes' which covers every aspect of life at the station, even the paramedics wear a small camera so viewers get a real close up of their work
We saw the editing suite and learned how the programme is put together
In some ways we were very fortunate as there was very thick fog and the Helicopters were grounded today, otherwise they could have been out on a mission. There were no flights leaving or arriving at the airport this morning!!

The Independents 50 Best B&B's

We are absolutely thrilled and delighted to be listed in The Independents 2011 50 Best B&B's. There are only 3 listed for Yorkshire, Yorebridge House, Hellifield Peel, Scaife Hall Farm and the rest spread around the UK.
I was looking on Twitter yesterday morning and someone mentioned the list so I had a look on The Independent website to see who was there,, certainly never expecting to find us, and there we were!! I spent much of the day, after discovering this, grinning like a Cheshire Cat!!

BFL Ewe with busy times ahead!!

This ewe has been carefully watched for some time now as she was scanned to have 4 lambs. Its a Blue Faced Leicester Ewe that has lived here for some time, these are her 6th crop of lambs but never yet has she produced a tup (male) lamb so that the bloodline can continue.
I was beginning to worry that she would lamb when I was here on my own and that something would go wrong!!.
However at teatime today she didn't dissapoint and safely delivered 4 big healthy lambs, 3 of which are male!! She looks a lot more comfortable now!

A very busy Mum !

Yesterday afternoon this ewe surprised us all by giving birth to Quads. The ewe was scanned to have three lambs so when the third was born I though that was it.
I went back to get her out of the large pen, to put her in a small pen with her babies and the fourth one was just being born!
All strong lambs, although one was very small, they had a clean up , some milk and then slept it off!

The new residents of the Sty!

So now the building is all washed out and clean, time for new residents, and here they are!! very cute I think!!.
We went down to meet Farmer Chris, as he is known to his visitors, at Hesketh Farm Park, Bolton Abbey and we came home with these four. They are by a Pietrain Boar called Arnold, but I didnt ask their mothers name so can't tell you that one.
They really are very funny to watch, quite characters, and only 9 weeks old. They spent the first 15 mins just investigating the shed and then they discovered the big pile of straw I had put in for their bed and they had a great root about in there, chattering away to each other all the time. However if you sneak up on then they just immediately stop talking and stand perfectly still like a game of musical statues. One I have discovered just loves having its back scratched so I may not get any work done now!!!

The new Pig Sty!

As the new pigs were due to arrive any day we had a set to yesterday and pressure washed the old stable as this seemed to be a good building to put the pigs in, and all the rest are full of sheep!
I made a start but the pressure washer is so 'pressured' it almost knocked me off my feet. It blasted the old white wash off the walls and there were bits everywhere, I was a filthy as the floor!
So Chris took over, shame of it was he had only just put clean overalls on, so more washing. We looked a right sight by the time we had finished but once it was all clean and dry I think it looks really well. Pigs will certainly be different resident to the Shire horses that would have occupied these stalls many years ago.