Schiefelbusch Farm Visit

Our last visit before leaving Germany was to Sciefelbusch, a family run farm, home of Albert and Helga Trimborn.
What an enterprising place this was. They diversified 25 years ago and began a farm shop which over the years has expanded to include a cafe which they started 3 years ago.
The food they produce is sold through the shop and served in the cafe and they are very much into the ethos of local food and they now employ 15 people.
We had a meal in the cafe before we left which was supposed to be a simple supper but turned out to be a feast of Chicken and Asparagus soup with crusty bread followed by cakes and waffles served with whipped cream and there were bowls of Cherries and the sweetest strawberries I have ever had. They even smelled of strawberry as opposed to the tastless ones we seem to get in the supermarkets!!!
They had a herd of dairy cows, they produce beef, veal and Pork, 6000 hens for eggs, 1200 geese, (they were so cute!), they grow crops such as Asparagus, strawberries and flowers and the farm is open to visitors with play areas for children and a large Maize maze. There are also 4 self catering cottages.
Very hard working people and their farm is a great place to visit if you are ever in the area www.bauerngut-schiefelbusch.de

Germany Trip

This week has been lovely. We took a few days off and travelled to the Rhine Region in Germany. We go every year with a group of local farmers, to different areas either into Europe or in the UK, usually for about 3 days, and we have a great time.
We started our trip with an evening flight from Leeds to Dusseldorf, where we stayed over night. On Tuesday we headed to Cologne where we had a city sightseeing tour, including the madnificent Cathedral, followed by a vist to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. Oh the smell of chocolate was divine!! There were samples of course and the usual shop where we managed to spend some money!!
After this we had lunch and then headed down into the Rhine Valley for a visit to the Lambrich Vineyard where we tasted 4 of their 23 varieties of wine.
Our coach then took us to Wiesbaden, a beautiful spa town, where we stayed for two nights. We had several visits in the area, to Open museums, shopping, a Rhine river cruise and a farm visit. The people , the food and the hotel we all wonderful but then we had to head back to Leeds last night and back home to a huge pile of Mail, email and phone messages. Reality soon kicks in!! This morning its back to business as usual and getting ready for my next B&B guests!!

Rod Stewart!

Oooooooo allow me to indulge myself.
Last night I saw Rod Stewart! Wow!. Ive always wanted to go and see one of his concerts so when friends rang and said would we like to go there was no hesitation. Chris grumbled a bit about him being old, but I pointed out so was he but I still look at him !!!!
A group of us went to Elland Road (home of Leeds Utd Football club) and after being seriously ripped off over a very mediocre burger and a beer we then had two hours of Rod.
Our seats were a way back but you could see him but I decided that before we left I just had to see the whites of his eyes. So off i went right to the front, and ooooo there he was. Eyes twinkling, looking lovely.
Thats it I wont say any more.
I had a fab time !!!!

Washburn Valley Show

Over the last few months Chris and I, along with a small committee, have been working on an Exhibition all about The Washburn Valley Show, Butter Making, and sheep sales which used to be held at The Sun Inn and The Hopper Lane. The sales were big events attracting buyers from many miles away as well as locals.
The Washburn Valley Show ran from 1906 to 1973. It was started by a small group of local farmers, who called themselves The Washburn Valley Tenant Farmers Association who got together and in 5 weeks planned the first ever show. It was attended by 800 people which when you consider the means of transport that would be available in 1906 it was a considerable number.
The show moved around 6 sites in the locality and was a tremendously popular event. Sadly as with lots of things it ended in 1973 due to lack of funds.
For the exhibition we were loaned all kinds of memorabilia from car stickers, catalogues, scrap books full of press cuttings and even the original Minutes book. We have had a great time looking at all the nostalgia , its been really interesting.
All the items are on display for all to see every weekend during June and July so go along and have a cup of tea, or lunch and see our exhibition at the same time!.
As a thank you to all we held a preview day on Thursday and invited all those who had helped, or loaned things etc and during the afternoon we served tea and scones and in the evening the second part which involved wine and nibbles!!
It was a long day but really enjoyable, although I was glad to get my shoes off at the end of the evening!!