East Ruston Cottages

Promoting local food ......

2012-01-31T21:42:00.000-08:00

Many of our guests come to stay with their cars laden with food and drink, determined not to do any food shopping while they are here (and I can't say I blame them, most supermarkets are horrible places to be in!) and some take advantage of our offer to put away their groceries and do an online shop for delivery before they arrive. Others bring some basics, arrange for us to provide some local goodies and then shop locally during their stay - I do think these people get the best out of their Norfolk holiday because we do have some very good locally produced food.

One of the top places for this is a gorgeous little shop in Stalham High Street called Truly Local. It is a not for profit community shop where all the goods are sourced from within a 35 mile radius. Why 35 miles? Well that enabled them to include Norfolk's very own whisky! The stuff in this shop is just wonderful - imaginative, fresh, all delicious and not expensive. They regularly do a price comparison with Tesco and many of their items are often cheaper. Truly Local website And it doesn't just do food ... check out the ever changing selection of local art, cards, pottery, bags and bunting!

Also in Stalham High Street there is an excellent butcher who also sources much of his meat from local suppliers and does some wonderful cooked meat baguettes at lunchtime and pork pies to die for! James Cawdron website

They did the hog roast for our wedding. Most people went back for seconds!

For fish, there is the bestest, freshest fishy delights in a tiny little shop in nearby Happisburgh. The shop is called Fair Maid, after the boat used to catch the fish. Can rarely resist stopping on the way back from walking the dogs on the beach. As well as the fresh fish, they do little pots of cockles and prawns, frozen fish, sandwiches, crabs, lobsters and Morston mussels in season and their smoked fish is some of the best I have ever tasted. Not too heavily smoked which means you can eat their fantastic kippers for breakfast and not have them repeating on you all day!

First booking taken for 2014!!

2012-01-27T00:25:00.000-08:00

Not yet out of the first month of 2012 and we have just taken a booking for June 2014 at the Old Piggery! Our regulars do like to make sure they get 'their' weeks and these guests are certainly planning ahead! Love it! The New Barn should be up and running by then so even more dog friendly accommodation available.

Our Sonny looking over the deserted beach at Waxham

First load of roofing reed in the yard

2012-01-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

There are 350 bundles here - a fraction of what is needed. Not the best looking stack in the world but the first time we have ever done it and on one of the windiest days of the year so far - not too bad a job considering!

Now you might have to use your imagination here (!) but this is the yard for the barn, fully walled and safe for dogs. We plan to have planting in pots and raised beds round the outside, some paved areas, some gravelled areas. Outside furniture and a covered porch area are planned too. Should look lovely when finished. The corrugated iron doors on the right will be the entrance into a hall way with utility room/wet room on the side.

Meanwhile, in the field the footings of the straw bale barn are being prepared. This will house all the wood, (all of our heating in the house is wood fuelled and it is coppiced locally) animal feed, building materials etc that are currently in the big barn so we can actually do the conversion! There are 500 straw bales in the barn ready for this project, all taken from the fields at the back of the house last summer. A local coppicer will be supplying the hazel rods to secure the bales and our builder, Chris, will be doing the lime mortar render on the outside.

More photos from Red Roofs at Hickling

2012-01-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

A guest who has made a recent booking has asked to see some more pictures (there are some on the gallery page of the website - here)

Out to the back garden through the porch from the kitchen.

View of the house from the private lane, down one of the drives either side of the front garden.

View from the front of the house, across the front garden and private road to the boat houses on the edge of Hickling Broad.

Twin bedroom. Two generous sized single beds with good quality mattresses. These can be combined to a super king size double.

Stairs to upstairs bedroom. Paintwork looking a bit bashed in this picture but will be decorated in early Feb 2012

Upstairs bathroom. Since this photo was taken, carpet has been replaced by laminate flooring and new rugs.

One of the gates beside the house. Solid wood, spring loaded catches/bolts and about 4ft tall (I am 5'2") These gates are either side of the house to stop dogs/children/wayward old people (!) heading off on an unscheduled trip to the water.

Downstairs shower cubicle


Downstairs bath/shower room. Cant's see the shower cubible in this picture - it is to the right of the sink.


One of the other twin bedrooms. Doors straight out onto the front garden.

The calm before the storm.

2012-01-20T23:22:00.000-08:00

Our first delivery of Norfolk reed, intended for the roof of the barn. The thatchers are due to start in July. Many more loads of reed to come and a whole lot of work, mess and stress. This blog will document progress ......and quite possibly my nervous breakdown!!

Eating out in Norfolk

2012-01-20T22:40:00.000-08:00

This website is just what I have been looking for. Up to date information and reviews about places to eat in Norfolk. www.eatoutnorfolk.co.uk/

We have some really good places round here.... take a look at The Waterside at Rollesby, King's Head at Coltishall, Olive Branch at Tunsted, The Cockerel in North Walsham and Recruiting Sargeant in Coltishall. Just to name a delicious few! Our newest favourite is the Gunton Arms....an old shooting lodge in a deer park.

Why aren't there more dog friendly holiday cottages?

2012-01-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Why aren't there more of them? We often have this conversation with our guests and can't really get to the bottom of it. Every year we like to go on holiday with friends and between us we have 5 dogs. We are a fussy lot and want a certain number of bedrooms and bathrooms, a wood burning stove or open fire, we like an Aga, we must have a good pub nearby etc etc But the very hardest thing to find in a property is the acceptance of 5 dogs - 2 small, 3 large, all house trained. And when we do find them we often have to pay an arm and leg for the privilege of taking them on holiday. We have in the past resorted to subterfuge and lies! Not nice and quite stressful but sometimes the only way we could get into a property.

So, when we started the conversion on the Piggery it was a no brainer to decide that it was going to be properly dog friendly. I was already running The Old Forge and the owners have always had dogs so they were supportive of making it properly dog friendly too. I know there are plenty of properties out there allowing one or two "well behaved dogs" but if you are allowing one or two, why not three or four? If you had four as an upper limit it would be far more flexible. And what extra work do dogs produce that warrant a charge of £25/dog for example? That's £100 for 4 dogs! However hairy the dogs and how ever well paid the cleaner that is a lot of extra dosh!

Since the Piggery opened in May 2009 we have been pretty much fully booked and in that time just about everybody has come with a dog, the most we have had in at one time was 8. In that time the majority of damage has been caused by humans (often the smaller variety!) and even then only amounts to a few broken cups and glasses. We have found that dog owners are nearly always a clean and tidy bunch, they have to live with their dogs in their own houses so they do know how to clean up after them. We have also found that the larger the number of dogs the more likely the owner is to be involved in dog training, behaviour, psychology etc and understand and train their dogs.

And another suprise - prick up your ears if you are a holiday home owner wondering why your bookings aren't good - in the 55 bookings we had last year in the Piggery (most of whom had dogs) 45 of them had 4 dogs or less and 26 of those had 2 or less. The figures for the Forge are broadly similar. So they could have gone to many of the other places allowing "2 well behaved dogs" and the holiday homes allowing "2 well behaved dogs" could have streched themselves a little and allowed 4 and got some more business which in this economic climate is hard won.

But I think the reason so many of the 2 dog families came here is because we really welcome dogs. They are not tolerated, they are encouraged. We don't charge for them because we understand they are family members and no holiday home owner would dream of charging for an Aunt or a daughter would they? We have met some lovely people who have become friends and some lovely dogs too and we have been rewarded by a repeat business figure of well over 50%.
So as far as I am concerned the message to other holiday home owners is embrace dogs with open arms, don't charge for them, make your holiday home welcoming and easy for dog owners and you won't regret it! (and we will all have more choice of where to go with more than "two well behaved dogs!)

Places to eat ....as recommended by Forge guests

2012-01-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

Just been sorting out the leaflets in the folders in the Old Forge before the next lot of guests arrive (SO many fabulous places to visit and we haven't been to most of them!) I found a handwritten note that one guest had kindly left about the pubs they had been to:

"There are 2 pubs next to each other and by the river in Coltishall. The Kings Head (which a previous visitor has recommended) and we visited the Rising Sun which offers an excellent value meal at £10.95 for 3 courses with a good choice of menu. Best value around here! Worst value is the Wayford Bridge Inn near to here on the main road. If you have time, keep driving past it!

At Hickling Broad is the Pleasure Boat Inn. Great food and on Thursday nights can be combined with a river your by Norfolk Wildlife Trust, really enjoyable. Also at the Pleasure Boat on Fridays they hold a 'sing-a-long' with local band. Good fun too.

The Rising Sun and Pleasureboat are both dog friendly and have outdoor eating areas too.
Happy Travels!"

Thank you to whoever left that. So now you know where to go (and where not to go) when you come and stay!

Some photos from The Old Piggery guests

2008-11-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

Some of our guests have sent us some lovely pictures from their holidays.....

A view of the back of the Piggery from across the
fields

Some seals on the beach at Horsey

Bulldog sat in the sun in the yard....

Basset on the beach!

Happy bunch of labradors.

Sharing ...!

Fun on the sand...

After all that fun on the beach it's good to relax at The Old Piggery!

2008-08-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's the other end of the summer now and only one measly post since the beginning. Well I think that tells you how busy it has been. Where do I start? The Old Piggery has been fully booked since our very first week and seems to be going down very well with guests. The website www.eastrustoncottages.co.uk has been regularly updated with new bookings and kind guest comments in the online guestbook. We are delighted, particularly as so many people have booked again for next year. We've met some lovely people and their very lovely dogs. Apart from the ironing and cleaning it's a really enjoyable experience!!

The piglets are growing away well if a little slowly but that's what we expected from the cross with the Wild Boar. They are so much fun to deal with - like having a load of really big squeally puppies in the field!

The sows are not such a happy story. I am not sure that either are pregnant after their boar visit and one of them has arthritis now and went to the abbatoir today. Such a shame but she cannot now be put into pig with such a strain on her joints. We are very sad about it but it comes with the turf.

The lambs on our field are as fat as butter and looking really well. The others are on poorer grazing in an attempt to control and fertilise it and will need to be moved soon. They have had their poop analysed and have worms and cocci - all needing dosing. Ho hum. More stuff that goes with the turf I guess. I've been busy this last week penning them, flipping them onto their backs (hasn't done a lot for mine!) and getting a double dose of goo down them. With an extra dose spread over me too.

Chickens are all over the place. We have some really nice pure breed youngsters - Light Sussex and Welsummers - and some cross breeds from our own and friend's eggs. The Old Piggery pair of hens are laying well and being moved regularly to give them fresh ground. They seem to be regularly producing an egg a day each - a glorious olive green one and a pale cream one. Bless them!

2008-06-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

Summer - well, is it meant to be but lets just gloss over that! All's well here. Although the weather isn't the best it is pretty dry. The wind has been northerly for a long time now, keeping the temperatures down. Today it swung round to the south. Warmer but wetter apparantly.

Enough of the met summary! The animals are doing (mostly) very well. We lost a chicken yesterday - cause unknown but it was one of the ex battery hens and I doubt they have longevity bred into them. The piglets are doing fabulously well though. I did have one off its feed but it was only for 24 hours. Probably gut ache. Bit of an occupational hazard for a pig!

The pig mamas are still in with Buster - no sign of any ... ahem.... activity but there is a bit of noise coming from the yard occasionally so let's hope that's a good sign!

Bookings are doing very well, we are still very busy finishing off and catching up and trying to ge t on top of things that have been neglected in the past year.......

Spring time

2008-05-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

I've put off posting about Spring, in case the recent good weather was just a smokescreen and winter was just ready to come back. But..... it looks like the weather is set fair for a while so I've been out and taken some pics of the spring time happenings here.

I have to start with one of my gorgeous boy.....

and this one......

The four Tamworth x Iron Age piglets are happy out in the field now .... they were visited today by my friend Sam and her daughter, Kim. I'm not sure who is the most content in these pictures!

And this is our new arrival - Buster the Boar. He's only visiting. His 6 week stay should result in Bessie and Bertha becoming pregnant.

And this is where all the pig muck ended up. Rotovated into the veg patch for some late potatoes to go in.

Last pic is of Bessie - taken by one of the holiday guests who is a professional photographer. Mr Gunn is to be thanked for this and several other pictures which will be posted on here. His details can be obtained by contacting us.

Wildlife photography is not my strong point....

2008-04-20T02:17:00.000-07:00

Honestly. There are about 11 or 12 deer in the dark line in the middle of this picture. The camera is actully worse than the naked eye! Even with the zoom on. Never mind. I will try cropping etc when I get some time to mess about with the pics. Double click on it and you should be able to see them a bit better.

They wandered around the middle of the field all afternoon and when I went off to feed the horse later in the evening they were still there, settled down for the night. When they were agitated the main group stayed close together and the stag came forward to confront/face off what they were bothered by. (probably only somebody like me stopping to look at them)

Other wildlife is letting us know that it is spring (in name only at the moment!) The collared doves (the DFAs - Doves From Above) have already had one baby in the holly tree just outside our house and ma is sat again.

The frog spawn has now mostly released its tadpoles and I am just waiting for the swallows to show up. Lots of bird activity in the garden - there always is.

More Piggery pics

2008-04-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

You'll be sick of them soon but it is so lovely in there I just wanted to take a few more and some better ones of the outside. Just in from getting it ready for the next guests, on their way down from Doncaster.

Here is the breakfast bar with the new beech stools that arrived yesterday. They have a lovely finish on them. I can see them being well used.

The tv area of the lounge.

The lovely old fashioned toilet in the main bath/shower room and the shower and screen.
Sorry, it's all getting a bit tedious now...... but just a couple more.

The trundle room with just the single bed made up with the pretty bed linen.

Space for coats outside in the porch. And the children's wellie collection!

While I've been editing this the first herd of red deer this year has arrived in the big field. I've taken some pics so that'll be the topic of the next post..... I'm on a roll now!

Pics of the Old Piggery

2008-04-16T04:03:00.000-07:00

So, as promised some pictures of the Old Piggery. Hopefully these will be helpful for potential guests wanting to take a good look before they book and for family and friends who want to see what we are on about (and why we have been sooooo busy for so long!)

On the left, the kitchen/dining area. Fully fitted with marvellous new, low energy rated fridge, freezer, dishwasher and washer/drier. So much better than what we have in our cottage! A good electric fan oven, ceramic hob and extractor and a microwave with oven. Toaster and electric kettle of course. Lots of pots, pans, serving dishes, utensils, glasses , cutlery etc etc. I think I have thought of most things! Even stuff specially for children. The breakfast bar is a real central point with stools to sit at it. Dining table is pine with some lovely cloths to go on it. The doors to the right of the units open out onto the rear patio and grass area.

Love this view. From the corridor into the main area. Hamper has the dressing up stuff in it! Fireplace can be seen, the end of the breakfast bar and the armchair on the left is the start of the sitting area.

And on the right, the view out of the main doors, under the porch and out into the yard with the big, chunky furniture and pots. A bit dark but you get the idea.

Main en suite bedroom. Zip and link divan bed means that this can be a twin or a king size double. No I don't know why those cushions are up there either!

View from other end of room towards door into hall and the shower room.

This room bought out the inner 'girlie' in me! Just had to have lacy hangings to go with the patchwork quilt. Floral prints on the walls and a specially built pine wardrobe. This room is rather small but it is perfectly formed!

The view out of this bedroom window up the loke (bridle way) The start of some good long walks or just a stroll round the 'circuit' - a walk taking approximately 30 minutes, never taking you very far from the Piggery and nearly all on tracks and paths.

I can't seem to take a good picture of this room. It has a trundle bed which is a single with another stored underneath. This can come out to make another single or put them together for a double! King size width, just a bit shorter than normal.

We opted for this lovely iron hanging shelf and hooks rather than a wardrobe. I should have taken a picture when my friends' children came to stay - they filled it, within minutes of arriving, with all their toys and clothes. It looked wonderful! Got some rather lovely Cath Kidson floral bed linen for one of the beds. But don't worry if you are not in touch with your feminine side - the rest of the linen is plain!

And the main bathroom. Had this unit specially made so folk can fill it full of all their bathroom bits and tuck them away. You can see the shower in the mirror. Both showers are 8" heads and it is like standing under a waterfall! Heaven!

Smokers corner!! No, not really - we don't allow smoking in the Piggery but this is a pleasant enough place to sit out in the porch if you do want a puff. When we get better weather, this might even be a welcome bit of shade!!

Left this one until last as it's not the most impressive part of the place. The building itself looks great but the garden is rather new. Grass is a bit patchy and the hedge hasn't even sprouted yet. Still, the grass should improve, the hedge will grow and I will add more plants to make it all look better. There is a fence separating the loke from the patio and there will be one at about the point where this picture is taken too. The concrete bit in the bottom right hand corner is the car parking. Plenty of room.

Anyway, that's it for now. There are a few other views still to take so I'll post them another time.

April - We're back and up and running

2008-04-16T03:49:00.001-07:00

Gawd! It's been a long time since I last posted on this. But finally a teensy weensy window of time to get back and post a bit about what we have been doing. The Old Piggery is finally finished. Hoorah!!! Such a lot of hard work but it is worth it. We have had our first paying guests and are booked right through now until the beginning of October!! It is really lovely and we are so pleased with how it has turned out. I will post pics in the next blog entry. Hopefully then I can keep up to date a bit more.

And, almost as exciting, is our first litter of pigs! We bought a couple of Tamworth sows from a friend. Both meant to be in pig to an Iron Age boar (Tamworth x Wild boar) but only one was. Never mind. Bertha farrowed back in March and produced 5 piglets - her first time as well as ours so we were all a bit nervous! There was a runt who suffered a few health problems. We nursed her through the first couple of weeks but she didn't make it sadly. However, the other 4 are doing really well. The builders were diverted from the Piggery to make the maternity unit in the end of the horse's stable. He might have something to say about that when he comes home but he is doing ok up the road at the moment. At 5 weeks the babies are already stealing mum's food as well as filling their bellies from the milk bar. In 3 weeks time we will have to get them out on their own in the field then consider the best way of getting the sows in pig again. Do we bring a boar in or do they travel out to one. Or AI? Decisions, decisions!

This year's lamb...

2007-10-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Derm took the lambs into Howells on 10th October and we picked them up on 16th. The biggest came in at 24.5kg! and the two smallest at 17kg with most of the others being 20kg and above. Delivered one straight to a friend at Blickling - will collect some of her beef in return later in the year. Three more whole ones were collected the next day. Fiona had the joints she asked for and some put aside for more friends who just want a few bits chops/offal. Still got lots of chops and liver left so will see if any of the holiday cottage guests would like to buy some. Had chops for tea that night and they were, unsurprisingly, delicious!! Left long enough to develop a decent flavour but still tender and not at all fatty. Yum! A really good batch this year.

We made the most of the day out to do lunch and go shopping! The lunch was purely in the interests of research you understand! Going to try to go to as many places as possible that we are recommending for our holiday cottage guests to visit. So first choice was Wroxham Barns. We already know what a fab place it is with all the amazing craft shops, the petting farm and the old fashioned fun fair. A great place to go to find presents for people. But I was interested in the restaurant. Heard that they have a new chef and a good new reputation. Beef and apple pie with freshly cooked veg was lovely and the pesto and mushroom risotto was generous and tasty. Rest of the menu looked pretty good too. Light lunches as well as proper meals. Very reasonably priced. We'll be recommending it and going back again. Next time for afternoon tea - the cakes and scones looked amazing! www.wroxham-barns.co.uk.

The shopping was not as much fun as lunch - no clothes or shoes or anything remotely like it. Pamments. For the Piggery floor. We went straight to our favourite reclaim yard - Womacks. SOOOOO much stuff there, a real Aladdin's cave. I have no idea how the guys that work there can remember where everything is, how much it costs etc but they do. Their 'office' is the most amazing little clay walled hut with a stove at one end and racks of small reclaim bits in the middle. Love it. How Health and Safety let them get away with a lot of stuff I'll never know but long may they do it.

So, we looked at red, buff, pink, brown pamments in about 4 different sizes and couldn't make our mind up so took home a selection of each (above) to see what they looked like in situ. The colour we chose? Why not come and see?!. At least we have a proper floor to lay them on now!

The lovely Hoseasons rep, Jenny, came to see how we were getting on today (we are with them as well as using our own website and links to get bookings - see here) and was amazed by how nice it is looking and how tidy the building site is! She loved the big open space that will be the lounge/dining/kitchen area with the fireplace, wood burning stove and doors opening out onto the yard. Friends who came to collect lamb were also impressed by how things are progressing. It's easy to forget how far we have come when you see it every day.

Ended this day with a gig at the Waterfront, Norwich. To see Seth Lakeman. Loved it. Such an amazing sound - really ramped up, rocky folk/ballards. Check him out at www.sethlakeman.co.uk

Lots going on at the Waterfront - see www.waterfrontnorwich.co.uk in Norwich. Plenty more at the Arts Centre, Theatre Royal, Playhouse and the Forum. And the newly re-opened Cinema City is a cut above the usual multiplexes - two at last count in Norwich.

October is the new September!

2007-10-06T02:47:00.000-07:00

Well, September didn't really come up to its usual promise - those wonderful, high cloud sunny days that are damp and cool in the morning and crisp in the evening. Instead it was cloudy and a bit damp, but warm. At least I was able to sow the Old Piggery 'lawn'. After much raking out of stones and stuff and the addition of a several barrow loads of garden compost I was able to broadcast a flurry of grass seed. I fenced it off with hazard tape (sorry to all those riding past on spooky horses!) - which the wind promptly blew to bits in no time but it blew the birds off it too and in about a week there was a definite green sheen to the ground.

October is, so far, providing the promise that September failed to deliver.

(View from behind the house.)

Inside the Old Piggery the wiring and plumbing work was finished in preparation for the underfloor heating pipes to go in, after a cement base is laid over the insulation. The weather has been good enough for the guys to get some pointing work done too. And the chimney is finished with a pot on top.

With the ditching of a couple of jobs (Tescos can probably cope without my efforts behind the customer service desk on a Thursday night. The Parish Council don't seem to be best pleased that I want out but I am sure they will cope!) , in preparation for the Piggery holiday business, I seem to have a little bit more spare time to spend on, amongst other things, picking the hedgerow fruit with a view to making cakes, jams and liquers. Got a particularly interesting batch of plum and blackberry brandy on the go! Looking forward to getting another batch of sloe gin stewing soon. Oh, the cakes and jams? They'll come later. First things first!

Regularly visiting the local Farmers' Markets now that Tescos is an employer of the past and I am aiming to buy even more local food than before. Came back this morning with a fabulous selection of fresh veg - little beetroot for roasting, superbly fresh carrots, purple kale, cauliflower and some thin sweet peppers. As usual, bought a bag of Sue Andrews mixed salad - no more expensive and certainly much more tasty and fresh than anything you can get in the supermarket. The fish man was there - always get smoked haddock from him. He had sold out of my favourite smoked haddock pasties (and I was only there an hour after opening - the best stuff goes quick!) but had a sea trout left, still all glossy eyed, so I bought that for supper tonight. My 'meat' friends - Mick and Pauline from Mallow Farm Organics - had a queue. I bought a load of meat direct from their farm last week so didn't need to join it. I was just steeling myself against the temptations of the bakery stall when I turned round and saw.....a handmade chocolate stall! Oh dear. Just not physically able to steel myself against that! The friendly girl serving said it was their first week and offered me a taster. Lavender and something lovely. The chocolate was dark, rich and there was plenty of it to combat the intense flavours of the fillings. I bought one of each loose to try (who am I kidding? to guzzle down myself at the earliest available opportunity!) They could make a very pleasant addition to the welcome tray for the holiday cottages. I counteracted such indulgence with a selection of rare type apples from the lovely Andrea Lyons from Burnells Farm in East Ruston. Her husband Nick is a very talented artist www.nicklyons.me.uk

and also the cause of one of my greatest regrets! He had a landscape of our cottage and the barn, long before it was a twinkle in our mortgage (less of a twinkle maybe, more a black hole!) It was beautiful and not expensive but I just didn't have that sort of money to spare at the time so I didn't buy it. And somebody else did. And then I changed my mind and it was too late. And now we don't have that painted record of how the buildings were. Damn and blast my parsimony.

One last purchase, another first timer at the market. All the way from near Harleston (but that is still Norfolk so it counts) - a lovely selection of free range chicken and beef. I only bought a couple of chicken breasts - well aware that in the next couple of weeks we will be swapping some of our lamb for some Blickling beef and possibly some Marlingford pork. And I have to clear the freezer of the pheasant and grouse before the start of the shooting season. But I was sorely tempted by the most glorious rib of beef - a dish fit for the hugest, carnivorous dinner party.

I waddled round one of the antique/bric a brac shops in the high street, careful not to knock china off stands with my carrot tops sticking out of the basket! I could have bought any number of things for the Piggery/Forge/Gothic Cottage but refrained - where would I put more stuff??!!
Except I just had to have a little wooden egg tray. Could double as a really nice candle holder....

Into Autumn - August and September

2007-09-28T14:29:00.002-07:00

The Piggery work continues. In fact, now it is officially called the Old Piggery. A straw poll of friends and family about the name made us decide to add the 'old' bit just to make sure that anyone booking it as a holiday cottage wouldn't think that it still had pigs in it! (as if!).

Got the website started. Riding friend Leonie did a brilliant job of all the techy stuff and I provided text and pics. So we are officially out there.....on the Wiggly World Webthing. We have something called a stats counter - which I am a bit obsessed with - and I have learnt as much as I would like to know about metatags. So now all we have to do is hope and pray that people find it and book!! The Old Forge is on it too - makes sense to have them both on the same site.

www.eastrustoncottages.co.uk

The final work on all the pipe and cables at the back was done - talk about spaghetti junction! There's the septic tank and the rainwater harvester and both of them have chambers and pipes and pumps (we probably have the largest collection of pumps in Norfolk!) and inspection chambers and drains etc. There are cables to the Piggery and between the Piggery and the heat pump room (basically a shed on the back of the big shed - a shedlet?) and through the stock yard and across the front garden. Just so the main garden doesn't feel left out there is a cable across that too, for powering the submersible pump (yes, another one!) in the pond.

We had always wanted a pond but I had vetoed it at this time because we have MORE than enough things to be getting on with. However, we needed a decent amount of soil to start to level the area in the field left over from filling in the ground source heat pipes and we had a digger.....so the pond was dug. Then, of course, it had to be lined. Sand and old carpets we had in abundance but not huge rubber liners. That cost several hundred pounds and weighed likewise! Still, we managed to manhandle it into the field and across the hole and stretched it and cut it etc. Then we had to fill it. The week before we had just changed from mains to metered water - boo! But the rainwater harvester had done its job and we had several hundred gallons of rainwater to use instead - hoorah!

At the time of writing, the pond is full (needs a bit more work on one side to allow the water to cover the liner edges) and is teeming with wee swimming and diving beasties. Every frog we find gets rehomed there and the birds have found it for drinking. It was a real joy to watch the swallows skimming over it. It will eventually be planted up with marginals and we will add some floating plants etc to it. The pile of cobbles in the corner is our 'water feature' - rather low key but in keeping for a wildlife pond. The pipe comes up from the submersible pump and splashes water through and over the pile. Very relaxing. We will add some logs eventually to provide shelter for other beasties - toads we have in abundance but would be nice to shelter some snakes or slow worms and hopefully attract some hedgehogs. Eventually, this corner of the field will be fenced off and the area round the pond developed as a wildflower meadow. And we'll put somewhere to sit beside it with a net on a stick for pond dipping!

The swallow babies fledged in the Piggery and got out of there as fast as possible! Way too much going on for their liking and the scaffolding was level with their nest - just no privacy for them! Brendon and Chris could then finish the chimney and break through the roof to put the chimney pot up.

The whole building is now fully weather tight. All windows and doors in and when we finally had the back area levelled the whole place began to look a bit more like a dwelling and less like a building site! Though not a the front. We still have a yard full of timber, roof tiles and sundry building 'stuff'.

On the smallholding side of things the sheep have spent their summer stuffing their faces up the road at Fiona and Peter Blacks. D day for them is October 10th - just don't tell them that! Bluetongue has hit East Anglia and so we check them twice a day for any sores or runny noses. Hopefuly they will escape it - not long to go now. The foot and mouth outbreaks have curtailed any more animals movements onto the holding. We were due to have another half a dozen sheep and would have liked some pigs but it is now getting too late in the year to make it worthwhile. We'll see how things are in the spring and hopefully get ourselves another set of weaners. Hunting has been affected. We started on a Tuesday and stopped by the Friday. And we haven't been able to go out since. Bah.

There was a fairly major tragedy in the chicken department involving antifreeze ..... we will draw a veil over that sorry saga, as a result of which we ended up re-stocking with 6 retirees from a local commercial egg producer. They didn't have a clue about outside life to start with and wouldn't leave the safety of the hut at first but it didn't take them too long to discover the joys of sunbathing, dustbathing, having a good scratch and other chicken-y pleasures. They now have far too much attitude for their own good and mob anyone that goes into 'their' pen.

One of the survivors of the tragedy, a Norfolk Grey hen, had gone broody so our smallholding neighbours, Mick and Pauline, let us have some of their eggs and after 21 days Mum was proudly clucking to 5 balls of Maran fluff. You can just see one of them tucked under her left wing. Now they are growing up, looks like we might have a couple of cockerels. One will draw the short straw and the other will form part of the breeding stock for the next couple of years.

We snuck in a quick and much needed week's holiday in Spain, staying with Derm's mum and stepdad. It was wonderful - warm and relaxing, fabulous food and wine and their hospitality knows no bounds.

Last, but definitely not least, we lost two of our five cats during August and September. Tiny, who was 16, developed a big problem with her red blood cells and despite the best efforts of the vets had to be put down. Then we had to do the same for Mouse. She was 22 and one of our original kittens from long ago in Great Yarmouth. She was skinny and batty and quite doddery but was happy enough in herself. We had always said that as long as she could eat, use the litter tray and potter about then we would leave her be but her back legs went and the vet was called. Our vet, Hilary, is also a friend and it was a great comfort to us for her to come to the house to put them down on both occasions. No, it was a great comfort to me as Derm always seems to be away for any animal death or trauma! So it will definitely be his turn to take the sheep in to the abbatoir!

Indoor animal meal times are far less chaotic now though, especially as Ed, the Border Terrier, has pretty much taken up permanent residence with my 86 year old grandma.

It's a tough life eh, Ed?

JULY - a wet one!

2007-08-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

Lord above! The rain this month! Our second attempt to put in the rainwater tank and septic tank were very tricky as the water table was HIGHER than back in March when we had the first aborted attempt! I stayed well out of the way and the boys played with the digger and stood in the bucket and jumped up and down on the tanks and loaded in concrete and prayed that the things would stay in. The farm very kindly lent us their sprayer as a water source to fill the tanks as they went in.

Drainage ditches were dug too. A mega amount on one of the dry days of the month.

Our new digger company just happens to be run
by our new next door neighbour! Lee of Olympic.
Let's hope neighbourliness extends to a reduction in the bill!! Richard, our Olympic digger driver, was a real find - jumping in and out the cab to help with the groundworks and always working with a smile on his face. And all the while waiting to become a dad for the second time. Bless.

There was some internal work done too. Blockwork walls went up and the fireplace started. The swallows in the barn hatched off another brood and obviously spread the word about the desirability of the Piggery/New Barn Farm location as another pair built a nest in the Piggery, just above the fire place! Builders not chuffed. Swallow poop all over their work!

Then a hole was made in the back wall - on purpose, the purpose being for the French doors to fit in. And they did, only just, as the top and bottom of the opening were adrift by quite a lot. Nothing about the Piggery is straight! It's an old building - what do you expect?!

We did manage a bit of r and r with friends visiting from down south. Mark and Erika came up with Callum and Olivia and we had a wonderful weekend of walks and picnics and pony rides. Such a good time was had by all that their were tears on the journey home (and that was just us!) Callum's bond with Tess was forged by his arrival with chocolate cookie all round his mouth - he let her lick it all off (yeauch!) and they were friends for life!

A roof! and a much needed holiday

2007-06-10T05:43:00.000-07:00

A couple of months later, the Piggery is starting to look like a building. There was a point somewhere back in early May where it was positively sketal - all the tiles off the roof and the gable end being repaired made it look like we should have really just pulled the whole thing down and started again! But now, with the roof on, some more windows in, the cladding being started, it is starting to look the part.

We spent an enjoyable day at various reclamation yards buying bricks for the fireplace and ridge tiles. Found some well priced pamments and stone for out the back of the house. In the house, nothing much has changed but the floor is going to be laid in the first week of July (there WILL be champagne corks popped when that is done!!).

We managed to fit in a trip on the Four Counties ring canals in May with Dave and Caroline and Ed. It was great fun, enormously relaxing and very wet!! But it didn't spoil the holiday one bit. We did 100 miles and 90 locks in a week, found some pretty average pubs but had some splendid dinners on board, played a lot of silly games and generally chilled out.

Having briefed the builders more than once to make sure they had everything ordered that they needed BEFORE we went away, I was not best pleased to get a phone call on the Monday asking me to order some timber!!! A stiff rum coffee helped me get over it

The Piggery takes shape

2007-04-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of March Derm had to do a 9 day Hong Kong/Sydney trip which left me in charge...!!? This meant spending hours on the phone for timber and concrete prices, research into such wierd and wonderful materials as Tyvec, Celotex and Tri-Iso (all roof and wall insulation) and a huge amount of frustration as some things were available when we needed but others not. Spent a huge amount of money and filled the yard with enough materials to keep the job going for a while.
Scaffolding went up for the work on the roof and the concrete floor was laid. The scaffolding makes a perfect 'balcony' from which to view the sunset with a gin and tonic in hand! Wonder if I can persuade them to leave it up!

If you use your imagination, this will be all grass and a garden when finished .....

The lovely window frames came from Catton Windows. A really excellent job and the Farrow & Ball mossy green colour I chose for the paint looks every bit as nice as I hoped. One of them was fixed in place and then the roof tiles started to be taken off.

Believe Chris might be indicating the number of sugars he wants in his coffee here....!

So we're now at this stage. Lots of timbers to be replaced/reinforced but apparantly the work should move along a bit faster now.

Lambs still thriving. Hens laying 9 - 11 eggs a day - might have to sell them at the gate.

Ella and George Bell came over to feed the lambs one day with their uncle who is going to be organising the electrical work. Not sure Ella was terribly impressed with the lambs' attentions!

MARCH ..... finally the mud dries out!

2007-03-18T03:05:00.000-07:00

After probably the wettest couple of weeks for ages we finally got some sunshine and the horrible claggy mess of mud everywhere started drying out.

The lambs thrived in their little house
and pen in the garden and we ended up with
another tiny little orphan just to keep us busy!

We try not to name them but some of them do stand out from the others. No. 27 is very cute and the tiniest one is called Baby. When we got the very littlest one she became Tiny Baby. I have told them that they can't stay that cute or we won't be able to eat them!

The pipes went into the hole in the ground and then it was filled in again. Can't say I miss it!

When it settled down a bit we planted a couple of trees.
This one is a sweet chestnut taken 'from the wild' !!
and on the other side of the field we planted a walnut.
Both should be good for shade and shelter for the animals.

And no I'm not turning into a tree hugger...just holding it upright while Derm went off to get some stakes!

On the main building site there was an abortive attempt to put in the septic tank; the hole was pretty deep, well beyond the water table and when the tank went in and the back filling started, it popped back up so we are going to try again when the weather is drier! Apparantly the water table has been at an all time high this winter so probably not the best time to be digging great big holes. We'll need another big one for the rainwater collection tank too.

The drains for the Piggery took a fair bit of sorting but got finished this month. The next step is to cement the floor and start on the roof. The windows are due to come soon and the kitchen is ordered!! Not quite a priority but there was a sale on!

As far as the house goes...... still living in complete chaos but we do now have the flooring. Lovely oak boards from a really old fashioned sawmill. Shame it's not actually laid but I can't have everything!

February and the 'swimming pool'

2007-02-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

IF YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT TO VIEW THESE PHOTOS TRY DOUBLE OR RIGHT CLICKING ON THEM AND THEY SHOULD APPEAR LARGER IN A SEPARATE SCREEN

The digger and driver arrived when they said they would and got stuck in straight away. First job was to pull off the front of the Piggery. They did it in the time I took to walk Atticus up the road to his other grazing and back again... about 40 minutes! This is what it looked like when I left....
and when I came back........
Over the next couple of days they broke up all the concrete pig troughs and took out that and the floor. I had to bring Atticus in during the day and was a bit concerned about what he would do with all this activity outside his stable door. The answer was ..... rubberneck. He thought it was all very interesting!
The next job for them was to clear the stock yard - lots of concrete to be broken up and moved and a load of cobbles also. I got to drive the dumper truck when the builder's son didn't turn up one day (they had a falling out - one of the pitfalls of a father and son team I suppose but still very annoying). The digger driver gave me a brief lesson in operating that too - bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach twice at the same time!!

Then it was round to the back garden to dig out some soil at the back of the cottage. The level was too high so needing reducing and the old area of concrete and bricks had never been very good and was breaking up so the whole lot came out. Unfortunately for the grass it had to be done on the wettest day of the year so far....!!

In the meantime work at the Piggery continued and the drains were sorted and cut in and some cement came and some more cement came and the window people came to measure up and some stuff was delivered and so on. The building inspector turned out to be a woman I know in the village - she has horses and I've used her outdoor school a few times. She came for her first visit and is very practical and open to bribes.....no, not really! She has been able to come up with some good compromises and solutions on the way things can be done to keep her standards up and our costs down.

As a diversion we took delivery of 5 orphan lambs all needing bottle feeding every 4-6 hours. As we seem to be up most of the day and night anyway it shouldn't be that much of a hardship!! They started off in the barn as they were only days old and the weather was pretty grim. Once it dried up a bit they were moved out into the garden.

Then the really big and exciting stuff starting happening. Our mini digger and dumper was whisked away and a huge lorry came with a huge digger and dumper on! The original plan to dig out the whole area behind the barn plus a little bit of the field was shelved on the advice of the digger driver and it was decided to use the field to dig out the area to lay the pipes for the ground source heat system.

So he started by taking off the top soil.....

then digging.........

Quite a lot of soil came out.........until finally we ended up with this!!

Several people have been by to look at it and those who asked were told that it was going to be a swimming pool (at 50m x 15m x 1.8m it isn't far off an Olympic pool size!!). If I felt really mischevious I told them it was the footings for a block of flats to house asylum seekers and immigrant workers!

Actually it did actually house some immigrant workers today, albeit temporarily, as the company who are laying the pipe use Polish workers.

I can't put videos on this (as far as I know) but if you click on this or maybe cut and paste the route into your browser you can see how much fun the dogs had and just what the digger looked like in action (some of you will find this more exciting than others!!)

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e157/SueAllen2/?action=view¤t=Digger035-1.flv
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e157/SueAllen2/?action=view&current=Dogsinpit.flv

January 2007 - This year is going to be 'fun'

2007-02-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

With Christmas and New Year and Dermot's standby out of the way we really knuckled down to work on the cottage before it all kicks off with the Piggery. Our builders came in and started various jobs - we have a lovely new gothic arched window to go in downstairs, cupboards to be fitted in the spare bedroom, floor boards to be laid all over the place, ceilings to be reinforced upstairs, new frame and door to the downstairs bedroom etc etc. Pity only some of it actually got done but it gave us some encouragement and it can be returned to when the Piggery is done - (months away yet!!!) This is how we are living at the moment though...could be improved upon!

My birthday happened in the middle of all this and with the house being in such a mess we took ourselves and friends off to The Forge, the holiday let I manage, for a lovely night. Dinner and Ukkers - what more can a girl ask for, especially as the dinner was cooked for me whilst I was out hunting at South Repps! Then a good dog walk and tea and cheese on toast the next day.....I know how to enjoy myself!!. I had some really very lovely presents - very grateful to all for all of them - really.

We had some work done on the flat in Stalham to get it ready for the new tenant, a work colleague, and then I had to divert the builders after a particularly windy night to tieing down the stable roof and pulling one of the barn doors upright!!

The pigs went towards the end of the month and I am grateful to Mick and Pauline of Mallow House Organics in the village for helping me load them. I have loaded two before but somehow three seemed more of a handful. They took about 20 mins to go on the trailer and they had to stay on overnight as I needed to leave at 7am to get them to Wells. They had thick straw bedding and water (which of course they kicked over!) and the cleaning out at home the next day took quite a while! Arthur and his team were as fab as ever - I got the trailer backed in for me and help getting the pigs off. It is so hard to do that bit. They don't really want to get off as it is yet another new ennironment for them. I really hate the unloading and leaving in the pens as I know only too well what the next step for them is but I am happy that they have had a good life, good food, natural environment, visitors, stimulation etc.

I picked the meat up a week later - full of flavour, generous of fat and I am really proud of how we reared them. The boys done good - full of locally grown apples, barley, peas, potatoes and beet.

In the back ground, Dermot, quite apart from flying round the world has been sorting out all the rainwater collection tanks, ground exchange heat pump system, windows, electricity, water supply and all the rest for the Piggery.

He managed a day out trail hunting at Gimmingham in the pouring rain. Maybe next season we can loan another horse so we can go out together.....??!!

December and into the New Year 2007

2007-01-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

December - unseasonably warm but we were thankful for that. We did have a couple of days of hard frost but not really enough to kill stuff off in the garden. The dogs enjoyed a run in the frosty field and Atticus seemed to be happy enough too. Derm was on call for all of December (the one month in 12 that he had to do - thanks Virgin - good month to chose!) so we had no idea what we were going to do for Christmas and New Year. As it turned out he was home for both.....just. Andy and Sarah hosted Christmas dinner at Cawston and it was a wonderful evening with us taking home pretty much all of the leftovers which kept us, the dogs, pigs and chickens going for a few days. Then Lesley and Pete hosted New Years Eve at theirs - another lovely evening with gorgeous food. One of the Gothic Cottage lambs donated a leg as a centrepiece - Lesley covered it in yoghurt and spices, let it marinate for a couple of days then gave it a long slow cook in the Aga and we ate it with a fabulous selection of other spicy goodies.....mmmmmm! Derm got to go to LA, Mumbai and New York and still got to be at home for these key days. I got a new saddle for Christmas ----!!!!!! I had it fitted and paid for about 2 weeks before and Derm then paid for it as my Christmas pressie. Very grateful. It is a good fit for both me and the horse.

Very aware that this is our last month of relative normality - (if the picture left could be considered normal - Derm put his foot through the ceiling!) January will see the start of the builders occupation of the house and then Feb is when it will all kick off....!

October and November

2006-11-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

As it is nearly the end of November as I type this I may not be too accurate with the dates etc but as this is just a blog I don't suppose that matters much.

Derm has spent a lot of time over these months organising the work to start next year. Meetings with the builder and, just as importantly, the bank manager!! Digger booked for February. Many, many 'phone calls to the heat exchange pump people, carpenters/window makers, architect etc etc. Mostly chasing up quotes - do these people not want the business? It's not exactly a small project - hence the meeting with the bank manager!!!

We took the last of the sheep into Howells in November - a mixed bag. Some really decent sized ones - Suffolks - and my bottle fed Texel twins and Hampshire cross. Out of the 21 I would say we managed to sell approx. 16, possibly more. I've lost track a bit but each time we've gone to collect the meat we've had an order or two to fulfil out of it. It will be interesting to see if we have made any money out of selling them when we do the accounts - I doubt it. Next year I think we have to put the prices up a bit and sell by weight. Each half lamb will be a different weight. People seem to be enjoying the meat though and we've had a lot of interest for the pigs - their day is 29th January 2007. Not looking forward to it. They have been a fixture for so long just outside the 'dining room' window it will be hard to see them go.

Dog no. 4 joined us in October, albeit only for 6 months. My brother has been posted to Iraq and his wife has to cope with a small baby, not terribly fond of sleep, and a really rather active (and gorgeous) toddler on an estate in the winter months. So it made sense to farm out Amber. She took a while to adjust from single dog status to part of the pack but now knows the rules to all the dog games (not sure I do so she's doing well!) and has finally started to understand that the cats are not mobile scooby snacks. She's learnt about the horse - it is scary and looms out of the dark - and she has encountered the electric fence!! But only once! She really isn't a problem at all and having 3 dogs already, a fourth isn't really any extra work.

Hunting with the North Norfolk Harriers (trail hunting) takes two days a week for Atticus and I - we love it still. He is jumping better now and is fit enough to be able to stay out for a full day, each day. Derm has been out beating for the local shoot, has another day in December and has been invited on the cock shoot in January. He needs the time off more than I do really as he works hard at home as well as at work (apart from the bit where he stays in luxury hotels around the world, the shopping and the nice restaurants!). At the time of writing he is at the tail end of a 9 day Hong Kong/Sydney trip (in the middle of some cricket competition apparantly!!)

September - Mellow fruitfulness, an Indian Summer and more sheep go

2006-09-14T13:29:00.001-07:00

September has got to be my favourite month. Always seems to be settled with those fabulous cool , still mornings and evenings, heavy dews and the onset of Autumn proper without it being too reminiscent of anything really Wintery. This one only really got autumnal at the very end of the month - mostly the day time temperatures have been in the 20s and the night time ones still in the teens! Heavy dews rather than cold or rain meant that Atticus started to be rugged at night at the tail end of the month. He's starting to look a bit wooly now - first clip due soon.

Five more of our sheep, including the two naughty little ones we kept at home, didn't get to see much of September but we ate well! I loaded them and took them to the abbatoir on my own as Dermot was away. Loading was far easier than I expected as they do come to call and a bucket of feed. It was just a question of man (woman?) handling them onto the trailer. I was up at dawn to get them on and give myself enough time to get to Wells (over an hour's drive) My least favourite part of the whole animal rearing thing is dropping them off at the abbatoir not just for the obvious reason but also because the yard there requires some very tricky and accurate reversing with some very unforgiving walls to bump if you get it wrong. As luck would have it the chap unloading 3 rather good-looking Tamworths before me was an instructor for operating farm machinery, trailers etc and gave me a very useful and completely un-patronising lesson in how to reverse in successfully. What a star!

Once in, the slaughterman helped me run them into one of the small pens they have there and as I put the bolt across he gave me a big hug. He's a tall Yorkshireman - quite a sight in his white coveralls and hair net and I really don't know whether it was for commiseration or congratulations but it was much appreciated and certainly not something you would ever get at any of the larger slaughterhouses!! Howells is a really rather special place - they seem to care, take time and effort, are not loud and noisy and stressful on the animals and Arthur will bend over backwards to get over a problem and help you out. We are very grateful to have them in the county.

Moved the chickens into the field and took the opportunity to give their house a good clean and disinfect and treated all their legs against scaly mite, which most of them had in varying degrees. A very clandestine operation, done at night and involving head torches! The yard will stay empty now until the digger comes in next year to prepare for septic tanks etc.

We attended a very good open day for underfloor heating systems, ground and air heat pumps etc etc. The Norfolk based company have some very good technology, experience and integrity. Both the barn and the annexe will be having underfloor heating operated by a ground heat pump system and we may well build in some extra capacity to retro fit the cottage at some time in the future. The ground works will need to be in an area the size of a tennis court roughly so the digger will be with us for a while in the early new year as it has the fence posts to put in and a pond to dig for us too plus the holes for septic tanks for the barn and piggery, rain water collection tanks and goodness knows what else!

August - Apples and lamb chops!

2006-08-29T04:33:00.000-07:00

August Complete weather change from hot and dry to wet and cool. Temperature is much better and we need the rain but it’s very different for the first couple of days. Managed to squeeze 4 lambs into Howells and then made life very difficult for them with a complicated, time consuming cutting list which caused one of their butchers to walk!! Lambs came in at 32kg average. Better than last year. Sold some halves at £30 each and gave some to Fiona as thanks for the grazing. I also gave her some pork in exchange for some jump wings and poles - this meat is good currency round here!

The sheep got a change of scenery during this month as they went up to Anne Green's at Happisburgh. Caused mayhem amongst the horses the first night but all settled down after that.

Put an notice in the village newsletter asking for windfall apples and have been inundated. The pigs have been fed nothing but for most of the month and will probably taste of apple! They are not terribly impressed with cookers but do love eaters.

Finally got planning permission for the barn on 11^th August! Hoorah and Help! Plan to start on the piggery in January, so watch this space....!!.

Up to date...

2006-08-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Jan Start the year with a couple of runt male piglets who carry on clearing the yard. Horse is still living up the road so they are housed in the stable.

In February we have a slight reworking of drawings for bedroom arrangement in piggery and run them by our builder. Then we put in for planning permission. Planning officer visits and advises that we will almost certainly need a bat and owl survey - £400, several months wait and planning on hold until it is completed. Plans go to the Parish Council for approval or otherwise! I stay well out of it as I am clerk to the Parish Council and can't be seen to have any influence over the council's decision! (I just hope the chairman found the £20 note in the envelope!)

We approach the local farmer for some more land – no way. Shame but at least we have registered our interest. We seem to have a lot of rats but our young Border Terrier, Eddie, is learning how to get them. We find a chicken dead in a nest box of no obvious causes. Report to Defra because of avian flu problem.

Snow and very hard frosts for nearly a week at the beginning of March. This winter is dragging on a bit! We do our annual wood gathering on the village common land and have the luxury of putting it all in the barn!

In April the builders start work on the yard walls - brick and flint construction and needing quite a bit of repair. Move pigs out of stable to the land behind the barn which needs clearing. Weather improves marginally. Book bat and owl survey and Derm's step father (ex Highway's engineer) starts looking at an alternative access/exit for barn for next submission of planning permssion - the Highways Dept. were not happy with the existing access and we receive an objection letter from a neighbour on the same topic.

Easter weekend – collect 3 orphan lambs (2 Texels and a Suffolk cross Hampshire - pictured left) from Neville Fox, a local shepherd. £20 each. Then starts a punishing regime of bottle feeding! We then collect two slightly wild native breed crosses from Mick and Pauline and a week later Nev rings to ask if we will take on a Rouge cross – not his and not feeding from mum. We can keep her if she does well; if she doesn’t he will 'dispose' of her. Have used all the lamb milk replacement he gave me with the first lambs so buy a £21 tub of Lamlac to feed my little collection of orphans. We struggle a bit with Rouge as she goes lame and needs antibiotic jabs and has a bad case of Orf with some big sores round her mouth and on her tongue making bottle feeding difficult.

May Buy 8 x weaned lambs (January babies mostly) from Wroxham Barns, the local petting farm (£25 each) and put them on the grass at Fiona and Peter Blacks where Atticus has been wintering. Economically this is a far better way of buying and raising sheep for us but I'm glad we had the orpans. This lot are all weaned and jabbed and ready to go. Our grass comes along enough for Atticus to come back home at the beginning of the month.

The bat and owl survey is carried out by Mick Finnemere. He is surprised to find nothing at all. We are not. We could have saved our selves £350 and told him that!

Swallows arrive and we hear cuckoos. Discover Roger, the farm manager, oversprayed the field side hedge last year and killed a lot of our hedge plants. He and Mr Callow take a bit of ribbing from Derm (when he has calmed down!) and agree to replace them.

Very wet, particularly towards the end of the month, and got so cold too. Rugs back on Atticus and Rayburn relit.

We go away for a week's holiday on a canal boat and manage to get holiday cover for all the animals. The rouge lamb is the main worry as she is still lame and still being bottle fed as she needs all the food she can get. Sarah Caswell takes her on and when we get back from our holiday tells us she would like to keep her as a pet. Hoorah! She gets her lameness cured – an abscess in the hock - and turns her into a lap lamb!.

June Got another 8 lambs from Wroxham Barns to join the others at Fiona and Peters. As Atticus lived on their grass all winter it seems fair to make an effort to keep it down now that we have taken him home. The original 8 aren't keeping up with it, hence these new ones.

Got a fair bit warmer thankfully. Atticus and 5 orphans grazing field well. Atticus bucks me off in field for no apparent reason - probably because I am asking him to do some work!

Damaged hedge seems to be recovering. Laughed about it with Roger at Jane’s 40^thbirthday party at the local farm. Great fun - 60's and 70's theme and just about everybody dressed up.

Book pigs in to Arthur Howells (slaughterer and butcher in Wells) for beginning of July. Book hay cut for some time soon.

Revised planning application goes in – sign goes up on barn on 22 June. Mr and Mrs May (who complained last time) are pre-warned and invited to come round to discuss any objections they might have (rather than just sending us a snotty letter!). Here we go again….

Finally move pile of wood from garden. Only taken three years and two working parties plus countless additional hours. Found body of missing cat Boris under part of it. No idea how he died but at least we found him.

July Took two, year-old boars in. Some concern at butchers about size and possible boar taint
but the meat tastes fantastic. Completely different butchery this time by Howells but a lot cheaper. They worked out at £93.75 each. No idea of dead weight. First attempt at ham and bacon - used Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall's bacon cure and it is a bit too strong so will go for a simpler brine solution next time. Ham will be ready later in the year. 44 bags of sausages from the beasties too. The sausages win in a comprehensive taste test! (Just us at home but not biased really) They really are very good.

Hay cut middle of the month. A bit over dry and only 95 bales but should keep us going. Got all into the barn whilst weather was dry - not too difficult as it is a very hot and dry July generally. Almost drought conditions for a while.

Took 70 bales straw off one of Edwards DeFeyter's fields at Edingthorpe. All by myself in 30+ temperature! 10 dellivered to Fiona and Peter.

2005 in a nutshell

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In February the horse - Atticus is the name on his passport, Ned to his friends - comes up for sale. I have spent a few months getting to know him and I know this - he is good to hack alone and in company, shoe, clip, box, do in the stable, load, travel, hunt, jump but he is spooky - I ended up in hospital in January with concussion after a fall from him. I can just about afford him and Dermot is on my side so we buy him! My first ever horse at 40! What a fantastic birthday present (my actual birthday was in January - a lovely few days in Prague) So now we have a new barn, some land AND a horse! We clear out the stable for him and put up an electric fence round the field, although it is not ready for the horse yet.

I am delighted that Dermot spends the money on the builder tidying up and reinforcing the stable. The builder is probably equally delighted as the weather is very snowy and there is not a lot he can do outside! In April we really get the small holding bug and buy 2 weaner pigs from neighbours and two sheep from the nearby petting farm at Wroxham Barns. In May we have a work party to take more ivy off the walls and repair the barn doors. Once again, the friends come up trumps and a huge amount is achieved in one day.

The grass is going well so we put the horse in the field with the sheep. It is far too rich and goes to his head - he jumps out and is caught by the police (very enterprising - they use a borrowed piece of washing line - as a lasso?!) half way to the coast! A lesson for me to learn - spring grass is like speed to horses!

We have our first hay crop cut in July - cut, turned and baled in a very hot dry week and we just managed to get it in before the rain started so we have to throw them into the barn. We are very excited about this and get 195 bales of really nice hay for just 66p/bale.

We get 3 more sheep from Wroxham Barns. One of them has a name - Shorn!

September starts very dry - I love this month. The pigs go to the abbatoir in Wells on the 12^th. Far less stressful for us all than we imagined. Orders for pork coming in thick and fast. Some rain over the second weekend made a 20 mile charity ride at Newmarket a real treat and brought the grass on a bit. Nonetheless Atticus had to go back to his original owners for the grazing and to escape from our closest neighbour's rave! A very settled month – getting autumnal towards the end. Had to start rugging the horse towards the end of the month. Hunting started – some lovely early mornings

October is another warm month – some lovely weather. Grass growing still. A friend's groom comes to clip Atticus. Just starting to be stabled at night at end of month.

We take the sheep in during November and again have no problem getting rid of the meat. All rather tasty. A friend gives me a set of clippers and I have a go at clipping horse myself - not too bad a job I hope!

After getting a couple of silly quotes from architects for the work on the barn we have recommended to us an architect technician who comes round and measures up barn and piggery. Drawings appear a week later and we pore over them with friends. Changes are made.

The first summer

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On 17th July, the day after completion, we have ourselves a celebratory supper in the barn. We use a table and chairs donated by my grandma and drink two bottles of champagne (!) and eat fabulous fish and chips from the Stalham takeaway. All our dogs share the evening with us, including the new Border Terrier pup, Ed. The evening is a volatile one weatherwise and we watch storms and rain clouds come through with a brilliant sunset to finish!

The emptied bottles are still in the alcoves in the barn. They will one day be incorporated into the finished barn.

Having got over the first of New Barn Farm hangovers we start to tentatively claim the barn and yard as our own. We move the stuff into the barn and we start parking our cars in the yard. This sounds like small beer but for us it is a very real indication that this space is now ours!

At the end of July we come back from a wonderful holiday in Tuscany (little realising that it will be one of the last foreign ones for a while!!) and find that the crop in 'our' field has been cut. In August the field is ploughed, harrowed and seeded for the cost of the grass seed only - about £90. In October the grass starts showing an exciting faint green sheen on our land!! Then the rabbits move in! We have a lurcher so the rabbits move out! We take delivery of all the fencing posts and netting from the soon to be bankrupt Atlantic Trading.

About this time I start riding a 16hh Irish Sports Horse type for a neighbour. After a few hacks out she wonders if I might like to take him hunting as she and other family members have no time for him. Sounds like fun. Have never hunted before and love it!. The first meet is within hacking distance of home and a cold, wet, windy day. Who cares? I think this will turn out to be the beginning of a new hobby and become a fully paid up member of the North Norfolk Harriers for next season!

In November we ask our long suffering friends to help us out with hedging the field. There are several hundred yards to do and they do a cracking job. Its muddy and sticky and grey but they all toil on regardless. Two are detailed for ivy removal on barn and set up a roaring fire. Soup is provided - we know how to reward our workers!! When finished we have – hawthorn, blackthorn, guelder rose, spindle, field maple, hazelnut, crab app(malus), sweet chestnut, horse chestnut, holly, honeysuckle, dog rose, dog wood, oak, ash, sycamore, gorse, elderberry, lime, beech and silver birch. (21 varieties)

March 2004 - It all kicks off

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We find out that the barn next door to our lovely little cottage is going to be sold at auction - we have coveted it for several years so we need to move fast! During the years between us moving into Gothic Cottage and now we have had a variable relationship with the farmer who owns the barn. It didn't start off too well but we've stuck with it and I think he has realised over the years that we are relatively harmless and are staying for the duration. So, he is approached, with a bottle of duty-free whisky in hand (the first of many over the period of negotiation and beyond!) and, eventually, a price is reached for the barn and approx 2 1/2 acres of land.

The financial effort required to come up with the readies is considerable and involves financial advisors, re-mortgaging other properties, generous and much appreciated loans from relatives and friends but finally the barn (and land) is ours on 16th July 2004!!!!

Are you sitting comfortably? This is where the story begins

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Jan 1994 - We buy and move into Gothic Cottage in East Ruston and settle comfortably into the country life. Next door is a huge threshing barn, overgrown with ivy, an old stock yard full of half grown trees separating the barn from the cottage. There is a scrap of rough land out the back and we are surrounded by fields. We often look at the barn and ponder how lovely it would be to own it and some land of our own. When we take a visit to the records office to find out more about our old cottage we see that the cottage has, in the past, been part of a farm complete with the barn. About 150 years ago the whole set up was called 'New Barn Farm' Ten years pass.........