Archive

Archive page from previous years. Picture sizes reduced.

Mythic Garden now open for 2011 Some pictures taken at the opening today 7th May 2011
WINTER 2010 The UK has had it's fair share of bad weather for this time of year. When it snows heavily on Dartmoor life becomes difficult. The farmers are having a terrible time, not only with the blanket of snow but with temperatures never getting above freezing during the day and falling to -15 at night all the indoor drinking water for the livestock has frozen solid. Our farmer is having to let the stock back into the fields to drink for a short time before bringing them back in again, difficult enough normally, but testing in these conditions. We haven't had the car out for over a week now, fortunately we stocked up with provisions and should be ok til after Christmas. Our village is within walk-able distance and the main roads to it are now passable for HGV deliveries so alt least the shops have enough to keep stocks up. Here's a few pics of our village. This pic taken on Christmas day. All the snow has gone now, (31st Dec) thank goodness. Quite a weight of snow on the greenhouse roof. Didn't want to leave it in case we had even more.
Chagford Agricultural and Horticultural Show August 20th 2009 This years show (09) in aid of the Devon Air Ambulance. Just a few of my recent pictures taken at Chagford show. A wonderful day with a huge variety of entries. More of my pictures as a slide show here, with Jill's pictures here and on the Chagford Show website here.
Winter 09-10 (Previously on Sunday 19th July, please see update below). On the wall by our garden this Fox looks in need of feed but our hens are only a few metres away. We watched it for a while but possibly the house and the smell of our dog might have put it off and it jumped down from the wall and into the field and away. It may well be back so a constant lookout is necessary. Update 13th January 2010 Sadly we think this fox, going by the colour markings, died in the first week of the new year (2010) during the very cold weather. It now lies in a field not far from where this photo was taken, and as nature provides, will help other wild animals and birds survive this horrible weather. Our bird table has never been busier, with garden birds including somewhat rarer birds such as Hedge Sparrows, Nut Hatches, Wood Peckers, Jays. We moved the table nearer the house, this seems to have deterred the Crows and Magpies from coming to the table as it's too close to humans for comfort. The most territorial of the regular birds seem to be the Wagtails, which will patrol the bird table attempting to shoo off all who dare come close. He doesn't stand a chance overall and the Blackbirds have a higher pecking order. Our battery rescued free range Chickens have had to be culled, we had 2 left out of the original 3 and they had had a good life since being with us. The severe cold was more than they could cope with and they hadn't laid for weeks. They are not as prepared as normal hens, their genes are for battery conditions and rather than them suffer we decided to take the necessary action. A thaw has started today, thank goodness. Yesterday afternoon (12th Jan) saw a fresh 4 inches of snow in only a few hours causing havoc locally. The National news featured the A30 and A38 on Dartmoor which had again become impassable. Our neighbours have been using our facilities as their borehole had frozen up. I managed to get into Chagford yesterday morning and those that could get in were buying sufficient provisions to last for a few days just in case. Thank goodness we work from home. Update 16th Jan Prolonged overnight rain and much milder temperatures has seen most of the snow disappear, only the heaps in the drive remain. Occasional sunshine this morning is a much welcome sight. Lunchtime now and an afternoon walk is on the cards. The ground has remained frosted and it will take some time for it to thaw. Shame I didn't get round to lifting all the potatoes in the veg patch, with luck they will be ok.