Fields of gold

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I just can’t resist heading out to our fields of gold with my camera at the moment!

golden fields of daffodils

golden fields of daffodils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

meg in daffs

 

 

 

megs tail in daffs

 

Meg is always ready for a walk in the daffodil fields, finding rabbits both real and imaginary in between the rows. Our 2 young guests this week aged 5 and 8 have made frequent trips out to pick daffodils this week, much to Meg’s delight and indeed I was the lucky recipient of a bunch of these freshly picked flowers this morning as a thank you for their holiday this week. How touching!

The bulbs are often planted and left to multiply for a few years – I think these fields have been growing for 4 years and will be lifted this summer and the fields re-seeded with grass and we’ll have bulb fields elsewhere. These 2 fields produced flowers, ready to pick much earlier than most in the area this year, starting just after Christmas. This was due in part to them being an early variety but also because we are relatively sheltered here and these are south facing areas. Flowers were grown at Boscrowan years ago and privet was grown along some of the hedges to serve as a windbreak – it’s great that it is still so useful for wind protection now.  The horses appreciate it too when they are turned out in the daytime and there’s a howling wind and rain.

 

 

 

Despite the storms…………….

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The weather hasn’t been particularly good of late, but we have had spells of glorious sunshine and blue skies, only this morning even. I’ve been out doing my homework for my camera course so thought I’d share a few shots of Boscrowan with you.

 

buff cockerel

 

daphne

The wonderful perfume of Daphne Odora fills the air beside Ring and Thimble back door.

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The hardy Camellia Donation.

 

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A beautiful iris I planted 2 years ago on the garden wall.

Then there’s my panning practice in a daffodil field – I had a patient subject!

Huckleberry in the daffodils Huckleberry in the daffodils 3

Let’s see if I progress over the weeks to come……………………..

Behind the scenes running a self catering business

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We aim to give our guests a truly enjoyable and memorable holiday experience  so it’s not an occasional once over every few years with safe magnolia paint throughout because it’s cheaper and easy to touch up but it’s Farrow and Ball in colours that we think appropriate to each cottage and its surroundings. So, at this time of year it’s busy with painting and decorating and ensuring the cottages are all spick and span for the year ahead.

Ring and Thimble has had a bathroom makeover – I’ve always loved the green blue wall colour in there but now we have changed a shade or two to card  room green and popped in an enormous new mirror. A lovely relaxing colour for a restful bath. The massive pine A frames are now a lovely soft white colour and blend beautifully with the vaulted ceiling.

 

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Peace and Plenty twin room has new curtains, fresh out of the workroom here and a change of headboard colour. I’ve kept to the lime white walls as I think it keeps it light and airy.

Peace and Plenty twin bedroom steaming and dressing

The curtains are steamed and dressed after hanging to help them hang well. The ties are removed after about 24 hours but are often a talking point for the uninitiated! They will be whipped off before our next guests later this week. The heading is hand gathered – much smarter than curtain heading tape.

David has been busy splitting logs for the year after next in one of the daffodil fields. We like to burn well seasoned logs and he has four woodburners to feed plus it seems one belonging to our younger daughter who is often spotted refilling her bags!

 

splitting logs

This is just the tip of the iceberg – there is such a variety of tasks that ultimately link to our holiday cottage business. Tonight I’ve been on the first session of a photography course to hopefully help me to take better pictures for our website and social media etc – we’ll see if there’s an improvement – but it’s rather fun for a change.