If you’re coming down to stay at Boscrowan from London have you ever considered booking a berth on the night riviera sleeper train from Paddington to Penzance I wonder?

It’s probably the closest you’ll ever get to travelling on the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter stories I imagine!

Have now used this service on several occasions I can highly recommend it – when you consider if you are travelling alone you can even book a single cabin, room service – breakfast in bed, a washbasin, toiletries, crisp white cotton bed linen and all for just over £100 or even as little as £71 on one journey I did  –  this is incredible value. You will arive at Penzance just before 8 am with the whole day ahead of you, a good public transport service when you are here – the open top bus in the summer months, not to mention buses and trains and car hire firms. A holiday without the stress and cost of a long car journey, and of course the sustainability issues!

At Boscrowan we even provide beautiful bespoke covered coathangers for our guests! Not the usual made in China satin variety, needless to say, but made the ‘made at Boscrowan’ variety, made from designer fabric offcuts from our busy Soft Furnishing business here www.finecurtains.co.uk

It recently occurred to me that we could have a teaching day, together with a delicious lunch (you can normally tempt even better with some good food) and raise some money for charity – so a friend and I set about this task and 2 days ago held a most successful day here – a 2 hour practical session and a 2 course lunch with wine and we raised in excess of £560 for Marie Curie Cancer Care and everyone went home with a beautiful coathanger.

Perhaps we might even repeat this event!

The buff orpington hen who  is raising 6 Indian runner and 3 call ducks is still enjoying being a Mum to what has become a very wet and noisy rabble. She walks around clucking protectively and encouragely when they are out in the poultry enclosure and still goes to bed with them at night although I have observed that they are no longer sleeping under her, but all a safe distance apart now – amazing the maternal instincts of the buff orpingtons who obviously do not mind what eggs they hatch (last year we tried turkey eggs under them and they hatched 2 out of the 4)

Also this morning we noticed that a call duck had hatched 2 ducklings – the first time ever that we have ever had one go broody and successfully hatch  eggs, which is why we always put duck eggs under the buff orpingtons rather than expect the ducks to consider raising their own – too busy splashing in water normally!