PICTURES OF HOW IT USED TO BE

Thanks to Bill and Sylvia Richardson who used to live at Woodmill, part of the Woodmill gang! We have some photos of how it used to be. Bill and Sylvia got in touch back when we first moved here and we have been friends ever since...you cant keep Woodmillers apart you know! We had a great afternoon looking at the photos so heres a few of them.

The one with the chap mucking out into a trailer outside the mill building...thats Bill
The one with pony and girl is Donna their daughter, outside what we now know to be Cottage 6 (Little Toms Cottage)
The Sylvia with the goats by the side of Buttercup cottage
And one looking down from the top veranda as we know it now towards Buttercup cottage before it was converted.

There are lots more but thought I would just give you these for now.

SPRING

I asked who had been chasing the ducks and Spring looked behind her as if to say what duck, wasnt me, when she was the one tearing around the field trying to get the duck. But here she looks a calm as a cucumber!

SMARTIE HIDING

Smartie is best friends with Tim in the office and where ever he is, Smartie has to be, so she made her special bed squished between the wall and scanner, as if to blend in and we wouldn't notice!!

MUST BE GETTING WARMER

I saw this beautiful butterfly today on the heather, it was stunning. I took a moment in my busy day to admire it and in my small moment of quietness that lasted all of 3.5 seconds Smartie took a flying leap from the chair to see me ...missed my leg that she was aiming at and fell not so elegantly down the side of the pot and scat the butterfly off to pastures new!!! OH to have those quite moments eh!

FROST AND SNOW DAMAGE

Frost and snow has cost a fair bit, with damages to quite a few of the pots and not all the shrubs have survived the winter....but we are still here!!!!

SUNS OUT

I thought I would share this picture with you.. Pete said I should just put an entry in of a wall and floor or something, because thats all we have seen for a few weeks. Its been manic painting, repairing, cleaning with a toothbrush and bleaching before we reopen again. We only shut for 28 days and its like its a knock out or something. There is paint, filler, bleach, sugar soap, ordering and buying the reams of lists that needs to be in the cottages... all over the place. You really don't realise how much goes into this until you do it...mind you I guess I am fussy, I just want it to be as good as I can get it for all y guests.I know some people don't bother, but I would like to come on holiday here!.. SO instead of Petes rubbish idea I thought I would take a picture whilst the sun was out of Buttercup Cottage from the veranda!

SMALL BUT DEADLY!

These are the little monsters that eat all my plants... well these guys and Shadow, she is a real nightmare, I have craters in the garden where soil should be and she ate half a tree that makes a seat in the garden....oh and ran away with the roots of my very expensive rose bush!!!!......

DUKEY STILL STRUGGLING

Really worried about Duke he has been on painkillers for a couple of weeks, but he really isn't good. He is old and the cold just hits him hard, I try to shut him in the warm but then he goes mad and gets distressed and gets stiff. So the best for him is to be out with his friends and go int he shelter whenever he wants. But I will have to speak with the farrier this week and see what else we can do for him. Hes such a lovely old man, I would hate to loose him, but we'll see, its an ongoing problem.

STEPS!

Now we are nearly getting somewhere we need steps up to our new front door, Andy and Ant are brilliant at these, I love the wibbly wobblyness of the granite. I have been wanting some since they built similar ones for us behind cottage 6. It takes a while but it will be well worth it. CAnt wait until Spring when we can plant up and things will grow on the disturbed soil areas.

AGRICULTURAL STORAGE

We started the driveway in December and after a week we were called off and then it was Christmas and then we had the snow so it has been a stop start project really, but after laying concrete and digging for ever! we are finally getting there, the storage does look out of place and now we can put machinery under cover and help reduce the fixing costs!!! We will be laying grasscrete in front of it so it reads with the paddock,but cant really lay that until Ant and Andy have finished with the heavy stuff and bringing the big truck in. I guess another month and we should be getting there then...It will be so handy and we now have our own entrance to our house which will really help. I think Andy and Ant think they live here in the winter, they were building cottage 6 last year with us!...Wonder what next winter will bring....mmm plan a hatching!!!