Hi All,
We’ve had a busy past few weeks at Blue Barn, getting it completed and ready for opening March 12th 2018. It has been an exciting and fun journey and we hope that you like how we have completed Blue Barn as a deluxe rural holiday home for couples, friends and families alike! Each room is very different, we wanted to create a homely environment with quirky, interesting twists which are appetising on the eye. We are really pleased with how the country pine cabinet turned out, which is in the kitchen. It was thickly painted in a yellow colour, with several layers of varnish on, but we knew it’s home was to be Blue Barn’s kitchen and so we spent a day stripping it down, sanding and then waxing it, and the result is great; it adds real character to the place.
As you can see in the image above, we have had a wood burning stove installed. It gives the lounge a real cosy feel and it’s going to come in handy in the winter months! Alongside the stove, there is underfloor heating throughout the kitchen, living area and main bathroom and the bedrooms have radiators in them. The local pub (The Full Moon Inn) also has a cracking open fire heating the place up during the winter months, well worth a visit for an ale or two!
Talking of heating, it’s been a cold week this week with some snow, and all the media hype of ‘The Beast from the East’ probably hasn’t helped! As you know, we are big into our wildlife and the birds are hungry and cold at the moment – we have loads of feeders out in the garden keeping them stocked up on seed, peanuts, suet blocks, niger seeds and sunflower seeds. They are getting through so much, we are almost refilling them daily!! We’ve also started to see the beginnings of mating behaviour, so spring really (hopefully) can’t be too far off now. There are binoculars and a garden bird guide in Blue Barn for those who want to take a closer look at the beautiful species that reside around here. The photos below show the recent snow, Cocoa (the black cat) came with me on the rounds this morning and decided to jump in the photo. She’s a very friendly, loving cat and no doubt you’ll see her when staying at Blue Barn.
Blue Barn garden Feb 2018
Wildlife shack (visible out of the Living Area windows)
Whilst it has been cold, the ducks are prolifically laying 4 eggs a day and the hens aren’t doing too bad either! We have just started supplying the local pub with some duck eggs each week so watch out for a tasty dish on the special menu including them. Our poultry flock are a fab bunch and full of character, if you would like to meet them, give them some treats and have chicken cuddles then just let us know when booking or at check-in and we can sort something out! (Please don’t enter the poultry paddock without Kate or Chris).
We had Larry the lamb Dec-Jan for grazing, along with his herd!
Local watering hole!
Unfortunately Larry the lamb and his lovely herd of yummy mummies and Hugh the ram have now gone home, they joined us for a couple of months of winter grazing and Larry is the first 2018 lamb of the flock. They belong to some of our friends, and I’m hoping I can have a ewe and lamb back after the rest of the herd have had their lambs! Watch this space….
Happy reading folks, and hopefully we’ll see some of you over the coming year!
Best wishes
Kate & Chris