Things have been moving on very quickly here a Rocombe Retreat ,with a new communal kitchen area for washing up and undercover area in case the weather is not perfect. You can now cook by your yurt or under cover! People asked for something to keep milk (and wine!) cool, so we have also added a communal fridge in this area.

We have planted more trees around the yurts this year and let the grass grow longer except for the paths to each yurt this is perfect habitat for wildlife.

Most of the sheep have moved  down the road to pastures new to an area I have rented for the first time this year, thats  made the cows much happier as they have more grass to eat now that those sheep aren’t stealing it from under their noses !!

The cows  have finished calving for the time being with just one straggler left that should produce soon, the calves are growing like mad in this warm sunny weather, they definitely prefer it to rain but who doesn’t . . .

Last month I put some barn owl boxes in the trees up the valley from the yurt field and fenced an area off from the cattle and sheep to create habitat for mice and voles this now quite long and so fingers crossed that this will attract the barn owls to come over the hill from Haccombe where they have a strong hold.

While on the subject of wildlife, we had a bbc wildlife presenter and photographer visit recently with his family (we aren’t naming names) and stayed in one of the yurts they loved it here and thought it was a great location. Apparently the dawn chorus here is one of the best he has heard with lots of thrushes in the area.  This proves that not using chemicals like slug pellets and improving habitat helps wild life to thrive.