A Catch-up Blog

The Brecon Fox by Carly Quinton

I know you've all been missing my regular blog posts so, as it was August when I last wrote, I thought I'd better write a new one!

I really don’t know where the time goes, and I know that quite a few people I’ve spoken to about it, admit that time seems to have acquired an elastic quality since the Covid-19 pandemic overturned all our previous experiences – some things seem to have happened only a short while ago, whilst others appear to be much further back in time. I do wonder whether life will ever return to pre-pandemic days, as I find myself making excuses to myself for not going out and about: “Oh, there’ll be lots of people in the supermarket/walking that route/going to that gathering – I’ll go another day, when there are less folk about!”

August was quite busy with gardening jobs, another two farm sits for the alpacas and a three-day dog sit for one of my gardening clients, too. The dog sit coincided with my birthday and also a visit from Dave as he was on his two-week factory shut down, so I got to spend time with both him and Jeni and on the Friday evening we went out for a meal at a local restaurant, which was superb. I’d asked for practical things for my birthday presents – a log basket and a companion set, so was quite surprised to be given a very lightweight parcel from Jeni and Dave that looked nothing like either of those two things! Imagine my delight when I unwrapped a beautiful picture, painted by one of Jeni’s friends, entitled ‘The Brecon Fox’. The colours are so vibrant, and it will look stunning above my fireplace in the sitting room! I also treated myself to a mantelshelf, which is made from a recycled scaffold board by a place in Frome, appropriately called The Scaff Shop. I feel very ‘on trend’ as it is flame finished and then oiled, otherwise known as shou sugi ban and is very popular at the moment – I just like the way it shows up the grain of the wood!

My painting and my new mantel shelf

My time at the alpaca farm was quite tiring, but still great fun, as it is such a lovely setting next to the River Chew in a small hamlet. The reason that it was more tiring than previously was because they had decided to keep not one, but two, pups from the litter that Bonnie, the Labrador, had had back at the end of last year. They were absolutely adorable, but full of energy and mischief, and had to be walked at least twice a day. Before, when I had gone to stay, I’d incorporated Bonnie’s walks with checking and feeding the stock, leaving her tied up next to the field shelters whilst I fed and topped up water and poo-picked the two groups of alpacas and checked on the sheep. However, I couldn’t safely do this with three dogs (especially as the pups had chewed through their leads the previous week, when Chris had done just that!) so I was taking them out for a romp in the fields at both ends of the day, as well as doing the circuit to see to the stock! I also think I was already tired when I got there from all of the gardening jobs I was doing and the continued painting and decorating of the house. There is still quite a bit to do in the house, but it all slowed down considerably once I’d had the new carpet fitted, as that effectively got rid of my ‘workshop’ and each job had to be thought out carefully.

Would you believe that this is Dougal, the alpaca I bottle fed with him sitting on my lap!

The 'pups' in a rare, quiet moment!

I have lived in Somerset for more than 35 years now and, until recently, I had only climbed Glastonbury Tor once. However, when my brother and his family were staying in the area at the beginning of the summer, we spent a day together and ended up climbing the Tor from the town side, which is slightly less steep, but still quite a climb. The view from the top was spectacular and I felt that I should do this more often. Roll forward a few weeks and I was in the middle of doing a spot of decorating, when I realised that I was short of milk for a cuppa. I decided to walk along to my local shop and buy some but then, realising what a beautiful day it was, I just carried on going and ended up walking along a lane and climbing the Tor from the other side! Goodness knows what people thought, as I was dressed in an ancient hoodie and paint-spattered work trousers, but then you see all sorts of clothes in Glastonbury so, probably, no-one even noticed!

The Tor from a distance

Looking back at St Michael's Tower

The end of September saw me back at Dundry, looking after the poultry and other assorted livestock, whilst Geoff and Sally made their second visit of the year to Tresco. Sally had felt that her collection of cats was dwindling (down from 6 to 4, with two of them being very elderly) so had acquired a kitten! She has one of those wooden plaques in her kitchen which says, ‘One cat short of crazy!’ – I beg to differ!! He is just a farm moggy, but very affectionate, with an enormous purr and a very quiet miaow. He wasn’t allowed outside as he hadn’t had his second injection and some of the other cats had been quite poorly earlier on in the summer with cat flu that they had picked up from somewhere. This added another dimension to the task of looking after the cats, which is getting quite complex with dietary and medicinal requirements being factored in. He is also a one-kitten destruction team, as he leaps onto any surface scattering everything in his wake – I ended up gathering all of the photos in the family room and putting them away as he was knocking them over like a domino run, in his efforts to catch flies! Whilst I was there, I managed to bring a bit of order to the loganberries and blackberries in the fruit cage, but the gooseberries and red and black currants will have to wait for a later date, as I couldn’t see what needed pruning with the huge growth that they had put on this year. I have noticed that a lot of shrubs have put on amazing growth this year and my Mum’s Magnolia Stellata, which has been quite a small tree for about 30 years, suddenly had a huge growth spurt.

Teo, the new kitten

The weeds in my garden have continued to flourish, but I am gradually working my way through to the bottom of the plot. The most challenging thing has been the sedge grass, which makes huge root clumps and is quite difficult to dig out and is everywhere! At the beginning of October the Leylandii hedge was removed, and all the stumps ground out, and the new fence will be going up shortly which will give me a better idea of the space I have to play with. The team did an amazing job cutting down the hedge, untangling it from an old wire fence, dragging it through my neighbour’s side entrance and then chipping it all. I was pleased to know that all of the chippings go to a local farm for animal bedding and will eventually rot down on the dung heap and be returned to the soil.

Now you see it,

now you don't!

In the middle of October I saw that Fairport Convention were going to be in concert in Wells Cathedral and asked Jeni if she’d like to go with me. She wasn’t very keen, as it’s not her sort of music at all, so I gave myself a stern talking to, and went by myself. It felt very odd to be at a venue after all this time, especially as all of the seating was socially distanced, and I found myself sitting behind one of the enormous stone pillars (I should have booked earlier and bought a more expensive ticket!), so I couldn’t see the band at all, but I could hear them very well. The whole event was made more magical by the fact that it coincided with a huge sculpture of the moon being displayed in the chancel, and this glowed ethereally throughout the concert, as it was lit from within.

The moon in Wells Cathedral

My view of Fairport Convention!

Well, I think that more or less brings me up-to-date on my goings on in the last few months. As the nights draw in and my log burner gets lit every evening, I feel myself hunkering down for winter. The deer, that I have spotted in the field below my garden, are becoming more regular in their appearances, grazing on the grass and browsing the hedgerows, and I have seen a pair of jays eating the apples still clinging to the old trees, and a fox moving boldly across from a possible den at the base of one tree to the far hedgerow, where he slipped through a gap and disappeared. The leaves are turning golden and gently fluttering to the ground and soon there will just be bare branches reaching to the sky. I feel very privileged to be able to watch the seasons changing from the comfort of my bedroom and dining room windows! Most mornings I wake before dawn and prop myself up in bed so that I can watch the sky lighten and colour gradually return to the landscape – a very special and magical way to start the day!

The view from the top of the Tor