News Feed

2025 was a great year for fruit. Redcurrants, gooseberries, rhubarb, raspberries and blackberries from the hedge. Apples and pears from the orchard we planted soon after we moved to Holly Farm. Hopefully we'll have peaches and plums next year as well.

Bit of a surprise when I went to pick some lettuce. This Wasp spider made its web there!

We've had loads of Comma butterflies this year. They obviously liked the verbena.

The prolonged hot weather this year made growing veg a bit of a challenge but I managed to win the trophy for most points in the fruit and veg classes at the All Saints Village Show.

We hadn't seen our cat Bramble for a while and put the wildlife camera in the barn to see if she was coming back to eat. Not only did we see Bramble, someone else's cat but also this hedgehog. It was good to see one as we've not see any around the farm even if it is eating the cats' food.

The hot weather this year has been great for flowers and I have extended the range I am growing. First time growing dahlias, the Meadow Brown butterflies loved the verbena and I won a prize for my sweet peas at the local show.

Look at this little beauty. We are trying to manage the grass to encourage wildlife and were very pleased to spot our first orchid in May.

This years pigs are British lop x Berkshires. They look like British lop with more sticky up ears. At least these could see me walking over the field with their pig nuts.

March 2024 saw three British Lop piglets on the farm. British Lop pigs are a rare, all-white, long-bodied pig breed known for its large, forward-hanging lop ears, originating near the Devon/Cornwall border in the UK and valued for its hardiness and quality pork. These docile pigs are excellent foragers, making them well-suited to pasture, and are considered a vulnerable breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST). We loved having them and caused much amusement running across the paddock with their ears flapping every time they heard the feed bucket.

In January 2024 Willow and Bramble joined us on Holly Farm. They are neutered feral cats who had been rescued form a farm in Wales. After a month being kept in the barn they were released. Willow has settled well and is around the farm a lot. Bramble seems to prefer the neighbours compost heap and returns just for her food !

Just a few of the pics from Halloween pumpkins

Following on from the success of our little pumpkin patch and the enthusiasm of the neighbours to see our Halloween display we decided to plant a few more pumpkins this year. And they went mad. The wet summer must be ideal growing conditions for squashes. We lost count after we had moved 850 pumpkins. we had warty ones, white ones, orange ones, huge ones. We opened for sales for 2 weeks leading up to Halloween and we got to meet so many lovely people all looking for the ideal pumpkin. Martin and Joel had far too much fun carving pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Planning next years display already.