New Life

One of the criteria when we were looking to move to Devon, was finding somewhere with enough land to "play with". Welle House has 1½ acres, and the back part had previously been separated off into a paddock. We ploughed a section of this up for vegetables, but this still left a large area unused. We put a few chickens on this (more on these in a later post), but these didn't keep the grass down, and cutting the lawns proper was taking enough time, without having to do the paddock as well. After much thought and debate, we settled on geese, and last spring bought 12 goslings from a breeder near Exeter. Over the course of the year, we lost one, but this was replaced by a gander owned by a friend in the village. Come Christmas, 7 of the original 12 became Christmas dinners for ourselves and others, and we were left with 2 ganders and 3 geese. The day after Valentines day, the geese started producing eggs, and 7 of these were placed in an incubator. 28 days later and the 3 citizens shown in the photograph duly appeared. At the time of the photo (early April) they were less than a week old. They are now on grass, still looking cute, but not nearly as cute as this And the real thrill (or frightening part) is that, after these 3 hatched, I put another 13 eggs in the incubator, and having checked last night, on Tuesday or Wednesday, we should have another 9 goslings to join these 3. AND I'm putting more eggs aside to incubate after they hatch. The question is, when will I find time for the Bed & Breakfast!

The beginning - second try

Ok. The first two attempts sucked. Trouble was, I hadn't really decided what I wanted to do. I now have.

This blog will be what I think a blog should be - a journal of my thoughts of the life I lead. And the first rule should be that it is for my benefit - something I can look back on in future years - and if others find it of interest, so much the better.

To start, however, I should probably put down some background.

I gave up office life in London about 3½ years ago, the plan being to sell up there, and buy a place in the South Hams of Devon - somewhere we could make a living income from, and somewhere we could enjoy a real quality of life. We found this house - 10 bedrooms, 3 (plus a bathroom) for the family, 4 (all en suite) for bed & breakfast, and 3 (plus 2 bathrooms and a 30 foot through kitchen lounge) self catering holiday accommodation. In addition, Welle House (this place) had 1½ acres of land - more than enough for ignorant city exiles to play with.

What we hadn't budgeted for was where the house was - East Prawle. East Prawle is a small village of about 200 souls (not including the holiday home owners) in the southernmost point of Devon. That's what the guide books will tell you. What you cannot appreciate until you live here is the depth of the community spirit, and how warmly we were absorbed (and that is the best word for it) into that spirit. Within 1 month of moving in, we knew we were home.

And it has only got better.

My plan is to use this to mix in our history here since we moved in with observations demonstrating why we have really found the "good life".

Autumn is definitely here!

An interesting start to the week. Beautiful weather over the weekend has given way to a more Autumnal feel. Even if the temperatures are above the norm, the morning mists when I let the chickens and geese out remind me that Summer is over.

The hedgerows remain weighed down with fruit. Several gallons of blackberry and sloe wine have already been started, and it will soon be time to gather the rosehips, which make a superb rosé. Our friends Rod & Poppy have let us into their orchard, and as a result we have about 2 cwt of apples, which should make enough apple wine and cider to see us through the winter. Local lore says that the abundant berries mean a hard winter!

Our holiday cottage is now let through Christmas and New Year, so Welle House should be jumping this December!

The beginning

This is very much an experiment, to compliment my existing site for my B&B in East Prawle. I hope to post photos through the year of the changes around the house and East Prawle, comments on the gigs at the Pigs Nose, and any other blurb I can think of.

If it doesn't work, no harm, but I think it may work.

Time will tell.