West Ilkerton Farm News

2009-04-21T06:05:00.000-07:00

Our most important piece of news is that, after nearly a year, we have been granted planning permission to install a 20Kw vertical axis wind turbine at West Ilkerton. This is very exciting and also rather daunting because there's now a lot of work to do in preparation. Hopefully by August we will be generating most of the power we use on the farm (as long as the wind blows). It's our ambition to lie in bed during bouts of bad weather and think of all the money we're saving!
In case anyone is worried that West Ilkerton will be blighted by a noisy, monstrous great turbine, the whole structure will be just over 12m high, and it will be almost silent. See http://www.alvestaenergy.com/ to get an idea of what it will look like.
On the subject of electricity, some regular visitors may remember that a few years ago the Sycamore trees at the front of the house were pollarded because their branches were a danger to the power lines and the house. Well, they grew back so fast that they were a danger again, so Sarah's boyfriend, Luke, (who's a tree surgeon) trimmed them down again for us. More like a coppice than a pollard this time. It's just as well he did, because two of them were completely rotten inside and full of foul-smelling liquid which sprayed everywhere - and we'd just cleaned all the windows!

Lambing didn't go as expected. For a start, Sarah was supposed to be No 1 Shepherd this year (sadly Bernie, the original No 1 Shepherd, had to retire) but within a few days she was very ill with a chest infection. The chest infection didn't respond to antibiotics because it was caused by a virus, which has now given her swollen glands and a high temperature. She's in bed, and under doctor's orders to stay there for at least a week. You just can't get reliable staff nowadays....

In the lambing shed

So, yet again, Chris did the bulk of the work (3am to 7 pm) and I did from 8 pm until 1 or 2 am. We were helped by our faithful band of guests: Sophie Perks and friends and Alex & Charlie Howlett. Also, a vet student called Jake came for a week to gain some practical experience with sheep. I think he's decided to specialise in dogs & cats!

The poor sheep had lost a lot of condition in the snow during February, and the first lambs to be born were underweight. An additional problem was several ewes had little or no milk. The result has been more tame lambs than usual. Once all our willing bottle-feeders (Sophie, Alex and Charlie) had left, Chris and I had a breakfast 'Board Meeting' to discuss the urgent issue of who was going to feed 11 lambs six times a day with a bottle. By lunchtime we had bought and installed a Shepherdess lamb feeder www.scanutec.com . This is an ingeneous fake Mummy, which is essentially a bucket full of hot water with another bucket full of milk inside and two teats on one side. The whole thing is heated by a device which switches itself on and off, giving hot flushes for added authenticity. The lambs love it, as they can help themselves whenever they want. They are growing rapidly, and don't seem to get the pot bellies of bottle-fed lambs.

The weather for the past month has been pretty good. In fact (dare I say it?) we need rain. It's such a help to get warm, dry weather at this time of year because there are so many baby animals outside. Yesterday was beautifully warm and sunny, so I took some photos:

Calves enjoying the sunshine

Our new bull, Wellshead Duke

Exmoor Horn ewe and lamb

Our first foal (Ivy's foal) As you can see, he's a colt.

Ivy, Claret and Christmas Pudding have foaled so far. They all have colt foals. Still, an alive colt foal is better than no foal at all.

A few days after birth, Claret's foal was very poorly and couldn't get up. We weren't sure what was wrong, but thought he could have a navel infection. Chris gave him an injection of 'Pen and Strep', and within 12 hours he was running behind his mum again. In fact, he was so lively we couldn't catch him to complete the three-day course of injections!

Claret with her colt foal the day after he was injected (still looking ill, but standing, suckling and impossible to catch). He now appears to have made a complete recovery.

Some RSPB volunteers are doing a bird survey of the farm, which should prove very interesting. Mike Howlett, who stayed in the cottage for a week during lambing, took these photos of a buzzard and a dipper at West Ilkerton:

Chris went out counting deer and took these photos of West Ilkerton from the unusual vantage point of Butter Hill:

Make a line up * from the asterisk, and West Ilkerton is the grey blob just below the cloud shadow on the far hill.

See?!

http://www.westilkerton.co.uk/

2009-02-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

Well, It turns out that the snow we had at the beginning of the week was only a dress-rehearsal. We woke up this morning to this:

First we fed and watered all the animals in the farmyard (including a little heifer calf which our cow, Livelong, had at midnight last night), and then we put the horses out in our safest fields to stretch their legs:

Winaway knee-deep in snow

By midday the snow stopped, thank goodness, so Chris wrapped some lengths of chain round the tractor tyres and braved the hill to Cow Field to get some silage:

One lump or two?

After lunch we went over to the other side of the farm to find the sheep and bring them back to the safety of our sheltered valley field, away from the northerly wind. The snow was already drifting dangerously. One ewe had died, and two others were suffering from cold and exhaustion, but we managed to get the flock to follow the tractor tracks slowly over the fields and down the lane to The Cleve. If panicked, the sheep jumped out of the tracks and became stuck in the snow. We had to go very gently, and the dogs stayed at home. The silage bale on the front of the tractor acted as the carrot and I was a well-padded stick, complete with cuddly Winnie The Pooh hat. Mist The Sheepdog would have laughed, but the main thing is it worked. The flock is now in a sheltered field, with plenty to eat.

The sheep finally made it to the Cleve, just before dark.

The only animals which seem to be perfectly happy in this weather are the Exmoor ponies.

2009-02-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Whilst skidding around defrosting drinking troughs and feeding hungry animals, Chris and I stocked up on potential Christmas card photos. Please vote for your favourites by leaving a comment at the end of this blog (guess where they are on the farm, too):

If you didn't know cows could be smug, you do now!

2009-01-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! We're getting a proper winter for a change, so let's hope it'll be followed by a proper summer, with plenty of sun by day and the odd refreshing shower by night.
I'll start with some sad news: Basil the Shire had to be put down before Christmas because his heart was giving up and he was filling up with fluid. He was put down at home, munching on his favourite food.

Dear Old Basil
Now for the good news. We had a great Christmas, and 18 people (four generations of the Eveleigh family) sat down in the dining room for Christmas lunch.

Sarah on Bella and Chris on Tempo at the Boxing Day meet

Calving started on 2nd January, with three calves in one day! Two bull calves and one heifer. Mothers and babies are fine. It's always a thrill to see new life appear as if by magic.

On Tuesday David Kennard came to West Ilkerton with his sheepdogs, Mist and Gail, to film a scene for his latest Mist DVD with our singing Exmoor ponies! You'll have to watch Channel 5 at Easter to hear the full story. See www.mistthesheepdog.co.uk for further details. If you haven't seen the Mist stories on Channel 5, you've missed a real treat. The DVD is one of the most watched in our self-catering cottage.

David Kennard filming at West Ilkerton

2008-11-29T04:47:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely surprise in the post today (makes a change from bills and junk mail advertising monogrammed silver toothpicks as the perfect gift for HIM!): Chris and Cherry Hughes sent me a DVD full of photos of the 2008 pony handling course. Here are some of the best (more of the best on the Exmoor pony page of our website http://www.westilkerton.co.uk/ )

Everyone was given a talk about how to handle ponies

Here's Claire with Rocky. He didn't like having his headcollar buckled to begin with, so Vanessa taught us a handy trick with baler twine

Nikki and Kirbie: love at first sight

The ponies appreciated Colm's laid-back attitude

Vanessa showed us how to use a rope to teach a pony to lift its hind feet

Then we had to do it (Boudicca was overwhelmed by my bottom!)

On the second day we took the ponies into the yard and introduced them to scary things like trailers, hoops, plastic and road signs

Nikki with Kirbie and Cathy with Bucks Fizz

Shaun with Sunny Delight

Lisa with Fanta

Cheryl with Boudicca

Nikki with Kirbie and Cherry with Sandy

Rocky, Lisa, Vanessa, Kirbie, Nikki, Sandy, Cherry, Philip, Boudicca and Cheryl

The grown-up Harry Potter, ready to fly off on his turbo-charged glove-on-a-stick to work his magic on more ponies

2008-11-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

The pony handling course was a great success. This year we handled the ponies before they were inspected and branded, and it definitely made each process less traumatic. The foals have now been turned back with the herd for the winter, and will go to their new homes next spring. All three colts passed inspection. It was decided that the young filly was too small to inspect and brand, so she'll be presented for inspection next autumn.

The colts are:
Ilkerton Sandy 265/22 (named by Cherry)
Ilkerton Kirbie 265/23 (named by Nikki and Cheryl)
Ilkerton Rocky 265/24 (named by?)

Many thanks to Vanessa and Philip Bee http://www.positivehorsemanship.co.uk/ for running the course, and to Vanessa, Philip and Lisa for helping on inspection day.

The adult ponies were obviously overjoyed to be reunited with the youngsters, and the mares instantly suckled their foals. Hopefully, by handling them and then turning them back with the herd for their first winter, we will have given the foals a good start in life.
As the fox says in The Little Prince, 'You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.'

Here are a few photos of the pony handling course (more to follow):

2008-10-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

George came home from Scotland for a few days last week. It was great to see him again. He's sold his car to Sarah, so he had to drive the Beduki. (Don't worry, it doesn't go on the roads; he borrowed our car to go and see his friends!)

Sarah came home for the weekend. It sounds as if she's having a wonderful time at the RAC Cirencester. I think we've had a carefully edited version of events so far!

The sheep have been gathered off Ilkerton Ridge (the area of moorland on which we have grazing rights) for the winter. Beetle was a great help.

When Chris goes round the farm every morning he tries to take his camera with him. It's an old-fashioned film camera, so he always has to wait a few weeks for the photos to be developed. In his latest batch I especially liked this one of a cow sympathising with a newly-shorn Exmoor Horn ram. The poor sheep had to cope with endless bad weather after they were shorn this year.

2008-10-02T11:15:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have been following Winaway's progress from birth, here are some photos of Sarah training her last week. At last Cow Field, which is our only flat-ish field, has been harvested so it can be used for important things like pony-training! Winaway has a lovely nature, but is not above a good old teenage temper-tantrum. She is about 15 hands, which is a bit disappointing because both her parents were 16 hands plus. However, good things come in small packages, and it'll be less far to fall. Many a true word said in jest....

2008-09-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

At last the weather is good enough for us to attempt to make silage! September 18th must be a new record for late harvest at West Ilkerton (usually we've made all our hay and silage by the beginning of August).

We've been to yet another Eveleigh wedding!

Nick, Hannah & Bill

Brian, Sarah & Chris

Jack and Harry (our Exmoor geldings) are back home after a summer spent with Vanessa and Philip Bee. They starred in a TV programme where an unlucky celebrity spent a week in a large field surrounded by Exmoor ponies, to see how man and ponies would interact. Apparently, it was extremely interesting! The TV crew called Jack & Harry The Chuckle Brothers. If anyone is interested in buying Jack and/or Harry, please let us know. We want to keep them here until the beginning of November, but then they will be for sale.

Well that's all for now. I've got to take harvest tea up to the workers (after I've put on my coat, scarf, thermal underwear...)

2008-09-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

RIP Barbrook Post Office.

Barbrook Post Office traded for the last time yesterday. It was a sad day for everyone who lives in and around Barbrook, and especially for Sally and Ian Gunn who ran the Post Office for over thirty years. Our nearest Post Office is now in Lynton, a nine mile round trip away, so letters and parcels will be posted from here on Mondays and Fridays only in future.
I took these pictures of Sally and Ian outside Barbrook Post Office this Tuesday, before the sign above the door had to be taken down.
The end of an error.

2008-08-19T07:38:00.001-07:00

Photo of lambs at West Ilkerton by Kay Taylor
It's great that people read this farm news; I've had several e-mails recently asking whether we're all OK because there's been no farm news for ages! Thanks for your concern, but the answer is we're just forgetful and inefficient.
The main news has been the awful weather. Thank goodness, we managed to bale Ranscombe Field to big bale hay in July, but we still haven't managed to make hay or silage from most of the laid up fields (about 30 acres in all). It's turning mushy and slug-infested now. Yum! Yum!
Our poor visitors are in danger of becoming mushy too. All of them have been wonderfully good-natured, with comments like,'Thank goodness we're not camping,' and 'At least we're not on a flood plain!'
I managed to make good use of the one good day of the whole summer with a Lundy Collectors' Club day trip to Lundy. As usual, there were lots of new things to see and take photos of. Here's an inevitable pony grazing on the West Side, near Quarter Wall, looking north.

Sarah has made great progress with training Winaway this summer (with some initial help from Vanessa Bee). She and Winaway now go for long walks every day, in preparation for riding out. Although she's just turned three, Winaway is still growing, so we don't want to ride her quite yet.

The Taylor family stayed with us in July. Katya Taylor is very keen on ponies, and she often went for walks over the farm in the evening with her father. Here she is on the field we call Opposite.

For those of you who've been following the progress of the Beduki (Bedford truck crossed with a Suzuki jeep), it went to the Riphay Scuffle, and was driven around and much admired, but Sarah and Chris decided they loved it too much to subject it to the Scuffle.

The following photos show why the Scuffle is the ultimate punishment for a car that's been naughty and failed its MOT!

So, in case you were wondering, that's what farmers do when it's too wet to farm!

Sarah's friend, Luke, came to pick up the caravan today. They're going to live in it during Dorset Steam Fair. Luke has a pet raccoon (have I spelt that right, Marcia?!) called Vince. Here are some pictures of Vince having a lovely time in the stream outside the house, eating snails. The Hagger family are staying in the cottage this week. Shannon Hagger is crouching to take a photo.

2008-06-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

We had an action-packed half term. On Tuesday, Chris' brother, Brian married Suzanne (and about time too!) It was a great day, with a wedding breakfast at Powderham, followed by a coach trip to the marriage ceremony, followed by another coach trip to Haytor on Dartmoor for ice creams and a walk. Lots of family were present, and the grandchildren were bridesmaids and pageboys:

Thursday and Friday were spent injecting all the sheep against Bluetongue (the cattle have got this treat in store next week). George Rhind (who plays rugby, skis, sails....) broke his arm attempting to catch a lamb and spent most of the day with me in casualty, poor chap (poor chap for the time spent in casualty, not the company he kept, you understand). Working with sheep is now officially a dangerous sport. The photo is of Sarah injecting, George marking the injected sheep and Sophie keeping the sheep in the pen. Ironically, the first photo includes a marvellous 'before' study of George's left arm.

Sarah has also been busy making her 'scuffle' vehicle (with Chris' help) this week. She's hoping to get it finished in time for the Riphay scuffle in August. It's a unique combination of old Bedford truck, old Suzuki jeep and old oil tank. So far, nothing has been purchased, except a can of WD40.

On Saturday it was the Exmoor Foxhounds Point-to-Point. Chris has been promoted from car park steward to ring steward. He looked very smart and responsible in his bowler.
Sophie (my niece) and Betty (my sister) were staying with Mum for half term. Sophie was delighted to be re-united with the tame lambs. She sent me these photos of the farm which she took last week. Thanks, Sophie!

Cate, John and William Fade were staying in the cottage for half term. Cate sent us these lovely photos of William and Sophie with armfuls of tame lamb:

2008-04-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally sprung.

Phew! Lambing's over for another year!

Oliver Willerton is on the quad bike with Beetle. Oliver is staying in the cottage this week with Nikki and Richard, his mum and dad. Richard and Oliver have been a great help because they drive the quad bike round the fields every evening to make sure the ewes are with their lambs. This is a very tricky job; like the game 'Pick up Pairs', except the sheep keep moving! Nikki has been putting her nursing skills to good use in the tame lamb department.

All these photos were taken around the farm today (going for a walk with the camera is much more fun than doing the VAT return!)

2008-04-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Lambing is nearly over (38 more to lamb) and touch wood it's gone very well. We've had a good team this year, with Bernie on his usual 10 days 'holiday', George Rhind as our very capable student, Sarah at home most of the time (with the occasional breaks for parties which couldn't be missed) and Chris and I taking the roles of manager, cook and nightwatchman/woman. Sophie Perks and her friends took after the tame lamb department for a week, which was a great help.

The weather hasn't been particularly kind this year, with hail, thunder and the odd snow flurry, but at least there have been some dry periods so the animals can get warm and dry before the next onslaught.

The first Exmoor foal to be born was found dead in the field after a particularly rough night, poor little thing. The second foal was born today, and seems to be fine. He's a colt foal.

On the subject of horses, Arabella is now recovering from a nasty infection which the vet thinks was Lyme Disease (a bacterial infection caught from ticks). Thankfully, she's now making a slow recovery, aided by injections of mammouth proportions which she bore with incredible good humour (perhaps she was just too ill to protest).

George (Eveleigh) has four black Labrador puppies (all dogs) to sell if anyone is interested. Price negotiable. They were born three weeks ago up in Scotland, but he's probably coming down south for a few days in July and can deliver them to English homes then. George's gundog bitch, Ali, is the mother. The father is a working black Lab. Unfortunately Ali isn't registered because she was a rescue dog, but she's a lovely Labrador and a very good, willing worker with a gentle, biddable nature. Pics to follow, when George can get near a post box.

That's all for now. I'm on night duty, so I'd better go and see what's happening in the lambing shed

The foal which was born today

Any spelling, punctuation and grammatical mistakes in this blog are due to sleep deprivation, not incompetence!

2008-03-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

As we feared, Mike the bull wasn't firing on all cylinders last year. We should have almost finished calving by now, but so far just five calves have been born (all heifers). We replaced Mike with our new bull, Winston, in July 2007 so we'll probably get a surge of calves in April (lambing time) which will cause problems if the weather's bad. Here are some photos of the calves when they were in the back yard while Chris mucked out the shed and gave them clean straw.
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The stags are back on the farm again. On 4th March, we counted 27 red deer stags on Opposite (the field opposite the farmhouse). I took a photo with Chris' camera.
When I was spring-cleaning the holiday cottage this morning, I saw three stags from the window of the master bedroom, so I took a photo of what guests may see from their bedroom. It's usually sunnier than this, of course! Chris saw a roe buck by the track to Barham Field the other day, and took this photo. We seem to be becoming a wildlife sanctuary. It's lovely to see so many deer on the farm, as long as they leave a bit of grass for the sheep, cattle and ponies.

2008-03-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Chris and Sarah on Arabella & Tempo

Chris didn't want a birthday party, so the Exmoor Foxhounds met at West Ilkerton and we had a party anyway. Our wonderful neighbour, Jim Sanders, collected £1 coins from lots of friends and neighbours and bought a lovely Rowan tree which Richard Leworthy supplied and planted. Many thanks to everyone for making the day so special. Ken Walker made a speech, Jim Sanders sang, and everyone had a good time despite occasional flurries of sleet and snow. We were very pleased that Ada Tucker came. She was born at West Ilkerton and lived here until the farm was sold to my Grandma in the late 1960s. It's always a treat to see Ada at West Ilkerton. I took a photo of her standing by the entrance to the yard (last picture below). The photo at the top of the Farm page of our website http://www.westilkerton.co.uk/ is of Ada standing in the yard when she was about nine years old.

2008-01-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a happy Christmas. We had a lovely time. I've discovered the secret is to delegate. That way everyone does something and nobody feels put-upon. This year I delegated so efficiently that I had very little to do; I conveniently missed all the put-upon vibes from everyone else! There were 13 of us for Christmas dinner, so we split into two tables:

Our nephew, Lawrence, took these photos of Christmas Day, including one of some stags which he saw when he went for a walk after lunch.

Both my New Year's resolutions (to lose weight and write my Lundy story) lasted as long as the dry weather ie 48 hours. George's surprise homecoming for a week's holiday just after New Year provided an excellent excuse to fill the kitchen cupboards with all sorts of goodies and cook huge roast dinners. Then Sarah fell ill with flu, which turned into the sort of tonsillitis which doesn't cooperate with antibiotics. Luckily, she's on the mend now. While she was ill, she lost a stone on my behalf. Does that count? Novelty hot water bottle covers are so realistic nowadays
On the farming front, we weaned the cows and calves about a week ago, just before this bout of heavy rain started. One cow looks pretty close to calving, so I'll let you know when that happens. In the meantime, I'd better chew on a lettuce leaf and write a story....

2007-12-16T03:16:00.000-08:00

It's easy to take Exmoor for granted, especially when I get bogged down with the usual day-to-day things like office work, farm work and (very occasionally) housework. A few days ago, I did a book delivery to shops in the Exmoor area. I remembered my camera (for once) and took some photos along the way. It reminded me how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. This was a routine delivery trip, not a sightseeing tour! http://www.tortoise-publishing.co.uk/

Porlock Common, looking east (above and below)

Winsford Hill
Brendon Common

Inevitably, I found an Exmoor pony near Chetsford Water!

On the subject of Exmoor ponies, Pippit has been sold to Laura Barbour, who lives near Arington and keeps ponies to work with autistic children. Stardust and Beckham have both gone to a family in Wales, where they are assured a home for life. Unfortunately Jenny and Swallow can't be registered as pure Exmoors, so they're for sale. Please see the Exmoor pony page of the West Ilkerton website http://www.westilkerton.co.uk/ for details. We've let them out to run with the herd for the winter:

2007-11-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Exmoor pony handling course was a great success. Five students took part in the course, which was run by Philip and Vanessa Bee of Positive Horsemanship http://www.positivehorsemanship.co.uk/ . Each student had an unhandled, newly-weaned Exmoor pony to handle and teach the 'five foundation skills'.

Two places are already booked for the course in 2008, which will be a long weekend of three days from Friday 31st October, with full board at West Ilkerton. There are four places left, so book now to avoid disappointment.

2007-11-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

It was my turn to be 'home alone' while Chris, Sarah and Nick (Chris' brother) went to Scotland for a long weekend to see George at Ardmaddy. They went salmon fishing the first day (and caught one) and hind stalking the next day (and shot one). On the third day they took the boat out onto Loch Etive. Poor Sarah did all this with her foot broken in two places (she'd been kicked by an Exmoor pony during branding the week before. We thought her foot was just badly bruised, until she took herself to casualty in Exeter because her foot swelled up painfully after she'd been to Scotland!). Here are a few photos of the Scottish trip:

2007-10-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on the Exmoor ponies, by popular request:

The DNA test results have come back. As I feared, the first three fillies born this year are by Swift, not Ziggy. This means that they will be registered as cross-bred foals because Swift was a registered Exmoor but not a registered stallion. Ziggy's only daughter is Christmas Pudding's foal, and his only son is Loving Cup's foal. Unfortunately, the colt damaged his near foreleg when he was young, and it looks as if he'll never be entirely sound on it. So not much luck with the foals this year, but that's ponies for you!

Jack and Harry are proving to be a bit of a long-term project. They have become very friendly, and they're now good at long-reining, but Harry is still frightened of things (like carts and wagons!) behind him. We've gone back to basic training to try to build up their confidence, and we may send them away to be broken to ride this winter.

Ilkerton Shindig, Loving Cup's foal from 2005, was bought by Adele Gregory for showing. Adele sent me a photo of him (below). The other photo is of him at two months old. It seems he still likes to advertise!

2007-09-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

SOLD

FOR SALE: BOWTOP GYPSY CARAVAN

1930s and of Irish origin. Restored and painted in 2005/6 by Nick Dow of Ingham and Fallon

A particularly pretty wagon. I bought it intending to use it to rent out with the self-catering cottage, but it's too special for that, with many unique features like the lovely stained glass windows above the bedspot.

It is in very good order for its age, and is totally weather-proof. The canvas roof is in good condition. The stove is in good working order and draws very well. The top lid can be raised for cooking.

There is a bird-print three-part mattress on the bed (which is unusually large and can be used as a single bed or pulled out to make a double)

We feel privileged to have had the use of the wagon for a couple of years, but we can't justify keeping it for a bit of camping in the summer. The wagon was stored in a dry shed all last winter (October 06 to July 07!) and, if the wagon isn't sold within the next few weeks, it will be stored again this winter and put up for sale next spring at an increased price. The price for buying now is £6,000 plus VAT. Please telephone (01598) 752310 or e-mail eveleigh@westilkerton.co.uk for further information or to arrange a viewing.

2007-09-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

Haymaking in Square Piece
As promised, here are some photos of haymaking this August. Many thanks to Victor, Michele, Natasha and Genevieve Mallet, who thought they were coming on holiday! Victor e-mailed from his usual (paid!) job as Asian editor for the Financial Times to say that he's now muscle-bound and super-fit, which made me think perhaps we're missing a marketing trick here. Could West Ilkerton be the perfect open-air fitness gym? Worth a thought. Haymaking tea in Marleycombe

Anyway, thanks to all the Mallet family, Sam Smyth, James Holtom, Richard Leworthy and Jack Chapman-Walker for their help. Sarah was also a great help throughout.

The final load in Church Close

Sarah has just passed her driving test with full marks. Perhaps it pays to be incredibly nervous beforehand!

I'm in the process of re-designing our website to include direct sales of beef and lamb to anywhere in the UK. Lamb is going to be sold in half lamb or whole lamb packs (cut and packaged to order) at £4.80 / kg plus p&p. Lamb orders can be taken now. There will be a delay of about two weeks between an order and delivery because lambs will be sent to the local abbatoir in Combe Martin and the meat will be hung in the traditional manner for about a week before being packed and dispatched by courier. Beef will be available from December onwards. Please contact me for further details:

Tortie Eveleigh, West Ilkerton farm, Lynton EX35 6QA. Tel (01598) 752310 e-mail eveleigh@westilkerton.co.uk

2007-09-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

The Exmoor Horn Sheep Colouring Book which Chris and I worked on last winter was published this summer, with the help of DEFRA and ENPA funding for the Exmoor Horn Sheep Breeders' Society.
The book follows the farming year of a fictitious Exmoor farmer called Mr Ridd of Worthy Farm, with a picture for each month and accompanying text on the opposite page. It's designed to be 'educational and fun'. Well, we had fun doing it, and several people (including farmers) have said they've been educated! Relations of all ages who stayed here during the summer spent hours colouring in the pictures, which probably only proves what terrible weather we had. Here is a sample of the book, from the month of October:

The colouring books can be bought from us for £3 each with free UK P&P (cheques or cash): West Ilkerton Farm, Lynton, North Devon EX35 6QA Tel: (01598) 752310 eveleigh@westilkerton.co.uk

Other news on the literary front is that we're going to be busy this year at the Porlock Arts Festival. We're speaking at a local authors' afternoon in Porlock Village Hall on Friday 21st September, and then on Sunday 23rd September we are hosting an afternoon for children at West Ilkerton. Full details of the Arts Festival can be seen on the website http://www.porlockfestival.org/ I've just realised that's not very far away now, so I'd better get to work composing the talk!

2007-09-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

West Ilkerton Farmhouse in sunshine!

It's official; the Met. Office has just announced that summer of '07 was the wettest since records began. We could have told them that using our sophisticated puddleometer called Beetle. Many thanks to all our guests for their unfailing good spirits! At least Exmoor was drier than the Midlands and we weren't flooded.

We've just managed to get the hay harvested. The last bales were carted on 31st August, so Chris is very smug because he won the bet that we'd get the harvest in by September. There'll be some photos of haymaking in the next news blog.

Sarah has been a great help on the farm this summer. She's re-built the back yard, done lots of walling and fencing and spent hours driving the tractor. (Yes, she's open to offers of marriage from farmers. However, they must be rich, good-looking and horse-friendly, which narrows down the field a bit!)

Mike, the bull, appeared to have a problem which could have been cured by a much-advertised blue pill. However, we were too embarrassed to order 'enough for a bull' from one of those annoying e-mailers who promise fireworks in the bedroom and similar terrifying experiences, so we took the easier (but more expensive) option of buying a new bull. He's a two-year-old called Lee Manor Winston, and he's got very good bloodlines. The cows seem to approve, which is the main thing.

Luckily, Winston arrived at West Ilkerton the day before foot and mouth disease was discovered in Surrey and all livestock movements were banned, but that's meant we've had two bulls on the farm for most of the summer because we haven't been able to move Mike.

On the subject of breeding, the Exmoor pony foals had a DNA test two weeks ago to see whether Ziggy or Swift fathered them. Here is a photo of the ponies running past the farmhouse to freedom afterwards.
I've decided to sell the gypsy caravan, if anyone is interested. It has been lovely to own it and enjoy it, but I can't afford to keep it. Originally, I bought it to let as an optional extra with the holiday cottage, but it's too nice to be used as a play-house by children. It was made in the 1930s and it's in very good condition inside and out, with lovely stained-glass windows. There will be a full advertisement for the vardo, with lots of photos, on our website http://www.westilkerton.co.uk/. Please e-mail eveleigh@westilkerton.co.uk for further details or ring 01598 752310.