The Watercress Line

It's half-term week and the Watercress Line, the local steam railway, is host to Ivor the Engine (see photo taken by Tony Wood), a new event for this popular local attraction. Thomas the Tank Engine and friends will be the next visitors at Easter - but check their website for further details http://www.watercressline.co.uk/ if intending to visit. The Barn www.barfordfarmhouse.com is very well placed for visitors as it is just a 10 minute drive to Medstead station, 10 minutes drive to Ropley station (home to the engine sheds) and just 15 minutes drive to the terminii at either Alton or Alresford. When the wind blows in the right direction we can even here the whistle of the steam trains as they climb up the hill from Ropley towards Four Marks - some great photographic opportunities here too!

Foxy Loxy!

It was around 4 o'clock this morning when I heard the eerie bark of one of several local foxes. At least one has its lair in Hook Wood and another has its home in the field next door in a rundown old pigsty. They are becoming ever more daring these days, and often prowl across the fields in broad daylight. One came within just a few metres of me last summer as I stood by the stables in chicken protection mode having lost my entire flock of bantams to the foxes a few weeks previously. I say entire flock, I mean all the useful ones that laid eggs as a very battered looking cockeral did survive the attack! It took me several weeks before I was able to restock - hen keeping has certainly become a very popular activity since that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall got his hands on them and has meant pullet prices have rocketed. C'est la vie! Now I have 4 partridge bantam hens and cockeral and 4 black pekin bantam hens and cockeral so, with any luck, I'll be able to increase my flock this year to previous numbers or thereabouts. Must remember to turn on the electric fencing tonight!

The veggie patch

It's that time of year again when I begin to think about what goodies to plant in the veggie patch. Patch probably isn't the best description of our vegetable garden as there are currently five raised vegetable beds, with plans for more, a more traditional vegetable garden with fruit bushes, rhubarb, strawberries and the like, herb beds full of sage, rosemary, oregano, thymes and more, more raised beds for salad leaves and tomatoes, a significant veggie patch and a polytunnel where I do all my potting up, on, etc and nurture a brown fig tree, a few peppers and the like. As if that is not enough to keep us occupied, last year we planted up a small vineyard of 300 Phoenix, a German white grape variety which is supposed to be a good one for beginners, fairly disease resistant and all that, and our soils, being chalky, south west facing and on a slope should suit. Who knows, in just a few years, visitors to The Barn www.barfordfarmhouse.com may be able to sample a free bottle of our own home-produced wine!

Now the snow has gone!

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't been writing recently but the recent snow falls resulted in lots of extra work for us at Barford Farm.

Tiffany, our pony, was stabled for the duration so water buckets, hay nets and feed buckets all needed to be kept topped up throughout the day; the hens' water trough needed to be kept free of ice, even though the hens themselves rarely ventured down the ramp of their ark - far too cold for their little yellow feet; the bird feeders needed to be regularly topped up as more birds than usual visited the gardens, including blackbirds, a whole variety of finches, tits and the more than occasional pigeon. Even the pheasant partook of the seeds which dropped onto the decking below the feeders.

Still, even though we have been worked harder than usual, the snow did bring benefits; hopefully the bug population will have been sufficiently reduced to enable the organic vegetable gardens to flourish this year.

The snow also provided great opportunities for tracking the animals which venture across the fields and through Hook Wood; deer tracks predominated in the woods whilst in the more open fields pheasants were easily tracked - one of which had obviously filled up on far too many fermented berries and wove a most amusing trail of drunkeness across the snow!

Now the snow has gone, just about, we can look forward to the school holidays next week and the anticipation of hearing the whistle of Ivor the Engine, his first visit to the Watercress Line next week! See www.watercressline.co.uk for further details. Incidentally, The Barn provides a very comfortable place to stay whilst visiting the Watercress Line. See www.barfordfarmhouse.com or http://alton-hampshire-cottage-accommodation.co.uk for further details. We'd love to see you!

It's snow time!

A very good afternoon to all those who have found my blog today, it's snowing! At over 600' above sea level, Medstead is usually affected if it snows anywhere in Hampshire, and during the night and today it has snowed throughout the country! Great tobogganing opportunities across the fields and down Common Hill, not so good for the postman who failed to deliver today!

The animals aren't so keen either. Tiffany, our lovely elderly pony, is in her stable wrapped up in two rugs for warmth and now shares her space with a little robin, who does his best to tuck in to her feed bowl when he can. The bantam hens have yet to venture out from their ark and at 4:00pm they are unlikely to do so today. Spotted a rabbit earlier darting across the garden but other than that no sign of other wildlife except for a few birds; the usual vibrant pheasant strutting his stuff across the vegetable garden, a blackbird and a couple of finches on the bird feeders and, just this minute as I'm writing this blog, the barn owl in hunting mode flying across the fields. My mad dash with camera in hand upstairs proved fruitless - very difficult to snap a barn owl against a background of snow! 'Til next time...

The Barn in February

Here I am again for a second go at this blog business and thought I'd tell you a little about our lovely ancient wood, Hook Wood. Not sure about 'green shoots of recovery' but green shoots of the bluebells in our wood are certainly pushing their way through the leaf litter! They will probably now be checked by the wintry weather expected over the next few days, but hopefully, by April, there will be glimpses from The Barn of a profusion of blue and wafts of heavenly scent across the fields. Have you ever sat in the middle of a bluebell wood in late spring? Quite something I can assure you, and our guests who stay with us at this time are welcome to indulge. See our website for further details of accommodation on offer if interested.