Bob the Builder

Right, well here with go with an update. As you can see, building work has STARTED. Both we and the builders completely underestimated the size of the building - more bricks are going into this baby than 3 detached houses (ok, a slight exaggeration, maybe just 2 detached houses) - concrete blocks and bricks are being ordered in their thousands from Ridgeon's. We have exhausted all local supplies of concrete blocks and are now getting them from Norfolk.

I am loving the yard as it takes shape and I can't sleep as I'm too excited. However the costs are spiralling and are, frankly, scary. If it wasn't for Russell's calming influence it would definitely be a valium job for me by now. Still, we decided a long time ago that we didn't want to just build stables, rather a beautiful building which will last for hundreds of years and be our legacy. Russell has just found some beautiful wooden barn doors and arched doors for the entrance from a reclamation yard - if they're not too expensive they will finish the yard off beautifully.

Ooo lots of "beautiful" and beautifully" in that para - you get the picture anyway.

We have two "Bob the Builders" - though strictly speaking one is "Bob the Brick Layer". Poor "Bob the Bricklayer" had a bit of a false start, on day 2 he got bitten by something, possibly a horse fly, near his eye and he had to have a week off whilst his poor swollen eye got better. Plus we have Tony the builder and Mark the Digger driver. There is also a young bricklayer, but he is v shy and I don't know his name. Think I scared him last week as I was having a slight go at Tony and Bob over various things - have been a bit stroppy with them, but I hope we are all friends again now.   I am also teaching the builders about horses - today I gave Tony a very interesting talk on sweet itch (a condition horses can get - one horse I may take on loan has it, so it is on my mind at the moment). They (the builders)  said they didn't mind having their photo on my blog so here they are ... lots of tanned flesh on show - I never know quite where to look when I go out there ..........

I have also started my search for suitable horses and ponies for the riding school. I'm hoping to open in December / January and so want to get some more ponies here by the end of the summer so I can school them and settle them in. Luke is proving a useful jockey - when we go to see potential ponies I put him on them and send them off. If Luke can hold onto the pony and just about control it in canter in an open field it is ok for the riding school. If the pony tanks off with him squealing then its a no no. Fear not, Luke loves it really.

The baby turkeys are outside in their cage - its so nice to have them outside and out of the garage.  They have survived the recent thunderstorms (baby turkeys are known to keel over and die in response to loud noises) and seem v happy. They are growing (don't worry, I will not post every time from now on saying how big the turkeys are getting like I did last year - see what I mean about the cyclical nature of farming making for a repetitive blog!).

Oh and we have hay - about 350 bales and it smells great.  I have problems that I can see in the future, and they come up and whoosh you in the face suddenly. Well the hay was like this. You see, I always knew that in the summer we would have 300 bales of hay cut on the field and we would then need somewhere to put them. Preferably a barn. However we don't have a barn, or anywhere else to put them. However, each day there seemed to be more pressing things to worry about and so I didn't ever get the hay storage problem sorted. So, one day last week, Keith cut the hay and whoosh there it was - the problem of where to put 300 bales on hay hitting me in the face, sudden like. In between watching kids at sports day I bought some pallets and ordered some tarpaulin and arranged with Keith he would stack then hay bales up on the field.  The whole Seddon clan then spent a merry evening putting tarpaulin over the bales.  We just got it done in the nick of time - that night after we covered them it pi**ed it down. Not an ideal way to store hay, but hopefully most of them will stay dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Round and Round We Go

Ok so the cyclical nature of farming continues with the arrival of the 2013 Christmas turkey poults - so very cute at one day old.  I had been quite blasé and relaxed about the getting the turkeys this year, having been through it all once last year, but as I drove away from Pat's with the little turks cheeping in the box beside me on the passenger seat I felt the familiar feeling of worry and anxiety pass over me.  Rather like childbirth, I had forgotten what a worry the turks were last year from the moment they arrived until the moment they were eaten (sorry to be blunt).  Anyway, I remember it now!

Our home breeding programme is a wash out with now only 1 live poult remaining.  Next year we will invest in an incubator and hatch the eggs artificially.  I can see why these heritage breeds are almost extinct - the females do not make good natural mothers and the poults are intent on killing themselves.

I've been back on to various members of the council - landscape officer, planning officer, engineer etc to try to get some more of the planning conditions discharged.  A time consuming task and I find myself once again biting my tongue and being polite when really I want to scream "Oh My God just let us do it!!". 

Last Sunday was spent carefully spraying weedkiller round the 500 new hedge plants and spreading grass seed on the new bank.

The manege is nearly finished and the groundworks are underway for the stables and yard. Scarily we had two builders, a guy with a digger, keith working on the manege and Greg and Duncan taking out the old hedge all at the same time.  As I wondered out each day to speak to them all and check on progress / answer questions it felt a bit scary - how many workmen = how much £? Still, sure it will all be ok. Yes, completely sure. Sure I'm sure. There, have convinced myself.

We are a building site, and a very happy one at that!

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