Oh my so its been a year since I posted on here. This blog is great for me to read through, I mean, obvs I like the idea very much that other people also quite like reading it, but it is very useful for me to read over and see what earlier bright ideas I had. After all, I have no memory (or brain, much of the time) and actually forget some brilliant and cool ideas I have had in the past  - but luckily I put them in a post on here!

So as 2015 draws to a close, I am looking back over the year and thinking about what has gone well, what not so well and what to focus on for 2016. Each month I write some goals for the riding school (a hangover from my HR days, can't escape from SMART goals even whilst sloshing around in muck and mud) and actually I think it has helped me to keep focused and achieve some things we might not otherwise have done.  I'm not saying that it is all planned - in fact lots of what has happened has been "off the cuff" or "on the hoof" - I  might have made that one up -  or,harking again back to HR days and jargon,  "organic" (!!).

Basically we have just been doing lots of lovely lessons and hacks and acquiring lots of lovely new ponies and horses. A quick summary for the riding school for 2015 goes something like this: we have a great team of instructors - Sam callow, Jody Holdgate and Rachael Pitt. Our lovely smiley yard managers Caroline Nobel and Leanne Eldrett and of course our fab  team of helpers (without whom we really couldn't operate at all). Leanne and Caroline introduced "Helper of the|Month" which has been great fun and details of each month's helper is on our Facebook page. (Brook Cottage Farm)

Caroline has arranged the office - the centre of command, the hub - including field planner, charts, pony log books etc etc. Leanne meets and greets clients and is very much the face of Brook Cottage Farm. And there have been lots of changes on the equine front - many of you will remember Tizzy who I sold (far too good a show jumping pony to be a riding school pony for long ) and Strawberry Lil (who never really got out of the blocks as a riding school pony as it was NOT FOR HER. Lovely ponies though - just typical mares who knew what they did and didn't want to do in their working lives. My amazing Springtime had to be put down last March - so many of you rode and loved her and I haven't even been able to put anything on our Facebook page, or on here, before now about it as so traumatised. Bloody horses!

Lots and lots of new faces have arrived - including Falcon, Paddy, Whizz, Nancy, Basil, Eddie, Tobasco, Riley and Star ....... NO MORE PONIES!! Well maybe just a couple  in 2016 :-) Anyway we love them all.

We are now an accredited RDA (riding for the disabled) facility and currently have 9 riders each week. And a team of great RDA volunteers who make this possible.

We have stopped doing Christmas turkeys  - the riding school and horses just take up all of our time - we are sad to have stopped doing this as I really enjoyed raising the birds and it was good to produce such  lovely meat that really had been raised to the best standard possible. Thank you to all our faithful customers, many of whom bought each year, maybe one day we will be able to do them, again....., gobble gobble.

And on to plans for 2016 - where to start? A cute retro caravan for teas coffees cakes etc for patient parents watching their children ride, kitchen garden, cross country course (oh yes, still on the list!) and I have a plan for each horse / pony to take them out to compete each year with helpers and my kids on board. I am hoping someone might buy us a lorry one day to make this easier :-) Anyone ..... ? ....you never know!

So without going on and on and on - thank you to all our fabulous staff and helpers who really make us what we are - and to  our clients (many of whom are now such good friends) - thank you :-)

xx
xx

I'm now taking 2014 Christmas Turkey orders

 

 Brook Cottage Farm

 

Free Range, HeritageTurkeys

 

Please call to order

 

01279 777235 / 07919 888655

 

Traditional and rare breed turkeys - Norfolk Black, Cambridge Bronze, Bourbon Red, Slate Blue and Lavender, reared slowly having been fully free ranged at low density on a generously sized grass paddock (see picture).  Humanely slaughtered on the farm to reduce transport stress: compassionate farming and the highest standards of animal welfare are at the heart of what we do. 

Traditional breeds do not have the "double-breasted" conformation of modern breed commercial birds but they produce meat with superior texture and flavour. 

 

Please call to order your turkey.

A £20 deposit, balance payable on collection from Furneux Pelham.

 

Price is £12 per kg

 

Ooo I do love making lists. This morning I have made, yet another, long list of all the things I would like to do / could possibly do on the field. Obviously the first part of the list concerns all things equine - fencing, cross country courses, sorting the office out with shelves for hats etc but then the list moves on to a section for the farm ..... now this is exciting - what about pick your own strawberries for summer 2015? How about a petting corner sort of thing, with pigs and rabbits and quails and ducks and goats? All in pens and paddocks around a lovely twisting footpath for people to walk along and stop and feed the animals as they go? We could put up owl nesting boxes, create habitats for hedgehogs and develop a nature trail? What about a birds of prey centre? You see.. the possibilities are endless.

I have at least ticked one thing off my list today and that was to arrange the October half term riding school activities - and these are now on the Facebook page.  I will print copies out to give to regular riders and I might have one laminated and put up in the office.  I have recently discovered that Leanne, the yard manager, has a laminator at her house! How cool is that? I am making a list of all the documents it would be very useful to have laminated and put up in the office.

Whilst Autumn is beautiful, and the shift in routine for the animals is refreshing and new, it does mean shorter days and so unfortunately once the clocks go back we will no longer be able to have our Thursday and Friday evening lessons. We will have to squeeze you into the weekend timetable instead.  I have got out my woolly socks and gillets, and the hunt is on the all the millions of gloves I bought last winter for the kids to wear whilst riding. At least no one minds wearing a body protector now its cooler .........

xx

"I haven't posted for a while" ......

I sometimes used to read other blogs and often came across a post which read "sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I've been a bit busy" and I used to think why apologise, does anyone care all that much? Anyway, seen as it is a year since my last post I am going to start this post with "sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I've been a bit busy"....

Actually I have been a flighty tart and switched to facebook! We have a facebook page - brookcottagefarm where I have been posting details of the riding school's holiday programmes, lessons etc.

The riding school has been officially open for almost 6 months now and oh my god I am LOVING it. The ponies are great, we have the wonderful Sam Callow teaching with me and a fabulous team of helpers. We have held two summer shows during the holidays and days like these have given us a lot to celebrate.  There is still so much to do and so much to save up for, like a barn, a tractor, more ponies, a security door for the tack room, a cross country course around 15 more acres of fencing.

We have made plenty of mistakes along the way (notice how that was "we" rather than "I"!!) but I think that's ok to make mistakes as long as one learns from ones mistakes. So I have written the learning points down so as to be sure not to repeat them.  Things like, don't have over 1,000 bales of hay cut with nowhere to store it, don't forget to castrate one of the ram lambs, don't advertise the wrong dressage test for the show, don't have only one set of tack room keys and then lose them on a Saturday morning before a full day of lessons meaning we can't get the saddles and bridles out of the tack room, don't forget to get the horses vaccinated on time so as not to have to start all over again etc etc.  But boy have we learned some extremely useful skills - for example I don't believe anyone in East Hertfordshire can tie tarpaulin onto a hay stack to cover it from the rain with baler twine as well as me, I just don't think anyone (not even my Dad) can match me on that one. And I have developed the most deep farmers tan - complete with white ankles and feet and sports bra markings.

Projects for this autumn are to look into grants for planting woods / trees / hedges and then to plant them ...... we are doing Christmas turkeys again and the riding school is fully up and running and lovely and busy.  I am looking to be accredited as an RDA (riding for the disabled) facility so that I can hold weekly RDA sessions for the Herts & Essex branch in addition to the riders with disabilities who ride with me on a private basis xx

Pictures from our opening party - thanks Denis O' Regan for fab photos x

Yes! Yes yes yes!

I have been dreaming that I could write this post, this way, the past couple of weeks.  Here goes....

Over the summer I have been a busy bee writing lesson plans, presentations and swotting up on theory and today I have passed my BHS PTT.  This basically means that with one or two more things (first aid course, child protection course - no more exams at any rate!) I am a qualified riding instructor. Amazing, I am really pleased.  I am now able to work as a riding instructor in a commercial riding establishment or private yard or as a freelance coach.

I went to Newton Hall, in Suffolk this morning to complete the exam - one of the modules I had to have a second go at, but no need to dwell on such details :-) The important thing is I have now passed all the modules.  The feeling when you pass an exam is so wonderful - you can't bottle it, its great.  Yet the feelings of nerves and panic in the hours leading up to the exam are not so great. I feel I am getting a little too old for doing this sort of thing - I went to college and university in my younger days and went through my fair share of exam stress. And practical exams make me even more nervous for some reason, a bit like taking your driving test. Awful. The examiner told me I need to work on my nerves and be more confident - hmmm, I merely nodded, nervously.

The day was not without hitches however, I forgot my watch (quite important for teaching a lesson as one needs to know how much time one has left ) and so stopped off, in an increasing panic, at numerous service station en routé to Suffolk, but to no avail -  none of them sold watches (sure I bought a watch once in a service station .....) I was only about 20 minutes away from the exam venue when I thankfully I passed one of those enormous Tesco Extras and they, of course, had watches. "Thank God for Tescos!" I cried to the woman on the check out.

Anyway now on with BHS Stage 3 training. The Stage 3 exam will be the last one I take. Everrrr . It will be all I need to run the riding school and that's good enough for me.

On my way home I stopped off at the shop to pick up a bottle of something to celebrate with - and ever thrifty -  I purchased some cava, not champagne.  This also means we can drink two bottles of cava for the same price as one bottle champagne. Ha ha ha aha.

xx

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 xx

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!

x