Working on the track

Hello...
Well, the weekend saw the most glorious weather up here (like most of the country, I think) - cerulean blue skies and warm sunshine with just a hint of crispness to remind us it was Autumn.  Some of the trees in the area are turning yellow and orange though the ones in our valley are pretty much still green. I still pinch myself at times to check that living in this beautiful place with all its serene space is not a dream!
BUT we had the track to 'fettle' (love that word - think it's Yorkshire?)  - half a mile of shovelling ex road planings from the loader, raking it then rollering over it with the mini roller borrowed from our farmer/builder neighbour. We didn't do it all - though it felt like it! - just concentrated on the bits that had been washed away by the monsoon type rain we had in the summer. Hard work but very satisfying... Both kids were great! (Morgan fuelled by the thought of his pay - and Beth because that's how she is!!)

Funny, wondering where the planings came from.. there were yellow bits that must have been yellow lines, so must have been somewhere urban... So once a road in a town, now ended up crushed and remaking a track in Cumbria.. Recycling at its most exciting!?

Jonathan has been trundling off with the trailer full of haylage to deliver it as far as Lancashire. He advertised the haylage for sale on Preloved, a site that not everybody, it seems, has heard of. It has worked well for us so far - we also sold our Angora goats on there (see Barnacre Alpacas)



I took pics of the animals so that I could introduce them but OMG, there is so much to say it is overwhelming - and you have to REALLY LIKE animals to appreciate all this I think! 

So here is a quick introduction...

Here is Simba - and he is the King... rules the dogs (and us)
More about him another time..

    This is Red and Jack, looking nervous! (not normally asked to sit on the kitchen window seat) The term 'barking' (as in mad) comes from someone who must have met Red.. She is a German wire haired pointer..and there are many many stories to tell . Jack is a border terrier - very sweet, with the most perfect eyeliner (he really looks like he's got it on) but he likes to wander and goes conveniently deaf to shouts and whistles.. He spent the first few weeks of life with us cowering whenver he saw Simba, who used to box his ears! aawww...

This is Dan, my adopted sheepdog - a very happy character, always wagging his tail.. (though still not brilliant at being a sheepdog, but that's because of me) He has to put up with Red - they both sleep outside in the shed - very cosy because of the wood burning boiler that heats the barns and office - they have their own personal central heating!







So that's the cat and dogs.. much more to come on them.. I will do horses and maybe donkeys next!
Bye for now..

Hello!

Hello - and welcome to Gill Bank Farm blog!

This is just an introduction for now - we hope to start blogging regularly some time next week.

Gill Bank Farm is in Cumbria, with the atmospheric  fells nearby on one side and the beautiful Lakeland fells in the distance on the other. We came here in December 2009. It is our dream home - one we waited and hoped for and visualised for many years - and we intend to be here for a very long time!

'We' are Jonathan and Sally and our children, Morgan (14) and Bethany (6) - also our many characterful animals, who I will introduce in the next blog.

See this space for silly animal tales, farming stories, trips around the Eden Valley and Lake District, and a general description of our family life here in Cumbria..

Bye for now!

Sally