Business as usual in Cornwall

You may be worried that the gateway to Cornwall is blocked but this is a delightful little news piece has just relesed by Cornwall Tourist Board - hope it calms your fears........West Cornwall is waiting!!

Mount's Bay this morning

A view through the garden gateway at Ednovean Farm towards St Micheal's Mount

We are still in the grip of the "ice age" here in Cornwall with the clear skies overnight bringing freezing conditions but this morning I couldn't resist climbing to the top of the farm again to to look at the snow over Mounts Bay. The high moors to the right of the picture have the best covering teetering out towards Land's End but a magical patchwork of white never the less




Our young horses picking the blackberries this morning at Ednovean Farm


A view from the top fields at Ednovean Farm

and Magic of course who knows everything (or at least he's working on it!)

we woke up to snow

When Ollie cat delivered his customary 6.30 am wake up call this morning I did not expect to open the door to snow and I wondered even if Ollie did. However he boldly set off into the twilight only to return twenty minutes later as a giant orange puff ball his fur spangled with snow flakes and so the snow continued all morning. With Ollie's mission in life completed he retired to the laundry basket for the rest of the day leaving us to slither and slide about with numb fingers and even number feet feeding the horses and turning them into the paddocks for their morning constitutionals as we toiled over their vacated stables for the day. Well it's a cat's life here at Ednovean Farm!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Sophie is nearly six months old now seen here standing at the top of Ednovean farm with Penzance across the Bay beyond her

Our horses exploring the new white world




It all started so well with the sunset reflected in the Blue room's french doors last night

alas by the morning the Parterre had a little winter magic

and the cobbled path to the garden was iced with snow

Echiums can be surprisingly resistant..........(I hope!)

and the date palms have seen it all before

The garden room at the bottom of the courtyard

It all started so well with a nearly stunning sunset best seen reflected in the Blue room doors and progressed to a chilly night but we had no inkling somehow that we would wake up to snow this morning. The weather men keep intoning the wettest, the warmest, the coldest and then adding the magical term seventeen years...................Meanwhile, Ollie Cat has taken up residence in the Laundry basket and will not be coming out unless he has some guest to entertain!

Do you remember when...........

Do you remember that warm day in the sun on a beach in Cornwall as you look out of the window today - the softness of the sand as it trickled through your toes the gentle lull of the waves as they gently caressed the beach, the warmth of the sun on your face......................

Ah well - I noticed the first spring bulbs emerging in the garden yesterday as the last of the autumn leaves still clung to the trees but today well today winter tightened her spell but not for long ............"no not for long" said Ollie as he snuggled deeper into the laundry basket after a cursory glance outside. "No not for long" said Danni as he stretched out to snore the morning away. "No not for long i thought and remembered my picnic on the beach as i slithered to and fro with my heavy wheelbarrow...........ah well!

promises

The air was full of promises when i opened the front door this morning and there just behind St Micheal's Mount was a fantastic rainbow - not a bad way to start the day!

The sun was just creeping above the hedgerows as the young horses went off to graze for the day

and casting tendrils of light across the garden as Cornwall woke up to her daily life

with tractors hard at work already in the fields of neighbouring farms beyond the Italian Garden so if you buy a Cornish Cauliflower tomorrow in the supermarket who knows ...................

Magic could have watched it being cut in the dew of first light and sent from Cornwall with love

After the storm

The skies cleared yesterday after the storm that so badly affected North Cornwall - we were so lucky here in West Penwith but send our sympathy.

Ollie felt able to venture out to supervise the photography of the garden in the morning, after waking us up at two in the morning to tell us it was raining!!


Perranuthnoe cast in gentle shades as the winter approaches



Belle (19) enjoying her morning roll beside a footpath to the village

This privet is just crying out to be made into a moon gate with the view to the Italian Garden

Perranuthnoe again

and sunshine




I know I always take this view to the Mount but it is my favourite!

pots on the terrace

and this is West Cornwall on Wednesday

A november morning

Danilon

It was a beautiful November morning this morning with bright sparkling sunshine so perfect for Danni and i to venture out for a longer ride that usual when we have guests staying.

We worked our way through the country lanes basking in the autumn sunshine before dropping down to Halamanning beside the old mine spoil heaps and there I started to notice the first patches of frost laying under the hedgerows, the fairy tale magic of winter, in sharp contrast to the lime green of ferns that line the Cornish banks in sheltered valleys.

Making our way past the old Count house the woods steadily closed in around us as we cantered beside the reed bed before walking down to the heart of the woods with the ever present company of the gurgling streams hidden mostly by the mossy green branches of the trees before reaching the dark glossy waters of the fishery ponds of Tindeen Fishery. Leaving the lakes behind at last we emerged from our woodland retreat into the bright sunshine and swung back up the hill from Millpool where the tradition way sign declares one and three quarter miles to Goldsithney

Poor Mr Fox

Palm trees in the courtyard of Ednovean Farm Garden

It was a cold wet night the other evening and I was itching to finish feeding the horses and go indoors as dusk fell. Our final stop of the evening was to the brood mares at t he end of the lane t0 shut them in their field shelter and bring a two year old filly (Dolly) back to the home yard for the night. April and Belle were waiting patiently watching over the gate for us and were quickly ensconced with their super when a small movement caught my eye. A little fox tucked up at the back of the shelter in the soft hay - a little fox with mange! The poor little thing trotted past us with the air of a Labrador getting out of the way of the diner table and disappeared into the hedge. And so Charles toddled off with Dolly back to the home stables and very soon Dolly was tucking into her tea too...........when there at the back of the stable a small movement caught Charles eye - a small fox with mange. It must be "our" fox we thought but in need of help and desperate for shelter from the storm, so we called the RSPCA, pushed two foals in together and moved Dolly and her tea into the vacant space, leaving the fox to shelter safely in peace whilst it waited for the van to arrive from St Culumn Major - quite a trek for the little scrap of life that waited shivering, huddled in the straw.

Well as dusk turned to nightfall the RSPCA man kindly arrived to take the little chap to the vet - he didn't hold out too much hope I'm afraid but the little fellow probably one of this years cubs, had his best chance. and then we went indoors for the night to dry out!

The great escape!

Well with the change in the hour i no longer have been making the acquaintance of the bat in the morning when we go out to feed the horses before serving our guest breakfasts. Of course it is a very nice bat but I've a feeling I should be asleep when he's awake! But how did the great escape happen...........well with the change in the hour the yearling started to look distinctly mournful when we turned them out for the night. And so with a weather front approaching they were allowed to sleep overnight in their stables - horse bliss. We shut off one field for Diva and the foals and gave them the run of two fields - sounds perfect doesn't it. Well they all stood and sulked for two days hardly moving away from the gates, they glowered at us whenever we went passed them but steadfastly refused to graze...........until one afternoon three days later when they magically vanished - we found the place in the Cornish bank that they had clambered over to reach their friends and there they all were blissfully happy in one big family- who says strength doesn't lie in numbers! and the bat ............well as the day draw in I'm sure I'll meet him again very soon.