A million apologies for our lack of communication! How time flies when you are at Roses Bower! The lodge is undergoing major renovation at the moment which means it is out of action, good for lack of change-overs but it is missing our guests. We are knocking the downstairs bedroom into the kitchen to create a kitchen/diner, fitting a wood burning stove in the lounge and knocking a door into the old blue room to become the new en-suite downstairs bedroom. We have been working all hours on the transformation and filling it with lots of new colour themes and furniture. The new look lodge will open in April 2010, watch out for photos! December saw the arrival of our new working sheepdog puppy Meg to the farm (pictures in the gallery). We had to pick her from a long line of expectant little faces, not an easy task. Being a red head, I chose the cheeky one with the chestnut streaks in her hair – the one trying to chew dad’s coat off… the females in our family have a reputation to live up to…. She is now 5 months old and already running the farm. She does the sheep like an old pro, walking them on and bringing them back, she is a natural. Last month brought fame to the farm, with the BBC1 film crew for Countryfile filming Will for his new job as an upland farming apprentice. The section, screened on March 7th was fantastic and Claire even got to make tea for Mat Baker! I promised not to look star struck if he pretended my tea was nice….
Another huge change in the Watson-Laney household is the acquisition of Wark Village Butchers. We have purchased the shop as an addition to our meat sale plans, hoping to use it as a base for our Internet sales and farmers market visits, in addition to keeping this wonderful shop open for the local community and visitors. our website www.warkvillagebutchers.co.uk is up and running and will develop soon.
The lambs will soon be arriving at the farm, the ewes are looking ready to pop and rather cross. The annual walk from Craigshields to Roses Bower caused little disturbance on the road but took some considerable effort for the heavily pregnant mothers to be! They are now happily installed in their new fields awaiting the white bundles of fun that will keep us occupied for the next 2 months, eating, sleeping and washing will be a luxury, we will keep you all updated on their progress!
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