Last Spring we wrote about the popularity of swales in our local farmer’s fields. These temporary winter ponds help work with the water to provide natural flood regulation as well as important wildlife habitats. Continue reading
Although it feels like we are well into spring now, it was only this time last month that our local swales were heralding spring’s arrival with the first sighting of frog’s spawn.
Apparently the clumps of spawn (eggs) can be laid in ponds anytime from January onwards in the south-west England, but we’ve never seen it that early here at The Secret Acre. Continue reading
Last month our dog, Ruby, emerged from the darkness of her usual night time patrol round the garden with a stick in her mouth.
Bringing us little presents is a relatively rare event, usually confined to the odd rotting fermenting windfall apple, presented with a slightly drunken look on her face as if to say ‘you should try these fermented apples they are really great!’
Ruby’s stick face however had an altogether different look of smug satisfaction. And rightly so. Continue reading
No, not a Channel 5 programme pitch, but a fierce, yet silent, night time battle to the death, fought out recently at The Secret Acre.
There are apparently over 110 species of digger wasp in Britain, who’d have thought it, one of which decided to nest near our greenhouse earlier this year. Out of the way doing no harm we decided to leave them to their own devices. Continue reading
The Secret Acre used to have three ponds. Continue reading
Amid the stresses of moving in, unpacking and snagging it can be easy to temporarily lose sight of why you wanted to chase a more balanced life in the first place. So it has something of a relief to almost immediately get the first glimmers of the promised Good Life.
My top three so far have been – Continue reading
We know we can expect to spot a wide range of wildlife once we are finally living at The Secret Acre. Deer, badgers, foxes and rabbits all live at the bottom of the field, not to mention the birds (Slimbridge is just down the road) and a variety of life in our ponds. When we catch more on camera, we’ll post more here.
In 2014 we finally took the plunge and decided to put life before work.
The result was to take on a one acre smallholding near Stroud. Both the land and the bricks and mortar are in need of renovation as Estate Agents say!
So, our first tasks in 2015 are an eco-makeover of the house, prepare the veg beds, and repair the greenhouse and orchard for a productive 2016.
The Secret Acre 