They say misery loves company, and it wasn’t just a punctured tyre we suffered recently at The Secret Acre.
Storm Chandra at the end of January turned one row of our new ground mounted solar panels into the lesser known airbourne variety!
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I’m no expert, but I would say the garden tractor tyre has picked up a puncture!
Eagle eyed readers will have noticed mention of a dog in both our Christmas greetings and in the tale of our recent sheep invasion at The Secret Acre.
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Three cheers for the Apple Cider Vinegar – at last!
Just when we were about to give up, we successfully bottled 15 litres at The Secret Acre this winter.
We first, and last, successfully made Apple Cider Vinegar back in 2017, using it the following year for pickling all sorts, even radishes.
But the half dozen attempts since then to replicate that initial ‘beginners luck’ success have all failed.
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After the amazing deer and aurora, out on another winter walk recently, we spied an impressively big Red Kite circling overhead.
Red Kites have made an astonishing comeback in the UK, since their re-introduction in 1995.
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In common with much of the UK, there was an unbelievable display of the aurora borealis in Gloucestershire last night. I never saw it this good when living in Scotland!
In case you missed our own pics on social media, here they are again,straight off Emma’s phone camera with no editing…
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January is that time, at the start of a new year, when everyone asks us what our new Wedding Anniversary theme is for the next 12 months.
And the answer for 2026, out of box number ten of our ‘Mystery Moose’ of yearly wedding anniversary themes is… Cheese!
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Despite the dry summer, autumn dampness seemed to arrive just in time for a spectacular display of seasonal colour.
The autumn fungi seemed to enjoy it too, with an abundance of edible and non-edible varieties popping up around The Secret Acre.
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If you want to be the best, if you want to beat the rest… have a really dry year apparently… certainly some things on the smallholding have enjoyed it more than others… and not necessarily the things you might expect.
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The Secret Acre 