Well, we've had a lovely summer. A new granddaughter 'down-under' was the main event. I was lucky enough to be able to spend most of September in New Zealand meeting the new edition to our family. She's gorgeous! Vicki and Neil are having substantial work done to their house so we stayed in a beach house up the coast from Wellington. Really spoilt was I! Already looking forward to our next visit.
Truffles grown up to be a lovely dog, although we've upset her last week by having her clipped. She'd got a bit long in the coat ( I knew she had when I arrived home from N.Z. but couldn't get a grooming appointment any quicker) so she'd got a bit matted and had to be shorn. Poor Truffs - I think she's starting to forgive us now. I've promised her we won't let that happen again, and we'll leave a respectable amount on next time. No pictures will be issued!!
Boris has done a great job with the lawns, although the Cottage lawn has suffered with the intense heat we had in the summer. I think there's a Spring job there, a bit of reseeding and titivating.
For those of you that enjoyed seeing our Indian runner Ducks, I'm sorry but the Fox has been to visit and we've lost them all! It's really hard to like Foxes when they kill for the sake of it. I wouldn't mind if they took one because they were hungry but just to kill is galling. We won't be replacing them for that reason. The Mallards and Moorhens still frequent the pond and we had ducklings and chicks from them - but the Heron had to be watched! Nature is tough.
Thank you to all our guests this year, it's lovely to see so many returnee's. I hope everyone keeps well this winter and hope we see you again in the near future. xx
