It was so lovely to hear the news that Lisa Faulkner and John Torode have become engaged, Lisa has been here to stay many times and presented the programme on ITV called Holiday Home Sweet Home, which we featured in, we had the Feather Down tents then, back in 2012. Before that when she won Masterchef in 2010, she was here on holiday and we all watched the final on our tv in the tractor shed. Lisa is so lovely and we wish them lots of love and happiness.

News on the farm - it has been a mild winter and I am sure that there are many farmers out there heaving a sigh of relief as winter feed for many was short, this is following a long winter last year and a very dry summer. We were lucky and it looked like we had enough food to carry us through. We have struggled this year with lots of pneumonia in our calves – it has been the perfect weather, Adrian is convinced that we will pay for this mild winter at some point. We completed our TB testing last week, this was done over a couple of weeks including New Year’s Eve and I am pleased to say that for the moment we are clear. We are always dipping in and out of being clear so whilst I am generally a cup half full kind of person, when it comes to TB, I am the opposite. Last year we went down when we should have been selling animals, we did go clear in the end but the price of cattle had dropped as farmers were concerned about their feed stocks. Whilst our cash flow was affected because of the price of cattle, we had to change our John Deere Gator as our old one was worn out, I have attached a photo, although by the time the children get to ride on it in the summer, it will have attracted a lot more mud.

News on the campsite - Harry and Hermione are still here, they are so sweet that I can’t part with them, they are currently shut in the car park to eat the grass off  and to keep them out of gardens but they are bored and they miss running around the farm and hamlet. The final piece of news is that we have decided to bite the bullet and purchase a hot tub, we look at this every year and finally have purchased one. It is going to go with the two storey lodge, I dither so much and I keep looking at where to put it and I think this is where we have finally decided to site it.

We are looking forward to opening again and thinking about it now daily, I cannot believe that we are nearly ¾ of the way through January but first we have a holiday to fit in, as well as many other things. I saw this quote by Henry Kissinger and it rang so true – “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full”.

Hopefully I will write again in a couple of weeks, until then - love from Cornwall X

We hope that you had a lovely Christmas and we would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our guests for being wonderful and for visiting us and we look forward to seeing our guests - old and new, in 2019.

I hope that you are enjoying our new website, I am hoping to have some photos in the ‘Wedding’ section soon. I LOVE the map and really think that this by far the nicest site map on any website that I have seen, and that is not because it is on our site but because of the talent of Jennifer from Pure Cornish Design who created it.

This is the time of year that I most dread – no guests, a lot of paperwork and even more housework to catch up on.

There is so much to do that I don’t know where to start so I procrastinate. This generally starts with the internet, you can spend a lot of time on the internet going from site to site. I look at other glamping sites and I am still amazed at what is out there. What does amaze me the most, is how many claim to be family yet still charge for highchairs and cots, surely if you accept children then you should provide furniture for them to sit on and sleep on/in? We have expanded our range of children’s equipment this year, we have always provided highchairs and cots, some games and books, a backpack (with sun and rain cover) also toy tractors but in addition we have bought a pushchair and a little table (with games attached) for toddlers.

This year has been incredible, for the first year we are totally independent and loving it. The new tents have been enjoyed by guests and we are really pleased with the furnishings. A few new changes are on the cards for next year. We have welcomed guests old and new and the lengths of stays have been impressive, the usual short breaks (although not very many) and 7 nights but a lot of 10 and 11 nights and even Paul, Rebecca and the girls for 17 nights! The fact that it would include 3 pizza nights was the deal breaker and they must have enjoyed the new pizza bases so much that they have booked 3 pizza nights again for next year. Wow, totally blown away and if you are reading this – THANK YOU x

This year we have welcomed back our very lovely Angela Griffin and Lisa Faulkner with their families and friends. So fantastic to see them again, Angela has a blog ‘Angelas Angle’ take a look www.angelasangle.co.uk/blog/glamptastic-fun-fire-frolics, she has written a really nice piece about Boswarthen and the area, even where you can buy the best pasties.

Lately Adrian has been so busy with field work that I have hardly seen him, but now that the ploughing and seeding has ended he will have time to catch up on a few jobs before they really get busy with the winter work. I was reflecting the other day on the hours that Adrian works and how he does the same jobs 7 days a week, I really don’t know how he does it, it would be understandable if at the end of the year we made a huge profit but sadly that is not the case, I have come to the conclusion that farmers are eternal optimists.

There is such a lot to tell you but I am going to finish today and tell you the rest another time. I have found this quote from Thomas Jefferson, Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness. My one thought was, I must remember to tell our Bank Manager!

Our new lambs are doing well and we have a good routine, they are very happy to follow me in the mornings and evenings as I take them outside to their paddock and bring them in at night. Lucy and Bethan very kindly named our lambs this year and when the message came through Adrian read Harry, I was then expecting Meghan but as Lucy is a Harry Potter fan it could really only be Hermione. To be honest we were relieved as the names could have been a lot worse and good job we didn’t go with their Dad’s suggestion which was Rigwelter and Old Peculiar – beer!!!Last week Adrian and everyone here has been helping our friend across the road on silage, his farm borders Trengwainton Gardens. We are hoping to do ours at the end of this week, so fingers crossed that the sun continues to shine.

One big thing that has happened here since the New Year is that Alex is now milking our cows, he gets up almost every day at 4.30am and he is doing really well, we are so proud of him , our mastitis rate has dropped phenomenally, this has meant not only do we not have sick cows and are not having to dump milk but that we are not using as many medicines, this is something that we are all trying to do supported by our vets.

I am pleased to announce that I have found someone to create a new website, so excited to be working with Jennifer at Pure Cornish Design.
I always struggle to find a good ending for my little blogs so I have decided to end them with a quote, here is today’s – one for farming I think:
Good things come to those who BELIEVE. Better things come to those who are patient, and the BEST things come to those who DON’T GIVE UP.