It’s just a regular sunny summer morning as I head to the farmyard to clean out the stables, worm the donkeys, pick out their feet and check them all, once more, for lice. We’ve never had lice before but new boy, Christos, is very good at offering them a home!
I give all donkeys a brush, a cuddle and, of course, a treat, before letting them out to graze on the indifferent, July-dry summer grass in Sunday Orchard .
Next the cockerel and chickens have to be caught before they go walkabout, easier said than done! We must check for scaly leg mites, another summer hazard. Poor old Claude finds the whole thing terrifying and shouts his head off. “Just a little Vaseline on your legs” I tell him as he squawks in protest, warning his ladies of the terrible danger ahead! Once done, off they go too, these feral birds, to take their chance in farmyard and field.
Then it’s up the hill to the top fields to check ewes and lambs. But just as Millie and I round the corner on the steep track up to the top barn I spot the twins. How have they got out? I recognise them at once. They are smaller than the rest having been partially bottle fed by me from birth. Their mother had very little milk so I topped them up for her until her milk came in. They are quite independent and stick together apart from the flock, frequently exploring pastures new, under a gate here, through a hedge there. They make me smile; so different from the rest. Quietly Millie and I walk up behind them and they scuttle back from whence they came. Time to move everyone to pastures new, I think.
It’s been a summer of extremes. May was so dry, the wind so cold, even a severe frost on May 5th, so rare in Devon. Beans and courgettes fell victim. The beech hedge was crowned with crisp brown leaves, wisteria ravaged, and the fig trees looked dead. More and more damage became visible as the weeks followed. Then suddenly June and flood warnings rang out all over Britain: helicopters rescues, trains halted, passengers stranded. Spectacular photos of a thousand lightning strikes illuminating the skies of South East England crowd the media. Homes without power, weather warnings nationwide and still it rained. How, then, were we so fortunate to have three dry afternoons to open our garden for the National Garden Scheme? We even had some sun and a stream of smiling visitors
In came July and it wasn’t long before we remembered the old saying “ be careful what you pray for” as the fields turned brown, the grass stopped growing and drought was the word on everybody’s lips. The rain simply stopped.
But it didn’t stop people flocking to visit the tiny hamlet of East Cornworthy. Five lovely gardens opened their gates for the National Garden Scheme Nursing Charities for the first time. After much hard work, organisation and no small amount of anxiety the weekend was upon us! Would anyone come?
We were all overwhelmed at the response! Over two afternoons we greeted nearly three hundred delightful, interested, interesting people. The car park filled, queues formed. I dashed to the shop to buy more clotted cream, more strawberry jam. By Sunday afternoon we even ran out of the wonderful scones donated by Dan at Garden Time, our local garden centre. He has made far too many, I thought quietly to myself as I collected them, we’ll never get through all these. Thank you Dan, how wrong I was!
As the visitors drifted away on Sunday evening, garden owners walked quietly round each other’s gardens. Still slightly stunned we finally celebrated with a welcome glass of wine. We looked at each other in amazement. In just two short afternoons they had raised an extraordinary £ 2,500 for the charity: a record indeed!
A little rain has fallen since, tiny signs of green creep across the top fields, grass growing a little at last. The garden is beginning to have that battered late summer look. Buzzards are already beginning to wheel and play on the thermals; I feel a shadow of autumn approaching. I do so hope all our summer visitors will enjoy some sun; I hope the traditional August rain will not spoil their holiday!
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