Our Dexter cattle….cycles of life

How so very often days (and life!) don’t always go as planned – and yesterday was one of those days, not the quiet one we had expected.  Saturday saw the arrival of our latest calf, Biscuit (it’s a girl) but on Sunday when we checked on Mum, Nina – who is 15 – she was not looking good.  So we called out the vet and the diagnosis was milk fever…we administered all that was needed, calcium etc, we held her head, stroked her, covered her in blankets to keep her warm and a tarpaulin to keep her dry (a special kind of raincoat) and put Biscuit in the shed to keep her safe. Biscuit needed some food in the meantime at just a day old, so we enlisted Alice our young cow who can always be tempted with a bucket of feed – tried to milk her, dead loss, so instead we let Biscuit have a go herself…..result!!!  Then after more calcium and a couple more hours Nina was up and looking for her calf.  Reunited in the shed, eating and drinking, looking much better and feeding Biscuit.  A fantastic reward and total joy after a very tough day - far removed from our life before Cornwall – and a few vodkas helped!!  Still looking better today all is crossed that Nina will fully recover and Biscuit be fit and strong and although it will be her last calf she’ll live happily for many more years with the rest of the herd and watch Biscuit carry on her breeding line .

Pumpkin time of the year…..

Pumpkins a plenty at this time of year……a great variety of all shapes and sizes which reminds me of a Mr Upton in Slindon, West Sussex (nowhere near Cornwall I know!!!). 

Mr Upton's great pumpkins

 It was the best place to visit at this time of year with more pumpkins than you could imagine plenty to choose from for your Halloween lantern’s and pumpkin recipes…   So tonight my baking for our weekend visitors were to be pumpkin cakes…so if you are stuck for some ideas when scooping out your pumpkins for those lanterns here goes….Riverford pumpkin cakes   Abel & Cole pumpkin ideas

And lastly a great easy recipe from Moosewood Cookbook for pumpkin pie….  Enjoy

 

Faultless pumpkin pie

Great food offers at Fifteen Cornwall if you’re staying in November/December

November and December are still great months to visit Cornwall, kick back relax, get away from it all with a reviving short beak – or longer, enjoy some stunning coastal or moorland walks , evenings by the fire and good food.  Check out our availability and why not try the latest offer from Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall, great place for a leisurely lunch starring out to sea, followed by walk along the beach….ENJOY !!!!

Wild Cornwall Three course lunch for just £19.50 2nd November – 18th December Monday – Friday.
The days are getting shorter and the temperature is plummeting but at Fifteen Cornwall we’re really happy because autumn is one of our favourite seasons. It’s a time when nature gives us loads to get excited about so we’re going wild! Our Wild Cornwall menu will feature all kinds of wild local game, beautiful fish and lovely plants and vegetables – all from the seas, moorlands and coasts of Cornwall!
To make a reservation call 01637 861000 or book online

Also check out Rick Stein offers in Tredarrup Food Finder Post of 10th September 

The Beauty of Bodmin Moor and its cycles of life

We are lucky to live not far from Bodmin Moor and most days we marvel in its beauty on our daily dog walk.  So today was not unlike any other day apart from a cattle protest – a peaceful one mind!  Cattle may not be able to read your Land Rover registration but they do recognise the model and they love a Defender or County (Range Rovers, Discoveries and Freelanders fear not!).  So this morning I arrived at one of our favourite spots only to be surrounded on all sides by a herd of hungry cattle with many young calves that thought in the back of our Landie was some tasty silage but sorry no …. our two black Labradors!  They protested we set off for our walk, they set up camp around, waiting for our return but sorry no silage to be had………(sorry no picture!).
It made me think that one of the many beauties of Bodmin Moor is its cycles of life.  At the moment, there are many young calves – all very rugged and sturdy to withstand the weather – in the summer there are lots of foals, and from 1st March to 31^st July firstly lambing begins and then it becomes the main breeding period for ground nesting birds such as skylarks, snipe and lapwings.
So when visiting Cornwall, don’t just enjoy our fantastic beaches and dramatic coastline but for all that stay with us, use one of our maps and take a walk out onto the Moor enjoy the huge expanse of open countryside, total quiet with only the sounds of nature and a good bracing walk…probably followed by a trip to the pub!      

The top of Roughtor at sunset - a great climb

Cornwall’s Basking sharks

Basking sharks have started to arrive off the coast of Cornwall.  An amazing sight to see from many a boat in cornish waters as they stay with us until September.  We have been lucky enough to see them close up from a fishing boat in the waters off Padstow and Rock. This gentle giant is the largest fish to be found in the coastal waters of the British Isles. Measuring anything up to 12 metres long, and weighing up to 7 tonnes, it feeds on animal plankton, filtering 1,000 to 2,000 cubic metres of seawater per hour to extract its tiny prey. During the summer months, it favours Cornish, Devon, Manx, Irish and Scottish waters as its regular feeding grounds. The basking shark is an internationally recognised endangered species with legal protection. Its main attraction now lies in its highly valued enormous fins, which are a delicacy in the Far East, and hunting remains the single biggest threat to its future.

 

The Royal Cornwall Show

Tomorrow sees the start of our greatly anticipated annual event The Royal Cornwall Show. A fantastic agricultural show where you can see cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, poultry and much more . You’ll see some of the English countryside’s fineness animals up close .  A chance for all to meet and catch up with old friends as they tour the ground and see all that is new in farm machinery and much more to do with our countryside.  So if you are in Cornwall on 4th, 5th, 6th June check it out…      

And just on the subject of land today is the launch of the Landshare campaign. The site has been up for some time collecting interest, possible matches, offers of help and great tips.

Hardly a cloud in the sky….

What a day and a weekend of more hot weather……

Hardly a cloud in the sky

Tredarrup’s Bees – Nature is a wonderful thing

Tredarrup's friendly swarm of bees

Nature provided this weekends entertainment here at Tredarrup with the arrival on Saturday of a swarm of 15000 bees on the back of Mill Barn.  As the sun warmed up so did they… as the swarm got busy.  But the bees were totally focused on finding a new place to live before their food reserve in their stomach ran out and did not have the energy for much else – so no need to worry. One of our big attractions for the bees was a nearby Sycamore tree which in flower provides them with up to 40% of their nectar. The characteristic loud hum from a swirling swarm of bees is one of nature’s striking phenomena.   A swarm contains the queen bee and about 20, 000 worker bees from the old colony left behind in the hive. A new queen is raised within the hive. A swarm collected in May is useful to beekeepers because the colony of bees is more likely to produce honey in the summer and has longer to get established before the winter.  Left alone, the swarm is harmless, and should move on. Sending out a swarm is the natural way in which honey bee colonies increase their numbers, they are looking for new homes. So without delay I called our local bee centre  and a nearby bee collector came and took them away to put them back into a bee hive where they will be turned into a productive colony.   As honey bees can no longer survive in the wild, it is important to collect swarms and return them to the care of beekeepers. This year it is even more important to save swarms as there is a shortage of honey bees following the disastrous winter losses in 2007-8. Many new beekeepers, and over 2,500 people have taken up beekeeping this year. We need all the bees we can get.

Bees inside the bird hole

 

Our bees collected and ready to be taken away

Bees need gardeners to help them stay alive

Honey bees (Apis melifera) are essential to our way of life. They are the most effective pollinator of many fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants and trees.  To stay alive, bees need forage from February to October, beekeepers to look after them, space for hives and a vigilant public which will tell the experts when a swarm of bees needs collecting.  June is a crucial month when many bees can go hungry with a lack of much in flower and with the effects of climate change we have to be careful they don’t starve to death.  With the prospect of a glorious summer, now is the crucial time to help honey bees replace the huge number of colonies they have lost over the last two years.  The love flowereing vegetables, fuit, flowers and trees and the BBKA’s bee friendly flowering trees are:

• February Acacia dealbata
• March Alnus cordata
• April Amelanchier lamarckii
• May Sorbus x arnoldiana
• June Sorbus aria .Tilia tomentosa
• July Castanea sativa
• August Koelreuteria paniculata
• September Tetradium daniellii

Bee Facts and Figures
In the UK there are approximately 44,000 beekeepers managing around 274,000 hives.
They produce 6000 tones of honey per year.
Pollination contributes £200 million annually to the economy making each hive’s contribution about £700.
In the UK, we produce only 20% of the honey we consume – the rest is imported.
To collect a pound of honey a bee might have to fly a distance equivalent to twice round the world. This is likely to involve more than 10,000 flower visits on perhaps 500 foraging trips.
A queen bee can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.
In the summer, there are about 50,000 bees in a colony, this reduces to about 20,000 over winter.
The varroa mite reached the UK in 1992 and now infests 95% of hives. Untreated colonies die in 3-4 years. Even low populations of mites reduce vitality and increases the spread of viruses.
Download Ten Things To Do To Help Honey Bees [35KB PDF]

North Cornwall’s great beaches

North Cornwall is Britain’s most popular surfing coast, with waves for all levels and weather! Near Tredarrup we have so many great beaches to enjoy during your stay and with the forecast predicting a better summer what a way to spend a Cornish holiday.   Polzeath  in the Camel Estuary is well used by bathers and surfers and is regularly cleaned. It’s broad sweep of Hayle Bay at low tide makes the sand perfect for castles and beach games and you can find  many fish and seashore animals in the rock pools. Popular. Daymer Bay, beautiful family beach at all stages of the tide.  Good walks along cliff tops. Trebarwith Strand, dramatic sandy beach only accessible at low tide. Excellent cliff walks. Crackington Haven (one-time haunt of smugglers), small sandy beach (recently damaged in flash floods). Harbour Cove, short walk from Polzeath, fine sand and sheltered waters. Constantine Bay, massive sand dunes, rare wildlife and rock pools. Portcothan,long narrow beach, good sand at low tide.  Good walks.  A great swimming cove is Port Quinn, on your way to Polzeath.
Also, Sandymouth, Duckpool, Nothcott Mouth, Trevone, Harlyn, Bobby’s Bay, Constantine Bay, Treyarnon, Bude-Crooklets, Bude – Summerleaze and Whipsiderry  (have a sea water pool and good lifeguards), Widemouth Bay has good easy access with a mile of flat sand. Porth nr Newquay.  And recommended Porthpean nr St Austell, Porthmear St Ives and Mawgan Porth nr Newquay. It is advisable to check the tide times when visiting some beaches.  Aslo try Bude’s Sea Pool at Summerleaze beach – open for the season with lifeguards present each day.

One of our many beaches

North Cornwall – England’s Gourmet coast…

We love good food at Tredarrup - local, seasonal and organic if possible.  We produce our own eggs, beef, frut/veg and are fortunate to have a huge range of fantastic local suppliers, seasonal produce (asparagus at the moment) and more great restaurants than you could imagine. 
So whilst staying with us I could suggest many but there are more than you could hope to eat in during one stay….so here is just a taster.
Chef Paul Ripley, recently took over one of our locals, the St Kew Inn.  An old pub in a great location, with fantastic pub grub.  Local and seasonal – we ate there last night and it was superb – so highly recommended and a good price at aprx £25 per head for 3 courses.  Paul Ripley was head chef at Rick Stein’s seafood Restaurant for 10 years and then went on to gain a Michelin star after opening his own restaurant.    
So next up is Rick Stein’s choice of restaurants.  The Seafood Restaurant, St Petrocs, the Cafe, Fish & Chips and now The Cornish Arms, all are great but the Seafood Restaurant  are currently doing a pre-summer lunch  running until Sunday 28th June, it’s built around prime Cornish seafood like lobster, crab, scallops, sole, bass and turbot and priced at £35 for three courses.
And finally a great location and good food at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall .  Enjoy lunch whilst looking out over the sea have a good lunch and go for a walk along Watergate Bay.  For lunch they do a 3 course menu for £25.45 or make your own choice.

ENJOY……………..