soggy Brizzle

Well, the May Fair at Redland Green in Bristol was a teensy bit wet (ok, there was a deluge and the earthworms started panicking) but that really didn't matter as everyone soldiered on and had a great time as always.

Not ones for letting a bit of rain dampen their spirits, Hilary and Rosamund spent the day chatting with old friends (including Susan's sister Jenny who had her stall next door) as well as meeting some lovely new people who will be coming to visit us in Chulmleigh for a workshop.

All in all it was a wonderful day - and one where rain definitely didn't stop play.

Bristol's Redland May Fair here we come!

We had such a brilliant time last year we are going again this year - we're looking forward to catching up with our Bristol friends from 1pm - 5pm at Redland Green on Monday 2nd May.

seasonal positivity!

It's been a busy few weeks on top of our windy hill in North Devon.  Easter came and went in a flurry of angry clouds and hail but luckily the Easter Bunny wasn't put off and left a lovely stash of chocolate eggs (although if we're being honest, the sight of anything even slightly ovoid in shape makes us feel a bit sick now). Hilary's been finishing off some bespoke projects - including this magic carpet mini-traveller which will shortly be off on its travels to its new home. And lambing is still in full swing amongst the daffodils so Susan's utility room remains full of bags of colostrum powder and recycled baby bottles.  Added to that we've been camping with friends, fossil hunting in Charmouth and practised our quicksteps at a wartime tea-dance plus there have been lots of lovely horse walks in the spring lanes (despite the usual weather).  We love springtime in Devon!

There's definitely something fishy going on

We're very proud of Oz this week - he passed his obedience course with flying colours and received his first certificate.  

Oz's story began for us in an RSPCA rehoming centre near Weston-Super-Mare; he was a loving but bouncy, energetic dog who needed more space than his previous owners could give him - reluctantly they had put him up for adoption.  In a parallel universe 100 miles away in Devon, Hilary and Nish had begun to look for a new companion for Bill and the other animal residents at Oakwood after their beloved Pearly died.  As if it was written in the stars, their path took them to Oz (via Banksy's Dismaland rather bizarrely - see September's posts for more of that) and a new chapter began in all their lives.

Which leads us to the fish. Not the obvious choice for a dog retrieve toy admittedly, but when you think about it, they are just the right shape.  And we do have an abundance of rivers round here, teeming with the real life versions which must have been in Hilary's subconscious when she created her own little shoal.  They're stuffed with scrap leather so are unbelievably good for chewing and tugging and generally throwing around as Bill and Oz will tell you.  We also think they look rather lovely just plonked in a basket.

As for Oz, his new found confidence and transferable skills have led to a promotion at work - here he is making a few amendments to the website.

Cheesecake heaven

Regular visitors will be expecting some kind of rain-related issue in this week's blog post.  Not wanting to disappoint, we can confirm that we did indeed get wet dashing over the road to the florist to take our Mother's Day photo.  Not only that, the lovely Liz of Changing Blooms was just about to whizz off to the wholesalers, so in true hjh style we only had about 2 minutes to take the picture.


Anyway, it was an easy task as the flowers were gorgeous and we even had time to choose our fantasy bouquets for when someone realises that they absolutely must buy us a bunch.

Back in the workshop Nish delivered the most spectacular baked lemon cheesecake which we all pretty much inhaled straight down.


empty tupperware!

They say time and tide waits for no man but here in Chulmleigh Nish's cheesecake definitely waits for no woman as yet again it disappeared before the camera had a chance to come out.

We may not have a Prêt or an M&S foodhall handy but we have something so much yummier - surely we can persuade him to audition for The Great British Bake Off - we hear there are a lot of practice bakes required...

Unsurprisingly, we're all quite full now.  

Happy despite the never ending rain

It's STILL raining!! How is that possible? We are, however, extremely happy in our workshop because a) we have the Archers on, b) the bakery hadn't run out of sausage rolls after all and c) we are not running around in the freezing rain on the next windy hilltop like the farming husband doing ovine midwifery.  Yes, it's that time of year again and lambing has started.  Welcome to the world tibby lambs!

No photos of them yet due to the monumental amount of mud/horizontal rain between the yard gate and the shed but we can report that they are very cute and are all doing well.

So instead here's Hilary and Rosamund busy and happy with some fabulous new silver leather shortly to appear in the shop in the guise of gorgeous totes.  We quite like January after all! 

Oz's modelling debut

Oz: "I won't get out of my basket for less than 10,000 bonios"

Oh the glamour. Being January it's been raining and is still raining, it's the kids' first day back at school so Susan hasn't had time to do any kind of a blow-dry (although given the above it's probably just as well) or polish her boots and Hilary needs to post the backpack to Sweden in about 10 minutes.  And our ever-glamorous cabin-crew friend Helen is in Mole Valley trying to buy sander belts and so isn't around to don her fabulous Toast coat and jump elegantly in puddles for us.

And then Oz wanders in, the rain stops for 30 seconds and Hilary makes it to the Post Office in time.  We're sure it's just like this at Mulberry!

Happy new year everyone - 2016's going to be a lot of fun!

the finished homepage!