A wonderful birthday cake made by http://www.mandysclassiccakes.co.uk/ for a member of one of our favourite teams. Thank you Mandy.

 Is this really “legal tender”?

One of our visitors kindly left this note as part of a donation to one of our supported charities. We were shocked to see that the Queen’s head is no longer shown on Scottish banknotes and a little research indicated that this hasn’t been the case for years. Rather sad when many Commonwealth countries are still proud to display pictures of our Sovereign on their notes. Maybe Scotland is preparing for Queen Nicola’s “coronation” and until such time has substituted a number of placeholders! 

 The end of the road…

The road is supposed to end about 200 yards further than it now does thanks to a line of trees, swiftly toppled by Storm Arwen.

Quite a bit of damage here at Mornacott with the back on one barn completely blown off, part of the roof of another and we have yet to count the full extent of the fallen trees (many of them Ash already on their way out).

Proof that nature still holds the trump card!

 Our newest drive Miscombe, the result of great deal of effort from the team during the summer months, saw its’ first run through today with some pretty spectacular results.

Located amongst the beautiful scenery of the surrounding ancient wood and crossed by a rushing stream what could be better as part of an enjoyable day out.

Over the past few years we have been delighted to see the return of the Hedgehog.  For some time sitings of these wonderful creatures have been increasingly rare but over the last two years they've become almost a common occurence.  Do keep an eye out for them when visiting us as there's little that's more distressing than seeing them squashed on the road.

With the evenings drawing in and getting just that little bit colder it’s time to think of the chilly winter nights to come.

The axe was retired quite a few years ago and our new log splitter is doing sterling work splitting (mainly) Ash logs to top up the woodstore.

About the only compensation for seeing our beautiful Ash trees decimated by the horrible Ash Dieback Disease is that we have a large supply of standing firewood that will last for years to come.