Hole Farm - The Milking Parlour

23/04/2024

Wishing everyone, family and friends a very happy St George’s Day today!

18/04/2024

Thatched roof on the Barn is very nearly finished, and it glows! Fabulous job and even the sun has come out to bless the new roof!

15/04/2024

The Barn roof is now getting a fringe!

Nearly there! It’s a magnificient colour!

James working away ….

05/04/2024

Almost whatever the weather- James, Sean and Duncan or some part of the team, are here and now the North end gable is nearing completion.

This leaves the connecting roof to the slate roof on the Threshing Barn, the ridge and re-erecting the chimneys!

If anyone remembers ‘The Generation Game’ with Bruce Forsyth and Anthea Redfern…”Good game, good game! Hope you are playing along at home!?”……

22/02/2024

The Thatchers have completed one side, getting to the first chimney and that needs to be dismantled and then raised to accommodate the increased layers of water reed.

The weather is generally poor at this time of year, with some good days in between, but little stops the thatchers - Duncan, James and Sean !

16/02/2024

Layer by layer the roof is taking place, but this means the chimneys have to be dismantled, moved up as the roofing layers increase and then reinstalled.

15/02/2024

Thatcher’s assistants come in all shapes and sizes, and for diversity’s sake all colours…

15/02/2024

This is how Thatchers get their reed from the ground to where it’s needed!

10/02/2024

Thatching progress!

Despite the on/off rain our Thatchers are doing a great job.

First the upper layers are trimmed back and disposed of.

Then the bottom of the roof by the wall plates is built up.

Already in a few days it’s being transformed!

09/02/2024

Our Barn has needed a new hat for sometime now. The thatch has prematurely disintegrated and has been looking like a Sedum roof from some angles. The moss here on one gable end you can plunge you hand into upto the wrist! Perfect for hanging baskets! There is a very fine lichen which feels like a fine sponge and looks like a brain.

The top layers will now get torn off, leaving the base, but in our case it will be reshaped and the angle of run off steepened!

We will post progress on here, incase anyone should be interested in seeing what happens when a thatching team does their stuff!

Also gives us the opportunity to interfere with the thatching …

08/02/2024

Frogs spawn arrived in ponds 2 weeks ago and has swollen already as the water enters its membrane. Spring on its way!

Another sign is Canadian geese flying over in recent days, calling to each other as they split into couples, and pair off at local ponds and lakes. George the Goose is lonely and goes mad answering the Geese overhead..”I’m here, ladies stop here!”

There’s no telling how they know and it sounds totally daft, but genuinely geese lay eggs on Valentine’s Day, and almost always 7 eggs! How is that even possible?!?! Mother Nature is the most amazing!

20/01/2024

Merlin says he would like to wish you a very Happy New Year!

19/01/2024

This has to beat rain! Finger numbing coldness, razor sharp sun rays and frozen crunchy ground! Makes you feel alive!

13/02/2023

Beautiful sunny days recently bringing stunning sunsets. How lucky we truly are!!

11/02/2023

Some balmy sunny days for walks on Dartmoor and along the coast, and frozen nights with log fires in the evenings.

05/01/2023

Happy New Year!

If you have found your post is always late now with the recent Royal Mail strikes, we've not suffered that at all here.

And here's why.....we use the 'Hole Fairy Post', and magically for everything posted here, a reply arrives the following day!

25/12/2022

How true!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 🎄

24/12/2022

A very Merry Xmas Eve to all.

Hope when you wake up Christmas Day, that Santa has bought you too whatever you have dreamed of!!

This picture is too beautiful not to be seen by everyone.

21/12/2022

On the lead up to Christmas....

20/12/2022

Snow and ice has gone- now its 'wet,wet,wet' for Christmas.

Here's a few snaps from recent days and weeks.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

18/03/2022

Spring is definitely on its way here!

09/10/2021

After losing Holly the dog last May after over 17 years, 3 weeks ago we finally got a new puppy - Merlin the English Springer, who has caused complete mayhem, eating all sorts of 'unsavoury' items, and taken over the sofa! Already in 3 weeks we can't imagine the place without him - just recall it was soooo peaceful and relaxing!

17/06/2021

17/06/2021

ragged robin

17/06/2021

It has been very warm and sunny here, and all the ladies have been topping up their tans. We're looking for some 'Hettie the Hen' sized sunshades...

07/06/2021

We have finally got the second barn up and running here at the farm. It's the 'Threshing Barn' and is a single storey, large open plan, sleeps 2 for couples. In the 19th century a 'horse engine house' was added, which is why there's a tree in the bedroom! Some poor horse was tied to a grinding machine and walked round and around driving the mechanical machinery to grind corn. We've tried to mix the old with the new, and launched in April has been popular - which we're grateful for!
See what you think? Here's some photos.....

06/06/2021

May, June and July are the best times to walk the Southwest coast path for clifftop wild flowers!

24/05/2021

Sleeps 2 - 16th century, single storey, vaulted roof, part-thatched barn, once upon a time a Threshing barn for corn. Then 'modernised' in the 19th Century, by the addition of a Horse engine house to mechanise threshing the wheat. Now a large luxury holiday let for a couple!

24/05/2021

This year- about 4 weeks ago now, we welcomed the arrival of spring lambs...enter stage left - Eeny and Weeny. Should now be big enough to run away from any fox....😊

23/05/2021

After such a year for the entire world, what a joy it is to see people again; friends and family, and meet great new people too! Gratitude is a word that produces such strong positive feelings, and we are grateful to the Buckle family for their warm words, which are very much appreciated!