Rural and Rustic

Name: Rural and Rustic
Address: Abermule, Montgomery, SY156JN, GB
Telephone: +441686630197
Price range: ££
Rating: 4.5

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Rural and Rustic

Smallholding in the beautiful hills of Mid-Wales offering short breaks & retreats in our off-grid sh All in line with our low-impact ethos and lifestyle.
(11)

We are a smallholding in the beautiful hills of Mid-Wales offering B&B accommodation in our house as well as soul-nourishing short breaks and wellbeing-enhancing retreats in our shepherd's hut. We have three cats, eight hens and one cockerel. We grow our own fruit and vegetables.

01/07/2024

July begins and brings with it the stretched out transition from high to late Summer. This is expressed in the garden with a changing colour palette where the soft pastels of early Summer give way to fiery reds and oranges. The hemerocallis in the border by our seating and dining area usher in this mellowing mood.

I look forward to lazy times in the garden, enjoying the space we have created, entertaining and being creative. And I will be out there with a coat if I have to!!

29/06/2024

Slowly but surely, the variety of homegrown produce expands as Summer gets under way, gently closing the hungry gap. I discovered the first cucumber in the polytunnel this morning and to my surprise, I pulled a fully grown carrot before I started to water their container. The chive flower vinegar is now bottled and ready for use. Last week, I made a batch of herby salt; I follow a method by Sue at The Bridge Cottage Way which I shared in our Cookbook on the website (it also went in my Summer Solstice newsletter sent to subscribers a few days ago).

Not in the photo is an abundance of lettuce. It is bolting rapidly so we are eating some daily and sharing it with the chicken before we can start picking from the next batch.

27/06/2024

I have been collecting bits of crockery found in the garden over the nine years we have lived on our smallholding. I love these little fragments of the past that hold the ancestral stories of the place and I have wanted to do something with them for ages. So I jumped at the opportunity of a mosaic workshop at The Hive in Welshpool to make this plaque. It's set inside an old metal tin, although I didn't dig that up from the soil!

25/06/2024

Around the Summer Solstice is when the rambler graces the front of the house with sprays and sprays of white, delicately scented blooms. This year, it almost completely obscures the guest bedroom's window!

Its time to shine is short, often shortened by June winds and rain, which makes us appreciate it even more. Its roots are right against the house with not much space to mulch it so this undemanding rose largely fends for itself, except for the chop we give it after flowering.

23/06/2024

So lovely to watch the swallows gracefully flying and swooping about the place and to hear their cheery chatter as I work in the garden. A pair has made a nest in the workshop, one they built from scratch rather than use last year's there. Another pair was surveying our porch last week, which is a little late to start, but the poor weather so far may have delayed them.

22/06/2024

I have spotted one of those around our pond, with a few exuviae on grasses. They're Southern Hawker dragonflies emerging into the world.

22/06/2024

Oxeye daisies among grasses add romantic charm to the meadow. I love this time of year when the summer is still young and many plants are at their best. Come July, and some things begin to get tired and flop. No doubt the cool weather this June is helping preserve them for longer.

16/06/2024

And so begins the annual raid of the strawberries... we don't stand much of a chance to have a single one as these pesky creatures are stealing them whilst still green!

We have changed our strawberry growing arrangement this year and gone from a large bed packed with plants to three planters on the ground and 8 hanging baskets on a post. The plants needed refreshing and we couldn't easily access them in the middle. Consequently, this year, the quantity of plants is much reduced, as is the expected harvest. Maybe not by quite that much though!

16/06/2024

In the nick of time before the flowers went over, I managed to get a couple of jars of chive flower vinegar on the go this week. Look at the gorgeous colour already developing! Another week or so in the darkness of the cupboard under the sink and it will be ready to be strained and bottled. I use white wine vinegar to infuse the flowers in and the resulting liquid is full of flavour.

13/06/2024

My favourites in the garden at the moment... an abundance of pink and purple with some pops of orange and yellow. Only thing missing is the sunshine!

10/06/2024

In early autumn last year, I mulched our borders with a layer of compost on top of which I sowed some hardy flower seeds. I finished off several packets of cornflowers, wild carrot and nigella, which I simply mixed in a bowl then scattered on the newly mulched ground and covered with a thin layer of compost. Everything germinated nicely and it looked promising for a mix of annuals to fill the gaps between the perennials. For some reason, only the nigella seedlings have come to maturity but there are plenty of them. Don't they look fabulous?

06/06/2024

The artichokes are beginning to crop well and I enjoy having them for lunch. Simply steamed then dipped in a vinaigrette. Good, seasonal food.

02/06/2024

It all started with the broken stem of a pink lupin, snapped by my overzealous pest control!

The purple lupin next to it is suffering from an infestation of aphids that I hosed off with the pressure washer. I did it with a much gentler water spray bottle the other day but the little blighters are back with a vengeance so I thought I needed something more powerful to dislodge them.

The flower spikes of the purple lupin, a strong and well established plant, coped well with my heavy-handed approach; for the pink one, young and still tender, the jet of water proved a little too forceful.

So I had to go and pick it some friends for the vase.

01/06/2024

Lovely recent 5* guest reviews. Much appreciated.

29/05/2024

At this time of year, nature wraps itself around the hut in a lush, green embrace. A mowed path gently leads guests through the meadow up to their cosy hideaway that blends perfectly with its surroundings. This is the spot where guests, on seeing the hut for the first time, go "wow!". Magical!

28/05/2024

There is a patch of red campion in our lane that frames the view of the green hills beautifully. It is a delight to re-discover it each year. Perfect companion to the cow parsley, it's the wild flower of early summertime on our hillside.

26/05/2024

Loving all the buttercups everywhere at the moment. In the verges, in the fields, even in our flower borders. And of course, some make their way into the house too. I dried some last year and they surprised me by drying beautifully.

20/05/2024

A couple of weeks ago, I finally moved my sowing and potting work out of the polytunnel and into the summer potting shed. It took a while to tidy it up after not being used in the Winter or early Spring. The wind takes things off the shelves as it's open on two sides and things get a little wet too. This year, Peter made a door to add protection so that should help keep the worst of the weather out from now on.

I love working there. I have great views towards the top garden, the house and beyond. It's functional and practical with good storage space and also some lovely decorative touches, like my succulents. This year, I have created a border in front of it; it's planted with shrubs, bulbs and some summer climbers to make the building blend into the garden.

At this point in the growing season, sowing slows down but germination rates this spring have been terrible so I find myself still sowing peas, beetroot, kale and lettuce so we have enough! The cold frames are full with veg seedlings waiting to grow a bit more and lots of flowers which I hope to get planted in the borders this week.

I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to have all this space.

18/05/2024

My favourite tulips this year have been these, a variety called Antoinette. They remind me of raspberry ripple. Or rhubarb and custard. The flowers have changed colour as they matured, starting a golden yellow before turning a richer shade of salmon pink. Quite delicious! And don't they match perfectly the rhubarb and custard tart I made the other day?

16/05/2024

The scent of hawthorn blossom fills the air at the moment. Time to pick flowers to tea.

11/05/2024

What an incredible sight last night! It was absolutely magical to see the Aurora Borealis from the house. First time for me. There is a strong chance there will be another light show tonight.

09/05/2024

Remember the mandarin duck sitting on eggs in our owl box? The babies hatched this week. Despite our best attempts with the cameras and my spending lots of time there yesterday and the day before, when hatching started, no fledging was recorded nor did I see anything.

Unfortunately, three ducklings were left behind in the box yesterday. We rescued them but one died overnight. I took the other two to Cuan Wildlife Rescue Centre in Much Wenlock this morning. Good luck, little ones!

It is always SUCH a dilemma to decide what to do for the best. Is rescuing weaklings a good thing to do? Mum didn't wait or come back for them (she had the other 6 or 7 who had got out to look after) so who am I to "interfere". Am I helping, or hindering? Knowing they were there, it was simply impossible for me to walk away and leave them to die in the box.

08/05/2024

It's lovely to see the water garden in its second year, with many candelabra primroses that I added last summer after dividing three pots I had bought. I love the pops of shocking pink in there. It is a relief to see the hostas coming back too. Of course, the sunshine helps bring it all together.

This bit of the garden was created last year. It was a neglected wilderness to the side of the fruit garden but has a stream that runs through it in winter and a bank by the hedge with lots of wild primroses. That became the inspiration behind the project and I am so pleased with it.

03/05/2024

All that green! The burgeoning summer offers us pockets of colour in a sea of green. I find myself squinting to make them out when I step out of the front door as they appear swamped by the verdant grass and fresh foliage of early May. Noticing these colours and shapes from afar, of course, ignites a curiosity and invites a closer look that reveals their beauty, their uniqueness. Suddenly, they exist in their own right, as part of the whole and no longer lost amongst it. It all depends on what we choose to look at, doesn't it? A shift of focus between figure and ground.

The potted tulips are doing well with a good succession this year. I love the purple and orange colour combination of the Welsh poppies mingling with the hybrid bluebells. One peony has a few buds about to burst open and an aquilegia with pink and yellow flowers has got there first. The pink saxifrage and the purple ajuga are such reliable plants for Spring colour, again a mix I enjoy seeing each year.

What are you focusing on today? What is the figure and what is the ground?

02/05/2024

Rhubarb season continues with these indulgent bakewell slices made with sweet almond filling on top of rhubarb jam and a light pastry. Spotted the egg glut?!

01/05/2024

The Wheel of the Year turns once more and here we are on the cusp of Summer. Nature is bursting into life at speed now: trees are leafing up, fruit trees blossoming, seeds are pushing through the soil, bluebells and cowslips opening and birds are busy singing their best tunes, building nests and hatching chicks. The whispered promises of the Spring Equinox have turned into bold energies full of the fizz and vibrancy of life.

Happy Beltane!

30/04/2024

Maybe this year will be the year I give up growing radishes. Let's do some calculations to evaluate my success with these supposedly easy to grow crunch balls... eight years of growing veg, three to four sowings a year so that's about 30 crops altogether. Only two of those have been good crops and by that I mean the majority turning round and plump within a month, as per the packet. All the other crops have produced good enough leaf growth, albeit slow, but the radishes don't swell and we end up with spindly things that refuse to turn into an edible radish.

I have tried sowing direct, in plugs then plant out, multi-sown or a single seed, in tubs, in the ground, in the polytunnel, outside... same poor results each time, except those two times when we actually had a good crop. This year, the first crop I sowed in the polytunnel germinated well but the seedlings got eaten by mice. This is the second crop sowed early March, in a tub in the polytunnel then moved outside. The few radishes I harvested over the weekend are the only ones round enough. The rest of the crop is just a mass of these thin pink threads that are such a disappointment.

I love radishes but blimey, I find them so hard to grow! Am I the only one?

26/04/2024

The Welsh poppies are here, unfurling their chiffon frocks each day and adding pops of orange and yellow all over the garden. They bridge the gap between the now faded early Spring bulbs and the warmer season flowers yet to bloom. Self-seeded in awkward corners, against a wall or at the edge of the veg patch, their natural beauty is hard to beat. I adore them!

25/04/2024

Lamb races at sunset are such a joy to close the day with.

23/04/2024

Lovely to have a clear evening to see the full Seed moon rise. Did you see her?

Address

Abermule
Montgomery
SY156JN

Telephone

+441686630197

Website

https://www.rural-and-rustic.wales/

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Videos

Lamb races at sunset are such a joy to close the day with.

After so much rain recently, the stream in the water garden is in full flow. We created and landscaped this space over the summer so it's good to see it "in action".

Very happy to eat their greens!

Rural and Rustic shepherd's hut - fire's lit!

Just lighting the fire in the shepherd's hut for this weekend's guests. It will be warm and cosy when they arrive in the dark.

We are ready for our Easter guests. Weather forecast is, unfortunately, not brilliant for them but the stove is lit and they'll be warm and cosy inside the Hut. Although the skies are grey, it's blissfully peaceful and quiet outside... only birdsong and lambs bleating break the silence.

It was very busy on the bird feeder yesterday! Even robins, not normally seen on the feeders, were tucking in. This morning, I counted 12 fieldfares on the holly tree. It was a beautiful sight! They arrived en masse and munched on the holly berries. Birds get hungry at this time of year and the snow and cold weather make them vulnerable. I have gone through a lot of bird cakes and sunflower hearts this Winter.

Pets are very good at showing us how to be in the moment and enjoy it fully. Lola and I shared a few minutes together; me sitting down to stroke her was a great way to pause and connect with my self and my inner world. A delightful moment of mindfulness that was such a gift to myself, especially on days when I am busy with smallholding jobs and chores... Her purring was very grounding and calming. Can you hear it?

The slow rhythm of the fairy lights is soothing and grounding. Perfect invitation to relax and wind down...

It is a hive of feathery activity in the garden at the moment with adult birds bringing their young to the feeders. #30DaysWild

I followed a noise in the tree this morning and expected to find a bird. But no!! #30DaysWild

On this first day of Spring, we are pleased to announce that our lucky 'guinea pigs' (keen glampers willing to come and try our shepherd's hut for free in exchange for constructive feedback) are: