Woolly says – It seems like only days since the season started yet here we are racing towards the end of the summer at a rapid rate of knots. Way back in March the river was close to coming over the banks, now although much lower it changes day by day sometimes giving us a large area of pebble beach and other days providing small islands for wildlife to hop between.
Alfie the Dog loves spending his days trotting down to the banks and attempting to consume as much of the river as possible in between paddling.
His best friend Teddy joins in or leaves panting boy to just enjoy his rest time basking under the apple trees.
A pair of mating swans and a solo male have moved in and enjoy patrolling the water’s edge from anyone who gets to close, issuing a high pitched hissing to anyone who crosses their boundary line.
The extensive pastureland that we are lucky enough to spend the summer on has also seen a gaggle of geese arrive for their summer break along with herons and all manner of wildlife.
Cows as ever are the main focus of life on the farm as they wander down to the dairy parlour for their twice a day milking making sure to moo as much as they can. The calves from spring are long gone except for Bob and Betty who spend the days enjoying their large pen and receiving visits from guests and staff.
My main job is obviously supervising the humans and ensuring that each and every one of our tipi’s is cleaned to my high standards.
Not forgetting the facilities and the need to make sure that Jo and the team have scrubbed them thoroughly.
The inclement weather conditions have made it a wet season with plenty of mud for the mutts to enjoy and the humans to moan about. But this hasn’t stopped us from getting out and about locally. A mile away is a lovely walk around Capler Camp an Iron Age hill fort. Each time we arrive I admire the lovely wooden seating area with its engravings.
While the mutt loves nothing more than racing along the fields to see if he can smell anything from its ancient history.
Jo has taken to packing a picnic for our short trips there and as I indulge in my egg sandwiches, I try to imagine what Iron Age man would have been doing and if they had enjoyed the views as much as we do.
A very recent addition to our local finds is the Church of St Catherine known locally as Hoarwithy Church, we’d passed it a number of times on our travels but this week we finally made time to stop and have a look round.
Designed in an Italian Romanesque style by the architect John Pollard Seddon for the Revd William Poole it is a Grade I listed building. The original chapel on the site dated from the 1840s but Revd Poole considered it, “an ugly brick building with no pretensions to any style of architecture in 1870, he commissioned Seddon to undertake a total rebuilding.
As we walked up the steps I could see the arcade and columns that remind me of Venice, sadly with so many people there no photographs were forthcoming. Instead, we attempted to navigate our way round the exterior taking the time to admire the graves in the lower area before finding a small set of steps to check out the war graves in the higher plot.
The views were lovely and it gave us a chance to admire the square church tower.
With most of the exterior out of view on foot we headed inside passing all the café tables and people tucking into some delicious looking food. We arrived at the main door into the church having admired the wonderful tiled floors and the entrance into the actual church.
A wonderful wooden ceiling painted in reds and greens gave me nek ache as I stared upwards before turning my attention to the incredible font with its wooden cover.
This was nothing compared to the alter with its incredible golden mosaic set high above.
Fabulous stained glass windows reflected light onto the floor and a new pattern of tiles.
The columns leading up to the altar were equally incredible with there intricate carvings that looked almost new.
The carved choir stands were in equally good condition and reminded me of some that we saw in Gloucester Cathedral.
A small organ with what looked like lead pipes graced one of the walls as my attention was taken by the stained glass windows at the rear of the church. To high up to see in detail but they were splendid.
As it appeared that the church now also runs a small café it seemed rude not to sit down and indulge in one of their Budha Bowls to keep my rumbling tummy at bay, as we tucked in we discussed all things glamping and the plans that we have for the coming months, passports will soon be out once again plus we have another wonderful season of glamping to look forward to next year.
If you’d like to book in to come and visit us and for further details you can check out our website