Coming into land at Hoe Grange

The weather over the last couple of days has been gorgeous with brilliant sunshine and blue skies, let’s hope the Indian summer continues into September. Consequently we have see many hot air balloons overhead, both morning and evening, making the most of the ideal flying conditions. There was great excitement this morning as one landed in our big meadow by the side of the road, and we watched as they rapidly deflated it and packed it neatly away.

The Peak District is a fabulous area for taking a ride in a hot air balloon with beautiful undulating hills and fantastic scenery – here’s an idea – ballooning vouchers could be an ideal solution to all those difficult present problems for special big birthdays or anniversaries. If you come and stay with us ask how David got on with our balloon adventure!

Felicity

going down!

DJ first puppy to leave

Twix’s puppies are now 8 weeks old and ready to leave for their new homes. The first to go is JD (short for Jack Daniels) . We know that he will be in good hands as the new owners had another of our puppies called Milton, who was JD’s great uncle, and lived to the ripe old age of 14. 

We shall be keeping one of the girls ourselves and are still arguing over the name – Crunchie or Ripple ?? Let us know what you think! 

David

who's missing?

Felicity

Twix's puppy keeping a low profile!

launching our kite surfing kite

The weather has been extremely changeable this week, with rolling dark clouds, and sharp showers followed by glorious sunshine, more like October in a way than August.

However it hasn’t stopped us having fun and the winds have been ideal for a spot of kite flying up on the top meadows.    Felicity

Up, up and away...

Full of energy!

Why is it that everyone in the family has gone gooey eyed over the puppies?

Even hard hearted farmer David has been caught spread out on the lawn playing with the puppies in the garden. They are now nearly 5 weeks old and are becoming very active as you can see from our puppy video.

Grrr.....

Felicity

Watch me son, I'll get the blue car then you get the big red tractor

Felicity

Expedition fun - on their way to Gold award

This week we hosted a group of youngsters from Andover Duke of Edinburgh Group who were on their final 4 day expedition for their D of E Gold award.

They arrived early evening, set up camp and cheerfully set to work cooking their evening meal. They were able to sit and listen to the music from the Y Not Festival drifting over the hill! They left early the following morning to complete their final days hike down to Cromford. The Peak District is a popular choice for D of E outdoor expeditions

Round bale silage in the top meadows

Time passes so quickly and here in the Peak District we are already approaching the middle of summer, and looking towards the winter months when we will have stock sheltering in the farm buildings who need feeding. Today we decided to make round bale silage as the weather has not been sunny enough over the past few weeks to make more hay. You can see an action video of the final cut of silage being round baled on the top meadows at Hoe Grange – you get fabulous panoramic views from our fields.

First the mown grass is picked up and rolled in the round baler like a giant toilet roll, then the bale is ejected onto the field. The wrapping machine then picks up the bale and wraps it in giant cling film to keep the grass airtight, so that it does not ferment or go mouldy. The silage can then be fed to the cattle throughout the winter months. Now you know what’s in the black bags you see dotted around the countryside at this time of year.

Quite a quick process ; the field was mown this morning and because the grass was fairly dry we were able to bale it this evening. Modern farming is so much quicker than the traditional methods used by our fathers – thank goodness!

David

It's a wrap

Brassington strong man competition

Yes, look at the photo carefully, he really is picking up and pushing the car!

Over a dozen local men took part in their bid to win the title. There were a series of strenuous activities designed to test strength, speed and endurance to the limit. The competitors had to roll and drag huge tractor tyres along an obstacle course, try their skill at knocking in fencing posts and show their might by pushing a car.

It's very tyre ing!

Rather them than me – I felt my back hurting just watching their bulging muscles - I think I will stick to the beer!

David

Not as easy as it looks!