Browse through our blog posts to find out what life is like at Hoe Grange Holidays along with some great ideas for days out in the Peak District.
For the last few years herds of dairy farmers, flocks of shepherds and a whole coven of farmers wives have Twitted, Blogged Instagramed and Facebooked about a whole 24 hrs of farming showing what they are all getting up to. Today 9th August 2018 is this years #Farm24 day. What are we all doing this year? Well for a start 2018 is turning out to be one of the most challenging years for decades in farmings never ending battle with the weather. Following the wettest coldest spring in living memory, we jumped straight into the longest hottest...
Farming always has its ups and downs but this year has been particularly challenging. The winter snows were severe with the Beast from the East which meant a late spring, followed on by the current heatwave which is causing havoc with the harvests. Sunshine and heat is wonderful for our holiday guests staying in our log cabins and glamping pods, but not so great for the farm animals. June 2018 has been the driest on record. I can't recall when I last saw the farm fields so brown and the grass is so dry it scrunches underneath your feet. ...
Ashbourne Sheep Fair today was a real celebration of all things sheep. There was a great turn out of folk to watch the hand shearing demonstrations, wool yarn spinning and the mock auction, which all gave the public an insight into the history and tradition of sheep farming in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was fabulous to see 17 breeds of sheep on display so that you could get up really close and compare the differences. The length and quality of wool varies tremendously, some sheep produce better meat and watch out as some bre...
Spring has given way to Summer and we thought you might like to see just how much our farm animals have grown in such a short space of time! Our little Golden Top Bantum dutifully sat on some eggs for 21 days without a break and was rewarded by 3 of the 5 eggs hatching - one with a little help from David! Just seconds old with wet feathers - but mother hen soon warms the chick beneath her fluffy feathers and hey presto all three chicks look all cute and fluffy just a day later! The chicks are now just 6 weeks old and look at the differe...
In a previous blog we talked about lambing our sheep, now that it's sizzling hot in the Peak District it's time for sheep shearing, another major event in the farming calendar. Shearing is an important part of sheep husbandry and crucial to their welfare. If their woolly fleeces are not removed sheep can overheat, and they can also get infested with maggots which eat away at their flesh - yuk - which is detrimental to their health and most unpleasant all round! You may sometimes see strange straggly looking sheep because if you don't shave the...