June at Poachers Hideaway
June 4th, 2007We have a busy time coming up as we have our eldest daughter getting married & celebrating the day at Poachers Hideaway. Read the rest of this entry »
Poachers' Diary
1st April 2007
April 1st, 2007Out early walking the dogs saw & heard larks, caught sight of the green woodpecker, I know the more common lesser spotted one is resident in the wood but haven’t seen the green one about before. The Barn owls have been late to bed, they were hunting in broad daylight today, must be hungry. Also in abundance long tailed tits, blue tits, sparrows, meadow pipits, pied wagtails, rooks, blackbirds, finches and a thrush, serenading us beautifully. The frog & toad spawn has turned black and wriggly and their parents are ALL over the place. A lovely start to a Sunday.
March musings from the Lincolnshire Poacher
March 27th, 2007You couldn’t get a much more pleasant day than here today, especially after the recent cold snap. The bird song is amazing. I have the pleasure of watching blackbirds making their nest as I do the washing up and blue tits are moving in to our various nestboxes. We have two near to the house, one is a grand affair that I have called the Manor the other I have labelled as the Cottage, for obvious structural reasons; it is definitely the Manor that is getting the pecks of approval.
We’ve had a casualty, a duck strayed too close to the labradors kennel and is no more. I have a suspicion she had eyed up the kennel as a good nesting spot. She was very tame & very silly, her mate stands mournfully around waiting for her, in fact he might even be unaware she has passed on and just thinks she is concentrating hard on laying eggs. Evidently, ducks are not the brightest birds at Poachers Hideaway.
We have a thrush that sings its heart out from approximately 5.30 am every morning now. It is my alarm clock as it is in the tree just outside the bedroom window. I can think of worse noises. I’m very much in favour of encouraging the thrush as we have a huge population of snails. I come across them everywhere when I’m gardening. What with the frogs & toads eating the slugs, with any luck, and the birds the snails, I’m well on my way to a pest free garden.
Our donkeys had an exciting Mother’s Day outing. The next door farmer left our gate open for the morning, so they decided to take themselves off and do a bit of exploring. I think he thought donkeys don’t move very fast, if at all. Actually, turn your back and they cover ground very quickly! The problem with them escaping was that nobody was aware until nearly dusk. The farmer had shut the gate and not even thought to look to check the donkeys were about, he just didn’t think they would be interested in exploring new pastures. I was away for the day being wined & dined by my student son & his house mates in sunny Hull. Tom cooked a full meal and made his Mum very proud, not for the first time either. By the time I knew I had two escapees, it was dark, and grey donkeys don’t lend themselves to been seen at night. With help from the over complacent farmer (by now feeling very responsible once he knew what he’d done), & his wife, we managed to catch the donkeys by 9am Monday. Phew!
Bookings are coming in steadily, the Therapy Retreat is proving very popular and guests are leaving with a chilled, relaxed air about them having been massaged and treated to various alternative therapies and the peaceful surroundings…. excepting for the bird song!
Lincolnshire Holiday Award for Poacher
March 27th, 2007Poachers Hideaway was proud to receive a highly commended award for the “ accommodation with food” at the recent Lincolnshire holiday awards.
Lincolnshire is still surprising visitors when they discover how beautiful the Wolds are. So many of our guests have had the common misconception that Lincolnshire is flat & boring. I challenge anyone to come to stay with us and actually find a flat piece of land.
February Update
February 25th, 2007We have had a busy weekend with guests making the most of Therapy Retreat, the timetable for our various therapists was full, to say the least. Lots of good comments in our visitor’s book which I will pass on to the relevant people, thank you. If past visitors would like to add their comments on the web regarding their experiences here at Poachers, or with Therapy Retreat, we would love to hear from you.
We have had some lovely days between the rain and there simply is no stopping the Spring like behaviour of the wildlife around. I came across three frogs attempting to mate as I carried some ready prepared meals over to one of the cottages on Friday night. Nearly stepped on them, but for the noise coming from the trio. I imagine two of them were attempting to tell the other one where to go, but that’s my imagination for you. For all I know one of them might have been croaking encouragement!
The woodpecker is making alot of noise in our wood, which I am reliably told means he is attracting a mate, I hope he soon finds one or we willl be condemning a tree or two in the near future!
Tomorrow sees us going to The Petwood Hotel at Woodhall Spa for an awards celebration as guests of Lincolnshire Life, Tastes of Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Tourism. Apparently we’ve been shortlisted for an award for the “accommodation with food” category, which is rather nice. We do try our best to give the best of tastes of Lincolnshire and most people visiting appreciaite the local produce and excellent shops in Horncastle & Louth, our two nearest towns. I’ll let you know how we do, watch this space.
Therapy Retreat comes to Lincolnshire
February 15th, 2007Therapy Retreat the new seat of quality natural holistic therapies in Lincolnshire, has opened its first rural therapy centre in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds - allowing clients to give themselves a ‘lift’ whenever they feel the urge. Read the rest of this entry »
Where the hosts go on Holiday …
February 6th, 2007The Tuxworth family have just returned from a week skiing in the Alps. Read the rest of this entry »
February at Poachers Hideaway
February 6th, 2007Sunshine in February, it can’t be bad, excepting that it seems to be tricking the birds into thinking about Spring. The chickens certainly think so, I’m considering setting up a stall on the market to clear some of the eggs we have! I have a new cockeral, George, who seems more than happy to join my 12 hens and has a very deep and penetrating crow which I think we will begin to tire of as the nights get shorter!
Our resident barn owl appears to have attracted a mate, it is magical watching them hunt. They are usually about anytime after 4pm and don’t seem at all fazed by us walking by with the dogs.
Our neighbour is beginning to bring his sheep in for lambing and Ela, our resident helper, wishes to lend a hand, as she has a degree in animal husbandry and only has the donkeys at Poachers Hideaway to look after!
Bookings are coming in fast and furious, the new website appears to be working well and the availability calendar means at least people know when we have spaces or not.
Poachers Hideaway TV Feature
January 25th, 2007We have just found out that the TV programme featuring Poachers Hideaway starts on Feb 5th on UK TV Style at 10pm. It will be running for 2 weeks, with each programme repeated at 11am the following day.
There will be a chance to win a 2 night break at Poachers Hideaway.