Celebrations

First fire festival party

Having spent January working on the lower entrance, on 1st February 2015 we held our Imbolc fire party. Fire and ice make a great combination. Thanks to Sally and Jane B for photographs.

We made a cross of St Brigid from of rushes from the Wetland. Such crosses were to protect from harm. Clare also made a broom from fallen twigs to sweep out the old and make way for the new. 

Land-warming Party and Naming

29th September

Michaelmas Day - our land-warming party. Penny had written a song for us dedicated to the land. We named the land Liddells after Clare's maternal grandmother's family, who lived in the Tyne Valley centuries ago. There are more photos here.

Hal on the phone to Mathilda so she could be there too

Enjoying the glow

September 2013 - Party preparations

3rd September

We planted two clumps of Meadow Cranesbill and a Pink Campion. 

4th September

Clare saw the hare. We took still and moving pictures of the land. 

10th September

Beech branches overhanging the road had been cut and had to be moved. 

15th September

We built the bonfire for the party. Kate and Andy came for blackberries. There was a spectacular rainbow to the north, over Heavenfield. 

14th September

Clare collected fruits and made hedgerow jelly. This is the recipe I use.

17th and 15th September

John, Neil and Andy build the shelter for the party. See Celebrations for photos.

21st September

We made a path down to the tree planting site (the Bird Cherry tree Mathilda bought us as a wedding gift)

28th September

We saw a kestrel

29th September

We saw a large dragonfly

August 2013 - Becoming landowners

7th August

16.50: We are landowners! I walked to the land and John drove and we sat and raised a glass to investing in life. 

13th August

Party-planning! We've identified a site for the bonfire and for the shelter. We've also considered the possibility of applying to turn the hunt jump into a gateway. Great raspberries!

15th August

John went up with Mel and they saw a roe doe at the spring end of the Pit Wood and a sparrowhawk. 

2 sightings of a hare on the meadow. 

26th August

A new gatepost installed and the gate rehung. 

What a prospect...