Thank goodness the sun has finally made an appearance! All parts of the estate are glad of the ground drying up, whether that is in residential gardens, the Christmas tree fields or on the farm, everything feels better when the sun shines.
Farming
Things are looking a lot more positive now the ground is starting to dry up and we can finally get machinery back out into the fields. The sheep have finished grazing the winter cover crops and the most recent few days of dry weather have meant that applications of fertiliser can be made to the winter crops planted last autumn. We have also been able to focus on establishing spring crops, including spring barley, some of which will make its way to Renegade Brewery to be turned into a delicious beer.
9 British White calves have been born so far this year without any complications, including a set of twins. Another 5 are expected and will join their friends in the cow and calf pen at Frilsham Home Farm until it is warm enough for them to be turned out in the fields for the summer.
Solar Panels
Our commitment to using sustainable energy sources has kicked up a gear in the last month with 3 new solar panel installations across the estate and another one to come soon. The biggest of the 4 new arrays is 54 kw and located at Haw Farm, where it will be used to power the farm grainstore, workshop and one of the commercial properties let to a tenant. It is anticipated that it will replace the usage of 255,000 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime.
A 15kw array has been also been installed to power the estate office and another one is coming soon on the roof of the village stores to make both their energy uses more sustainable and ‘green’. Combined, these 2 will replace the use of over 106,000 tonnes of carbon in their lifetimes.
One of the most exciting installations is the first one to be installed on a residential property. This is an experiment for the estate to test its ease of installation, use and compatibility with a more traditional house that is typical of properties across the estate. If it proves successful, we can then look further into how solar may integrate into the portfolio of cottages over the coming years as an alternative source of energy.
Homemade Marmalade Competition
We had a lovely morning in the Royal Oak for the judging of the first homemade marmalade competition organised by Yattendon Village Stores. A fantastic 33 entries were made from local people and the judges explained that there was a huge variety of ingredients, flavours, colours and textures which meant choosing a winner was very difficult. After the announcement, attendees were lucky enough to be able to try the top 5 entries and we can attest they were all very different but delicious. Congratulations to Angela Bickford Smith who came in 3rd place, Vanessa Maskell who was 2nd and Kim Pierpoint, the overall winner who won a dinner for 2 courtesy of the Royal Oak. Thank you to Rob and the staff at the Royal Oak for hosting and Eugene and the Village Stores staff for organising. It has been confirmed that this will be an annual event so the rest of us better start perfecting our recipes!
