THE BOTHY at GARDEN COTTAGE

April

It is finally early spring – we know because the lambs have arrived and the blossom is starting.  Winter was a lot drier than last year – significantly so – and that seems to have been reflected in the much better growth in the fruit on the fruit slope and certainly the apples. Obviously, how much fruit you get is determined by pollination (and last year was not brilliant) but the early signs are very good.  We are getting blossom on trees that previously have been very sparse and finally some blossom on the greengages; not a lot but something at least.  We love plums straight off the tree.

We took advantage of the good dry spell at the end of March/beginning of April and cut a lot of the grass growth back in the orchard and early pruning before the leaves get too much to get inside the trees. 

Because of the crazy energy prices now, we decided to bite the bullet and major on the firewood this winter.  We bought some 12 metres of felled unseasoned wood from our friend a local arborist and spent the season cutting and splitting and stacking.  David has built some new firewood bays for the drying process and the yard actually looks quite attractive with the stacked wood; work-in-progress shown left. Given that some of the wood was felled only the week before delivery, we reckon 18 months of drying is needed before we can use a lot of it.  Even so, that should last a couple of years so we should be able to keep on top of the replenishment process as the bays are emptied.

Sharon has started the seeds off for the coming season and this is proceeding well.  Last year was not that good and we didn’t get much by the way of tomatoes, for instance because the light levels were so low.  We have a better feeling for this year, given how the weather has been so far. 

We had to replace the Bothy boiler in January – it was 19 years old and past its best.  Quite expensive but had to be done.  The replacement seems to be working well, so that is something else we do not have to worry about.

The Bothy bookings have been a little sparse this year and some at short notice – a factor of the pinch we are all feeling – but we have some regular guests back in the summer, so we are looking forward to that.