Still more rain please.....but not during Hay Festival

We have been busy fencing along side newly planted hedges. Thank fully all the work planting and watering hedge plants and newly established apple trees seems to have paid off and the survival rate has been very good. I am waiting for tree stakes to arrive in Hay-on-Wye and as soon as they arrive we will stake and guard the apple trees. We have protected them with temporary spiral guards to ward off the rabbits and other creatures that like to eat the tender bark on young trees.

Yesterday we finished fencing off one of the bird-seed plots at Holt Farm, despite a poor initial germination the mixture of seed bearing plants is now thriving. The footpath leading up to the western ridge behind the farm passes the bird seed plot. At the moment it is highly visible for great distances as it includes oil seed rape that has bright yellow flowers.

Erecting the sheep and cattle proof fences is a time consuming job as the fence lines weave alongside the historic hedgerows and natural stream banks. The terrain is undulating and in places access is difficult so we are able to complete less meters in a day than we would on lowland sites.

As a result of the minimal rainfall for several weeks the soil has compacted and the posts take much more effort to drive them into the ground. A positive of the dry spell is that we are able to drive machinery over the land without doing any damage and we are able to work without getting plastered in mud.

The Herefordshire/Welsh Border upland country is looking fantastic at the moment with hedgerows in blossom, orchard blossom and all the magnificent green shades of foliage as different species of plant and tree reach the peak of spring growth.

Next weekend our visitors for the Hay Literary Festival will arrive, hopefully the windy weather will die down and everyone will be able to enjoy all the events that the Festival has to offer.

A Drop More Rain Please !

Over recent weeks we have planted several thousand new hedge plants and quite a few new cider apple trees in our mission to replenish the old orchards. Since the planting occurred we have had no rain until last night when we had 5mm .We have been watering all the plants daily with a small bowser so we have succeeded in keeping most of the plants alive.

All the hedging plants have spiral protection, but we left the young trees unprotected for a few days and the rabbits were grateful of the opportunity to enhance their diet by chewing the bark. We quickly spiralled the trees until some tree guards arrive and stakes from Hay & Brecon Farmers.

The next job is to erect new fences to protect the hedging plants against farm livestock. As the land is undulating and the existing hedgerows far from straight, it will be a time consuming job. A drop more rain will help us enormously!

Meanwhile our April holiday guests have been enjoying Bluebell walks so we've taken a few shots in the orchard alongside the drive at Holt Farm cottages.