2012 - the Rain Year

Time to start up again after a long gap!

This is very excited Sally on bat-watch - she was the first to notice that we have bats living in the overhang outside the kitchen window!  We have seen as many as 9 flying out late in the evening, zooming about in most athletic fashion in their quest for food.  Not sure what sort they are but look larger than Pipistrel.

Next we report on Nantgwinau Rachel, now 7 years old, 15hh, and in need of a new home with knowledgeable owner. At present she is away having some basic schooling and trailer training, should be backed soon and ready to start her new life.

See www.nantgwinauwelshcobs.co.uk for more pictures of Rachel and her family.

Winter 2010/11

Trying to catch up as usual - the winter was very hard but picturesque! The snow lasted a long time in severely low temperatures, then a slow thaw followed by rain and drizzle all through February combined to produce far too much mud.
St David had a good effect in March, Dydd Dewi Sant was dry and the rest of the month followed suit leading into the driest April for many a year - and of course the grass stopped growing! Our swallows returned on 19 April and are now busy refurbishing their nests in the barn, swooping around the house in their characteristic fashion, and doing a lot of twittering - the original sort!

Cadno surveying his kingdom! Above is Pendam Sally now in her 25th year, a hardy soul she lived out all winter - I think somewhat disapproving of Cadno having the use of a field shelter!

October almost gone!

Just in time to comment on October before "welcoming" November! Quite a lot of B&B guests to keep us busy and weather not bad on the whole. The main news centres on Cadno - no, not sold yet - but completed his six weeks schooling creditably, very complimentary remarks from all who saw him work. This picture shows him being ridden in the school by a (very competent) 10 year old girl.

Since then he has been shod for the first time today and taken out to join the Vale of Clettwr at their meet at Synod Inn. He thoroughly enjoyed following for an hour or so and took the road work in his stride also - there were lots of firsts on this outing and we are very proud of how he behaved.

Winter can now begin, I have Nigella's latest book Kitchen from the library to browse through - she is the only cookery writer to make me regularly laugh out loud with her no nonsense approach and real love of eating, definitely the Queen of Comfort Food! If you don't believe me try the Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding, we just have and feel very happy!

Clocks go back tonight so brighter mornings for a while but the other end of the day not so good, never mind it's surprising how soon the days lengthen again once we get into January - and of course we have Christmas to lighten the gloom!

Welcome September

July and August passed largely in grey drizzle and yet again the hanging baskets, having lost the will to live, had to be taken down early. However there were two newsworthy items in July, first - the sale of 2yr old Nantgwinau Cadog, closely followed by second - his sire Geler Sparc winning the Welsh Cob Stallion Championship at the Royal Welsh Show! As can be seen in this photo Cadog has settled in well at his new home in Stockport, we look forward to hearing how he develops.






On 1st September 4yr old Nantgwinau Cadno Coch went off to "boarding school" near Newquay to be broken to ride and learn how to behave under different circumstances. It seems very strange without him in the paddock behind the house, always ready with a comment whenever he caught sight of us - usually "isn't it time for tea/breakfast/anything?" He will be advertised for sale again in a few weeks, anyone interested can view him while being schooled by appointment only.






There has been tremendous swallow activity around the house during the past week, the youngsters honing their flying skills at great speed - sometimes unfortunately crashing into the windows and two of them taking a wrong turn through the half door into the kitchen! They must be very close now to starting their journey to Africa, hopefully to return next April. The other excitement in the last few days has been spotting the International Space Station flying overhead, amazing to see this very bright object travelling so quickly across the night sky, only in view for about 5 minutes but well worth standing out in the cold for!

Where did April go?

The wet conditions of March stretched on until Easter Sunday then suddenly changed to sunny days, cold nights, and a brisk wind. Consequently the mud once more quickly became concrete and the grass stopped growing! It was nearly the end of the month before some showers and a slight increase in temperature brought some improvement, but here we are in the second week of May still dishing out hay & hard feeds to all the horses.

20 Years at Pantycelyn!
April 6th was the twentieth anniversary of our move to Pantycelyn and as usual we celebrated with fish& chips from Lloyds in Lampeter - this is because it was the first meal that we had in a very bare & rather cold house, surrounded by boxes waiting to be unpacked! Fairly soon the dining room became a very useful dog-pound and log store - Megan & Floss adapted quickly!

Here is a picture of how the house looked at that time, rather bleak compared with nowadays.



Coming up to date April 22 saw the return of "our" swallows, and the necessity to keep the garage doors shut until they have settled to repairing their old nests in the barn - much diving about and twittering!


So now we are in May, just the other side of an extraordinary General Election and still coping with very unpredictable weather - Global Warming is oddly cold at times!