So here I am writing, and posting photos of our day to day life here on our little farm in Scotland. In 2017 when we arrived here, new to farming, and new to life in Scotland, I began a blog, after two years life became busy and wordpress ( our blogging platform got very complicated)so I stopped… however here I am again … blethering.
We are a family from Manchester originally, Sarah (mum) Andy (dad) Lauren (most gorgeous daughter) enjoying our rural life here in Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland.
The farm is 65 acres ‘of relaxation’ , with a flock of very friendly Herdwick sheep and a cheeky herd of Tamworth pigs to keep us all entertained, busy and well fed; Along with 3 luxury self catering cottages and a farm shop bringing plenty of visitors and chat to our door, here’s what we are up to..
This is the photo that launched our blog back in 2018 and its first post – “wellies make you brave”, it kind of explains how we came to be chatting to ‘Nora’ (piglet) under a beech tree on a farm in Scotland..
Link to our blog right here, if you’re interested
As a family we generally have a lot going on day to day,( most farms and families do) and its lovely to share our experiences, and maybe encourage others to hatch a plan and take the leap into something new .We don’t always have a lot of time to write and post in that moment.. so writing a blog in ‘down time’ might just be the way to do this
Finding my way around wordpress again has been a pain but is becoming clearer thanks to my techy badass friend ‘Ali Shock ‘… so thanks chickabee..
Over the years the farm has settled into a daily, weekly and seasonal routine, so mostly we are settled into our easy oozy life style..
Albeit a little hectic once in a while.
As I write this we are just at the end of Lambing season, our Herdwick ewes have just finished giving birth to their beautiful bouncing herdy lambs.
The new Ram ‘Fury’ managed to get everyone in lamb within a 3 week cycle, very impressive as they can be an unruly bunch.
Its the best part of the year, very stressful, and very sad occasionally but overall incredibly rewarding and uplifting especially on a sunny day with everyone bouncing ( and alive ) ..this is Ralf by the way one of Twinkletoes’s cross breed lambs..
We have 32 breeding ewes this year, all pure Herdwick, except for Twinkletoes our Black Face cross Easy Care anomaly. Twink manages a beautiful set of twins each year , this year was no exception and we welcomed her usual twins , one of each bouncing all over her by lunchtime ‘Gary and Gerty’ growing by the day ! The rest of the flock managed just over 40 lambs all black with tiny white speckles on their faces, over the summer their faces and legs will turn completely white and their fleeces will fade to chocolate brown, only next year when they are clipped, will they show their true grey Herdwick fleece colour.
The sheep are not the only ones getting busy , our cottages are filling up nicely with our visitors, some regulars and some new to us.
Every week we have new guests arrive, meeting new guests is always a lovely experience, sometimes our visitors arrive a little bit ‘scrunched up’ ( a Stephism’) but within 24 hours or so Grobdale eases out their wrinkles and we see them relax and enjoy their holiday with us. Lots of our guests, regulars and new visitors love to help out on the farm and their help is always greatly appreciated especially in busy times like sheep gathering !
‘Stephism’ – description of a behaviour that is similar to that of my friend Steph. or a word or phrase that she / we made up to describe something.
‘Scrunched up’ – description of a slightly stressed person.
We are very lucky to meet some incredible people that come to stay with us in our cottages, from all walks of life, with many talents and stories to tell us. As a rural holiday destination we often get guests looking for a photograph safari and quite often they share their pictures with us. Some of our guests are great phone camera users and some have all the lenses and settings worked out on their SLR cameras , but either way we love to see our farm and beautiful region through their eyes..
From the wildlife to the livestock and incredible views to exciting events .
Photo credits to Tina and maddie, and Tom Richardson Photograpy.
So lots going on here in our beautiful corner of Dumfries and Galloway, beautiful landscapes and scenery, happy dog guests, stunning wildlife on our doorstep, sports events whizzing right past our track end and happy Herdy’s . Why not come see for yourself , check out our farm shop maybe pick up some pork sausages for the BBQ, take a walk around the Grobdale Safari or why not check out our website to maybe catch up with the blog or even have a look at the availability for our cottages and book in at
www.grobdale.co.uk
Ps Thanks again to Ali shock for helping me make sense of the tech stuff and also to Jayne, for encouraging me to forgive wordpress their sins and get writing again x
Find us on the usual social media platforms, our website, or give us a call on 07771 742 766
Grobdale of Girthon , Laurieston, Castle Douglas,Dumfries and Galloway DG7 2PZ
