Little Haven Self Catering

Our first planting of our ‘wild flower meadow’

admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:23:16 +0000

Growing wild flowers on an old railway line you may think would be easy. It is not! David has removed tons of ballast, roots of nettles, elder, Woody & Black Nightshade, Docks, chopped down Hawthorn & Elder. This was replaced with grade 2 reconstituted top soil to mix in with the ash bed. Flower seeds were purchased mixed with cereal seeds, but the cereals were taken by the Pigeons!

Now we have Wild flowers in abundance! The best time to see this lovely sight is in morning sunshine as bees, butterflies and insects converge on it.

This Autumn they will seed themselves and it is our decision to leave the grass seed out as it seems the wildflowers can be eventually choked as grass takes over. If anything we will put in extra cornflower and similar blue/mauve bee loving annuals. Grass can be sewn in other areas.

On the south facing side we have planted Buddleia which bees love and which will continue flowering until late summer.

We are putting in Perennials on the higher embankment, in autumn, which has heavier soil.. This will include Evening Primrose, Elder, Foxgloves, Dog roses, Weld, Scabious, and other suitable perennials.

Hedging is made up of existing Hawthorn & wild Privet etc.

Trees on our 1/2 mile stretch of old railway line include, Oak, Field Maple, Walnut, Willow, Elder, Hawthorn, Buckthorn.

The pictures below were taken July 2011.

Planting Wild Flower Seeds.

Jean — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:00:05 +0000

Owing to this being the driest spring period since 1910, seed- sowing has, until now, been unthinkable! However, after a very labour intensive time for David, levelling & weeding (I know that sounds rather counter productive but certain weeds are perennials which can become a nuisance) he has sown annual seeds such as :- Corn Marigold, Corn Poppy, Corncockle, Cornflower,Corn Chamomile mixed with annual cereals Bearded wheat and Barley. We may sow Perennials in the Autumn

Re-opening of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:30:56 +0000

Stratford has seen the re- opening of its World Class, Royal Shakespeare Theatre in November 2010. A truly wonderful experience, creating a memorable tribute to the plays of William Shakespeare. For all enquiries go to our info page and look into `Other Info` for rsc.org.

The Chickens Arrive!

admin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:27:49 +0000

Chickens arrive at Little Haven on 14th October. Six lovely Rhode/Rock pullets almost ready to lay. Ofcourse, Toby our crazy 8 yr.old Spaniel x loves chickens – to catch & kill them!

We had to install an electric fence to protect them from him and the foxes that are always about. But it really taught our Toby a lesson in manners. Three times he `had a go` and each time received a powerful 1,000 v. shock. Today he just sits and thinks about it! Pictured here sitting high on a picnic table!

The hens completely ignore him and are laying us a regular supply of free range organic delicious eggs.

Thorn Apple

Jean — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:31:02 +0000

September 2010

Since felling the trees in December/March and planting our fruit trees for the bees, we have discovered many new varieties of wild flowers. One very unusual plant we have never seen before is the Thorn Apple. Poisonous, but truly amazing with a height and width of 4 feet (122cm)! The thorn apples that develop are indeed handsome, measuring 3″ (8cm)!

Planting Trees For The Bees

Jean — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:52:59 +0000

The Trees

We have planted 26 of them so far! The entire area is going to be underplanted with plants the bees will love. Hopefully next year we can encourage a Bee Keeper to leave a hive or two in the orchard area.

The world shortage of bees, and particularly for us in the U.K., is a growing concern. Universities over the U.k. are at present trying to find out exactly why there is such a worrying decline. This year we have not seen one Honey Bee! The Bumble Bees, although in plenty in our garden, are suffering from an internal mite. We have found many dead Bumbles. But other causes for the Honey Bee are now under scrutiny. e.g., modern farming methods.