A Week on the Estate: Harvested Barley, Abundant Cherries & Happy Worms

We also made a start on the second cut of grass silage. Within hours of the bales being cleared, Charles Roe dropped in to help over-seed the grass sward with clover. This will aid the next two years’ growth by fixing nitrogen and adding more forage to the mix.

Closer to home, the Walled Garden has yielded abundant produce. A bumper crop of peas inspired us to make a litre of pea & mint soup, which was lovely with home-made bread made with estate grains. An equally impressive crop of cherries inspired Jacqui Rhodes to find all sorts of delicious uses for them. The cherry pie, brownies, cake and other treats were gratefully received. Not to be outdone, Tristan Jørgensen is experimenting with combining cherries and gin.

It’s also a good season for worms. The Walled Garden now has a wormery, a handy structure which takes advantage of the worm’s natural ability to convert a wide range of organic matter – from food scraps to hoover dust – into rich, useful compost. This is good news for garden plants and hungry worms.

Dave Ward completed his repairs to the bridge at The Lodge Cottage and made a handsome job of it. The structure should be safe and sound for another generation or two.

Damian Furlong continued to explore the beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds, walking one of our ‘Café & Pub’ routes to Hagworthingham. The weather was perfect but his timing was less so as he found the pub closed. All was not lost as David from JJ’s café was there to feed and water some hungry and thirsty walkers.

This is Damian’s favourite walk so far – the views are wonderful throughout Tennyson country. Damian also took in Somersby on his travels, where he photographed the birthplace of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.