Life on the Estate: Catching Up with Clint

“We recently took on Dave as my holiday relief. He’s done a couple of stints and it’s gone well. We hire a caravan for him, it goes in the courtyard and he’s happy in there. He’s a retired lorry-driver from Grimsby and he’s keeping his hand in and earning some cash. He’s had training on our machinery – mowers, strimmers, hedge-cutters, etc – and he basically takes over from me when I take a break. It’s nice to know I can go away and leave it all in safe hands and he loves it here too.

“Kitty recently left us and she’ll be off to uni in the autumn. She was one of the original Saturday Club kids back in 2020 and she became Assistant Groundskeeper and a good friend to me and Jo. We get on well with her mum and dad too and we’ll be keeping in touch with them all.

“Kitty’s been a great help. If I asked her to cut the grass in the Walled Garden, I could just set her up with the ride-on lawnmower and it would get done. She’s a good artist. As a leaving present, she’s done me a picture of a spider based on a photo I took years ago.

“Kitty’s also been a big help with bee-keeping. We just took seven trays of honey out of one hive. We spent Saturday afternoon sorting it out. We took off the wax with an electric carving knife and put the honey through two mesh sieves. We got three litres and filled 13 large-ish jars which have mostly gone to Estate staff.

“We left one comb in there for the honey bees to feed on and added another tier on top to make a total of 16 frames which the bees will completely refill once in a normal year. The hive is insulated and we’ll leave them food so they’ll go dormant over winter and be ready for action next spring.

“We’ve had a few swarms this summer due to the cool spring. When hives get overpopulated, the spare queens take new colonies out and form new hives elsewhere. Our honey is mostly rapeseed and it’s sweet and floral. It never goes off.

“We’ll be adding more hives and it’s a good summer for it with loads of blooms. I had four hives when I worked for the Duke of Westminster in Belgravia and looking after them is very satisfying.

“The chickens are running around in the Walled Garden as we speak. When bird-flu restrictions ended and they ran out in all directions after such a long time indoors, that was brilliant. They so love being outdoors that they don’t want to go in at night. I generally put some food in their run, round them up and walk them back. My ankles still get pecked all the time. We’ve got six cockerels and two of them – Kiev and Chips – are sneaky peckers. It’s OK when I’m wearing boots but I have to be careful in shorts-weather.

“The fruit and veg are coming on well. It’s going to be bumper year for strawberries. I get fresh fruit and eggs every morning. I love seeing the wildlife every day, especially at this time of year with all the new additions. I’ve been watching the swallows growing and fledging. The cygnets on the Lake are becoming more independent; I’ve thought about calling them Jon, Jan, Jo and Jacqui.

“Jo’s still loving it here too. She looks after the Sheepdip Paddock hospitality area and supervises catering for Estate tours and ad hoc events. Dave’s coming this weekend as we’re taking a bit of a break. My daughter and son-in-law are down in Kent where’s he’s a Baptist minister. We’re heading down to see them and I’ll be taking a jar of Walled Garden honey to my nine-month-old granddaughter, Kelly. She’ll get to enjoy it when she’s a bit older – if there’s any left!

“It’ll be nice to get away but it’s always nice to come back to the Hall.”

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