Pry House - all dressed up for Tour de France

 Tour de France is coming to Swaledale.
Only four day to go to and counting!  Bunting is up and tubs all planted yellow ......

cycling sheep, yellow bikes .....
We are ready and can't wait for Saturday to arrive.

Pry House Farm Nature Reserve

 

Because the Tour de France is happening next weekend and we are expecting some people might want to camp at our farm Chris has cut a swathe of grass from the meadow in front of the house. To our surprise it has attracted lots of wildlife which we know is there but rarely get to observe at such close quarters.  

Several Oyster Catchers - my favourites.  I love their bright orange beaks and legs and their sharply defined black & white plumage.
 

 

A tiny lapwing chick.  Its mother is never far away and is very protective if other birds get too close.

 

A female Snipe and her young brood ( a bit camera shy!)

 

Other visitors include Curlew, Redshank, Starling and Wagtail but the most special sight of all is when three brown hares come out of the long grass and dance on the newly mown ground. Its a wonderful sight and one that I would love to catch on camera.

 

There will be no cycle race next year to give us cause to cut a strip of the field so early but I think it will happen.  Its like having Springwatch outside the window.

 

  

Surprise Visit

Old friends of ours from Startforth / Boldron near Barnard Castle happened to be passing by this afternoon on their vintage tractors and stopped for a chat.

Big boys toys?  Ann proves that girls have fun too....

...and Timmy the dog just loves to ride. 
How about this ingeniously adapted pooch transporter?

Thank you BT

Chris cuts the grass along the roadside .....

.... and I gave our lovely red telephone a good wash.
As there is no mobile phone signal in most of Upper Swaledale our phone boxes are an important feature of the dale.

We are proud of our red telephone boxes, they are an iconic British landmark and deserve to be looked after. 
Thank you, British Telecom, for repainting the red telephone kiosks in Muker parish. 

Clive the 35 Goes off to Work

Its not all tractor fun runs .......

....sometimes Clive the 35 has to work for a living.  Chris is making some improvements to the sheep pens on the moor and his little red tractor will mix the cement.

Better Late Than Never

 

Better late than never!  Born this morning (20th June 2014), about a month late!

 

 

and they won't be the last as we still have one more to lamb!

 



Flying the Flag for Tour de France

Everyone pulled together to decorate the village in readiness for Le Grand Depart on Saturday 5th July



We are expecting hundreds even thousands of visitors over the Tour de France weekend.  They will receive a colourful and warm welcome in Keld.



Boys never grow out of their toys - the toys just get bigger!

Health & Safety?  What's that?



Jeremy Clarkson names Keld as the most beautiful place on earth

 

22 million householders this week, received through their letterbox, a supplement published by The Sun called This is Our England

 

On page 17, Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear (now Top Bloke in my eyes), opened his column called 'My England' with these very words .......

 

I'm proud to be English because there's a place, just by a river, near a village called KELD in the Yorkshire Dales which is just about the most beautiful spot on earth.

 

For a man who has travelled the four corners of the world to chose tiny, little Keld as the most beautiful of all is amazing.

 

Thank you JC, come back and visit us again soon.



The Year of the Hawthorn

 

Last year I called 2013 The Year of the Buttercup.  Our hay meadows are just as spectacular this year but the Hawthorn has been equally amazing,

 

 

The blossom is so densely white and the boughs laden as if smothered in freshly laid snow.

 

 

The snowy white blossom and the sunshine create a beautiful display in the late afternoon.



Think Tour de France - Think Yellow

 

To celebrate the biggest event in Swaledale's history everyone is thinking YELLOW!

Yellow plants

Yellow sheep

Yellow fields

 

Yellow bike


 

 

 



Are you going to Appleby Fair?

On their way to Appleby Fair.

It is lovely to see travellers making their way to the fair in the traditional way.
 

A beautiful evening to be on the open road.