Hillcrest Holiday Cottage - Late availability

Due to an unexpected cancellation Hillcrest is available for up to 10 nights 

commencing Saturday 5th May

7 nights at £400 or any 3 or 4 night break at £250

Visit the website at www.upperswaledaleholidays.co.uk for full details and lots more photos.

It certainly is the perfect time to visit Swaledale. The blossom is out, the daffodils are at their best and there are blankets of wild anenomes and banks of primroses up and down the dale.

And the garden at Hillcrest is looking more colourful every day.

 

What better time to give yourself a well earned break?

Jumping for Joy

The sun has been shining and everywhere you look there is evidence 

that spring is in the air.

Our lambs are just about old enough to gambol & play.

From Reeth to Keld daffodils dance by the roadside ....

and at the water's edge marsh marigold begin to flower.

 

and in every field and pasture lambs, lambs, lambs!

Baby Bonding

All is calm, all is well in the lambing pens today

You can't cosy-up much closer to mum than this pair of twins!

Successfully mothered on.  If you look carefully you can see that this lamb is wearing an extra skin.

The ewe lost her lamb and has been fooled into thinking this lamb (whose natural mother didn't have enough milk) is her own.  She has taken it straight away.  The extra skin will be taken off very soon and the ewe will rear this lamb as her own.

Swaledales are such good mothers, protective and attentive.  

No parenting classes required here!

Lambing time is under way at Pry House Farm

 We are a few days later than usual with our starting date for lambing this year.

Today is our due date for the Pry House lambers and we are out of the starting blocks!

 

 The special care baby unit is already half full although no complications 

just a bit of extra monitoring and lots of TLC.

Another set of twins again born in the building.  As soon as possible we safely pop them into a pen (with their mother) to keep them away from all the other ewes that are still waiting to lamb.

This year we seem to have more sheep than ever in the building - its a bit crowded.  

The weather has been so wet and cold we are trying to keep them inside as long as possible.

Nice for them particularly as there is so little grass this year.

 A single lamb can manage in amongst the sheep. This one has tucked herself under the hay rack!
Showered with hay seeds but safe.

Curlews return to Pry House Farm

It is with great relief that I counted 5 curlews on home field today.  

A very low number; it is not unusual to see 40 or 50 at this time of year, all foraging greedily.

I will monitor numbers carefully in the hope that there is a big increase soon.

(curlew photo - Ian Short Photography)

  The oyster catchers and lapwings have been here for a while.
Spring is a wonderful season.

There's always so much to marvel around the farm.  

Dales Discovery Day - 17th March

Today, Saturday 17th March, is Dales Discovery Day #DalesDiscoveries.

 What draws you to the Yorkshire Dales?

 A once in a lifetime opportunity?

The unexpected?

The welcome?

Whatever it is, the flags will be out!.

Brochures and Books

Its that time of year when accommodation providers, visitor centres & attractions, the YDNPA, walk leaders etc are getting their literature printed and distributed.  Even in this age of 'all things digital' there's still a place for the paper copy.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park's Visitor magazine and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust's Flower of the Dales brochure are probably the two most popular.  Both have diary sections listing hundreds of things do, places to see, walk to go on etc.  I chose to highlight an article 'Hit the Trail' in the Visitor magazine as this is all about the new family friendly cycle trail from Reeth to Keld (more details to follow in another post soon).  Also a favourite of mine is the Showing You the Way .... series.  Three seperate illustrated children's guided walks, all available from the Keld Countryside & Heritage Centre.  The centre also runs a full and varied events programme for 2018.  Pick up a paper copy at the centre or visit  keld.org.uk

 Jonathan Smith, avid walker, walk leader and writer of walking guides where2walk.co.uk has recently written The Dales 30, a guide to walking 30 mountains with the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  At least a third are easily accessible from Pry House Farm B&B or Shepherd's Hut.

And finally don't forget the new series of walk booklets produced as part of the National Park's project Every Barn Cowus Tells A Story about the cow houses in Muker parish.  We have several sets here at Pry House to borrow and there is a set in Hillcrest Cottage however if you would like your own they can be purchased on the YDNPA website or in their visitor centres at Hawes, Reeth, Bainbridge and Grassington