An interesting month on the farm.  For many reasons, we have made the decision to bring our pig farming enterprise to a close at the end of the year – our breeding sows, and the infamous Boris the boar, have found new homes and we are down to the smallest number of pigs since we started.  Strange times indeed.

Those who remain with us have, as you can imagine, much-expanded paddocks, plenty of windfall apples and lots of attention!  

The most famous of those who remain is undoubtedly Eyelashes – our retired Berkshire sow.  She may have produced many piglets over the years and be well into middle age in piggy terms but she still skips about her paddock like a youngster and if anyone walks past, they get greeted with enthusiasm, just in case they might have an apple or two in their pocket.   If anyone is looking for a pet pig, do let me know!

The Autumn colours on the farm have been lovely this year – the whole of Wiltshire has been looking its beautiful best to give everyone cause for a smile in this challenging year – look at these wonderful pictures taken at Stourhead.    And, wonderful to report, Wiltshire won the award for Best UK Destination .  That’s up against some pretty stiff competition – not had, huh?

Our Autumn visitors to the cottage have had some mixed weather – some days warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, others requiring wellies and waterproof jackets for those hearty country walks.  We’ve continued to get some wonderful reviews – there’s something about a trip to Compton Bassett that just seems to work.  Most of our guests eat out at the pub in the village on at least one night (The White Horse) and they too get great write-ups.  Sadly, as I write this, we are heading back into lockdown for a month – frustrating but fingers crossed that means we can re-open in December for some Christmas shopping.   Christmas and New Year are already sold out but there are gaps in the calendar if you fancy a trip away – get in touch if you have questions.

And last but not least, a Christmas eating thought for you – I know it is a busy time for everyone but can I encourage everyone to go simple this year – maybe less processed and more straightforward food?  One thing that the first lockdown did is made people think about where their food comes from and that is a real positive.  A question I would ask – maybe we should stop asking why REAL food is so expensive and ask instead why PROCESSED food is so cheap!!