Tag: Country Escape

Introducing Phoebe, our new farm Cat

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To be honest Phoebe arrived with us in July. We were re-homing her but after a couple of days inside the house (where she spent a lot of time in the office trying to get me to play with her instead of working) she made a bid for freedom and………

As Phoebe continued to return to the big barn for her food we were not concerned by the fact that she preferred to live outside. As time went on we saw Phoebe more frequently around the farm buildings but…. she often didn’t appear to see us!

It became more obvious that Phoebe was actually deaf or very very hard of hearing. She would often come round a building where we were working and be surprised to see us and run off immediately. Sometimes we would see her sitting on the straw bales and, until she saw us, we could shout and holler but she would not move.

Last month we made a break through and Phoebe came to me whilst I filled her food dish. Now we have daily cuddles (and nose rubs) and she is becoming more trusting, even when other people are around in her Barn.

Although she has not come back in the house she is very happy in the barns and just loves to get extra treats if we see her – especially her favourite tuna flavour Dreamies!!

So, maybe when you come and stay you might spot our little tigress as she prowls the gardens on her daily walkabout!

It’s been a long time!

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Where has this year gone?

Covid-19 has been with us for so long it has become a way of life to keep your distance from everyone and in some cases lead a hermitic life. Slowly now we see a return to people getting out and about again to meet up with family and friends.

Whilst we have not been able to have guests here we have been busy and built two BBQ cabins.

The smaller cabin in the garden of Rose Cottage is perfect for indoor BBQing all year round – so no worrying about the weather forecast during your stay!

Our larger cabin has a BBQ and also a DIY bar area complete with bar fridge, glasses, crockery and cutlery. This cabin will seat everyone from both properties and has a fenced outside sitting area. It is located a short walk/drive away from the Pool Barn enjoying views of Harley’s Mountain.

So next time you visit enjoy a BBQ in the dry!

The Large BBQ cabin with DIY bar
The DIY bar area

“Good To Go”

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After all this time in Lockdown we are happy to say we are “Good to Go” and look forward to welcoming you to stay at Hicks Farm!

The “Good to Go” scheme means that we have followed government and industry Covid-19 guidelines to put in place a process to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing.

Following a careful risk assessment we have decided to leave 72 hours between guests leaving and the next guests arriving in each of our properties. This will give the houses time to rest and then we can go in and clean to our usual high standards with extra sanatizing of key places.

A rota for us of the swimming pool is in place with sanatizing between each session. Everyone can enjoy the leisure facilities in the knowledge that their welfare has been carefully considered.

Obviously some things have changed – we can only accept bookings from 2 households in each property (a support bubble counts as one household) and this will be in place until the Government rules change.

If you book for a holiday with us in the future, say next year, and you are more than 2 households then we can re-assess your booking 8 weeks prior to your arrival. At that stage we can either move your holiday or refund your deposit if the Covid-19 rules have not changed.

Let us think positive and look forward to life returning to normality for everyone very soon.

Shearing time

Shearing time!

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Gosh the weather has been so hot – and just when we are all still in lockdown.

Normally, we are dodging the spots and trying to find a dry day to get the sheep shorn but this year it has been quite different and we have had no worries about shearing time!

The sheep were shorn in the morning, pitched and reunited with their lambs by lunchtime – there was quite a lot of bleating till they all paired up again but now the ewes (and Rodney) are very happy at having lost their heavy winter coats.

Looks like this lamb is asking the ewe if she’s his mum!

Sadly, Covid restrictions are still in place in England – these are due to be reviewed by the Government on 4th July 2020.

We hope that the restriction of not staying away from your home will be lifted and we will be able to welcome you back to Hicks Farm.

Keep safe.

Bottle feeding lambs at Hicks Farm Holidays

Bottle feeding lambs!

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As predicted no. 23 and no. 3 lambs have had to come into the tiddler pen!

They are doing well now they are used to bottle milk full time.There’s no need for anymore of my acrobatics to catch them either!! They are always at the fence as soon as I come round the corner with their bottles.

The weather has been so cold they are quite happy to be able to snuggle together under the “mother lamp” in the straw.

They may have to be fed for a few weeks longer than usual as no. 23 is still quite small and it would be unfair to not feed no. 3 – and she would protest that is for sure.

We can’t keep on calling them no. 3 and no. 25 – Facebook names and friends suggestions still being considered – watch this space!!