I ended last month’s newsletter just as I was preparing for a trip to Northern Spain and promised to let you all know how it was in my next instalment.

It was a bike trip, and the briefest description I can give of it is that it was wet. Very wet! Northern Spain in early May was extremely rainy, which is no fun when you’re on a biking holiday. Thank goodness for Google as I was able to search the weather forecast and try to travel to where it was most dry. All in all though it was a great trip with great food, great wine and great company – the architecture out there is stunning too. I visited Pamplona and Zaragoza to name a couple of places on our tour.

Farming is going well at this time of year. We’ve been luckier than Spain with our weather and that has meant that we’re now all planted up and fertilised. When planting, the drill can get blocked without us noticing and this means that you can get a line within the field where no seeds have been deposited, so nothing grows, leaving part of the field bare. Rather embarrassing when it’s close to home, you’ll see as you drive along the A435 opposite Becketts one very distinct line in the field where the drill misses are very evident!

The dry weather didn’t quite last over this weekend just gone however and the flash flooding that has hit Birmingham well and truly hit us. We had 1 months’ worth of rain in 1 hour, causing flash flooding and unfortunately one of the farmhouse kitchens was flooded with 2 inches of water. We’ve also had a couple of our rental units flood, and will find out the damage once they dry out. A nuisance, but not unfixable and we know that lots of people around the region were affected much worse than ourselves.

I’ve started to play golf again, badly! While some people say that golf ruins a good walk, I really appreciate playing in the early mornings around 6:30am and find that the peace and quiet at that time is very relaxing, and also eliminates any embarrassment when you play a bad shot.

We’re always looking for ways to improve our customer experience and as the world evolves, our digital presence becomes ever more important to ensure our customer experience remains excellent. We’re working with a local Solihull based designer, Kijo Creative, to develop a new look website with improved functionality. We hope you’ll like what you see!

 

Until Next Time,

 

S.B.