Summer 2024
It has been another very busy summer, in lots of different ways. We have met lots of lovely guests and they have enjoyed some fabulous time in the beautiful Lake District. At Highgate some of our younger guests left us decorated pebbles.
Must have had a lovey trip to St Bees!
We have been busy on the Estate as well.
Sheep eating the grass between the willow.
Willow harvesting
The willow has been harvested. It is a short rotation crop and should be cut every 3 or 4 years. This time it took 4 full days. We had to create a track for the lorries to come on to the side of one the fields to collect the chippings and take them away. Some of them ended up being very useful at Kendal calling! The rest ended up being made in to willow briquettes, mulch or chippings for the garden. After this harvest we had to spray for beetles to stop them eating all the new shoots. Otherwise willow is such a magnificent crop because you can pretty much leave it to its own devices. Although, after it’s grown for a couple of years of growth you can let some sheep come and graze the grass. This helps keep the willow chippings clean when they are harvested.
Yew Tree Maintenance
August is the time we have to clip the yew trees. It’s never an easy job but very much worth all the effort. David and Sue always do it over the Bank Holiday weekend and always make an excellent job of it. When they took over we started clipping them every year and it has produced dividends, as the growth is now much tighter and looks cleaner. They are getting so tall now we have to use a cherry picker, but one of the tress has almost outgrown the cherry-picker. I’m hoping that it won’t fully outgrow it until Max takes over and then it will be his problem. Is that wrong of me?😂
Looking forward through Autumn and Winter, there is much to keep us busy. Dare I say the word Christmas because it will be with us before we realise. They will start the countdown of shopping days before Christmas on the radio. Isn’t Christmas about something more than shopping? It drives me mad. And families start to plan for the festive period. We will have to plan for welcoming our guests who want to celebrate in the Lakes.
Heres to a hectic Christmas and New Year. It will keep me out of mischief. Well maybe.
All the very best, Kate.
