Royal Wedding Garden Party at Coombe Mill



A relaxing happy day had by all

 Thank you everyone who came to our Garden BBQ party today. A chance to watch the happy couple then party on down at Coombe Mill. It was wonderful to watch the children play and the adults chatting in the April sunshine - rain what rain, thankfully it missed us!




Take a peep at our video clip from You Tube of some of the highlights caught on camera and visit our facebook site at Coombe Mill farm and fishing holidays for the full picture gallery.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msvyW2HrX0E&feature=bf_next&list=ULRUrIhOsaKkk&index=5

Dear diary 18th April 2011

I have finally beaten my fear of the unknown and tried you tube. It is so easy, just a few server problems and I have my first Coombe Mill video, I hope this will be the first of many! I hope you enjoy it.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXUMkOUItI

Dear Diary - The Easter Holidays, family and friends.

I do breath a sigh of relief when the holidays arrive. A chance for the children to chill out, stay in their pj’s till late, catch up with friends and family and leave the clubs and homework behind for a while. For us the holidays are about recharging the batteries and having a change of routine. The term time is so dictated by school, homework and a myriad of evening clubs for each of my children that I hardly feel I have any quality time with them. Some nights we have 4 different activities on the go and coordinating them all and dinner whilst running a business is far from easy.



Theo's Riding lessons 



Surf Club: Ally, Felix, Theo



Jed & Guy at Beevers:
A trip to Coombe Mill!



 

Clio tap dancing







 In fact I think evenings are the only time when I would swap living at Coombe Mill for living in the middle of Wadebridge where the children could take themselves to all their different activities. Never mind, only 4 more years till the eldest one can help driving the others around! In fact he could do the school run.......but there goes another parenting dilemma, do I let him  in charge of the bus and his 5 siblings each day or would the worry of his driving be worse than doing it myself? Humm,4 years to think on that one.

Back to the Easter Holidays: now is when living at Coombe Mill is so amazing. Our children are having just the best time picking up old friendships with regular guests and making new ones. Our house is like an open invitation for anyone staying to come in with our children. I love the fact that they are so comfortable bringing others round and that parents staying soon discover one of  the joys of Coombe Mill is not having to know where their children are all the time, but knowing they are safe.



Felix and his new best friend Monica in our house



Dinner times can be frustrating trying to locate everyone, they conveniently forget how to read a watch at such times, but its a small price for their freedom and enjoyment.

While they play inside and out I am able to continue working in the office, restocking the freezer with scrummy meals and cakes and taking the all important bookings.



Banana Cakes





Pork and Honey casserole
cooling for the freezer



I do like to make sure we have some family time out too. This holiday we have been up to Devon for the day visiting our old neighbours.  The 9 children together are great friends and we had a lovely day in the garden and down at their beech.



Lunch in the garden together



Ice cream at the beach shack





Beach fun

They were quite exhausted by the end of the day and half were fast asleep by the time we arrived back at Coombe Mill!

Next week I am taking the children to see their Grandparents in Buckinghamshire for a few days and catching up with more old friends. From there we are off to East Sussex where Nick will fly up and join us to see Yia  Yia (thier Greek Grandma) for a big Greek Easter party with all their cousins, back just in time for the new term to begin.

It’s all go for me but the children are having a ball so I wouldn’t have it any other way!



Happy holidays to all of you and I hope you are enjoying your Easter holidays too where ever you are!















Dusty the disapearing kid goat!

Our new gorgeous kid goat was our pride and joy born just over a week ago. So cute with her beautiful dappled grey, white and black fur and so tiny. We proudly announced her arrival on our Coombe Mill facebook site, showing off lovely pictures of her and the children and her lovely mother Houdini (more on Houdini later!).


Just 1 day Old with Mum




The Children crowing
 round Dusty & Houdini



Dusty, as she has been named by the guests staying this week, gave us quite a scare just 5 days into her early life. She had become the highlight of the feed run for so many children. Houdini was quite at home letting the children cuddle and stroke Dusty and the children would search her out straight away on entering the field. All was well, the sun shone and life was perfect until.......one Wednesday morning last week when Dusty was nowhere to be found. Houdini was doing her pieces bleating for her, the children and Farmer Nick had an extended feed run embarking on a full scale hunt of the field .

Now I did promise to return to Houdini, she is named after her ability to escape from any field. A lovable goat, very gentle with heaps of personality, we had long since ceased worrying of her adventures as she always returned home at night. Needless to say, she didn't give birth in the field but in nearby woodland within the estate, this was no real surprise for Houdini and we simply moved Mother and Baby to the field. Searching for our lovely lost Dusty had therefore entailed combing not only the field but all the surrounding area too, sadly to no avail.

A cloud of doom surrounded us as Dusty was our first kid goat in 2 years and so loved. I was bracing myself as to how to explain on facebook that our lovely new arrival had disappeared without trace and farmer Ted continued to search along with many guests for the next 24 hours. Finally we all agreed that a tragic end probably involving a fox had to be the answer to her disappearance.

Farmer Nick was just explaining his fox theory to the guests on Friday morning when those staying on Pencarrow (our Scandinavian lodge overlooking the river and goat field) said they had seen Dusty the previous evening skipping around with Houdini and just presumed we had found her!

With new renewed hope everyone searched again, a young kid bleating was heard and the sound quickly followed. There was Dusty hiding inside an old Oak Tree. Nick was worrying about the need to call a tree surgeon and what a shame it would be to loose the children's favourite climbing tree, when who should pop out of a tiny hole at the base, you've guessed it... Dusty!




The now famous Oak Tree!

 
Whether she disappeared of her own accord or whether Houdini put her there and then forgot we will never know, but we are all delighted to have her back and know that she was safe and well the whole time!

Farmer Nick and Ted have been retelling the story to this weeks guests. In fact if you listen on the video clip here you can hear Nick explaining the whole saga to this weeks guests while they meet Dusty!