Autumnal developments

Well apologies all - I haven't updated this in a while, and in fact thought no one was reading it until I received a few complaints that we were still in August, the shame! So we had some good weather and both of us have been busy with work which is my excuse for not doing anything on this.

Autumn has arrived and with it some lovely weather, a real season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. The trees are starting to turn, the berries are getting riper now, the pumpkins are looking good and the air smells of autumn.

We have some positive news on the planning now. We chased up our preplanning submission as it had been six weeks since we put it in, it turns out that it had been lost. So after some cursing we got a new application in, the planner was extremely apologetic, after two weeks we felt we needed to check what was happening. Dave kindly phoned for us this time and it turns out that the person it had been handed over to had gone off to work on something else. This has been a bit frustrating, however the end result is that the planner looked at it the same afternoon and has said that he is supportive of the changes we are putting forward. So now we have to put in a full planning application which Dave is working on at the moment. I am so glad that we have a comfortable yurt to live in and a brand new 7 kilowatt stove to heat us and cook on!

So now the world is going into economic meltdown we are thinking about starting the build! Strange times indeed. Unfortunately James is down to two days a week for work, that's the joy of working in the voluntary sector. On a positive he seems to have been turned into the god of newsletters as more and more organisations are keen to get him to compile theirs, I know I am biassed but he is very good. Plus he has been doing a report of civil engagement in the democratic process, all of which has helped a bit. James is going to put a bit more time on the build as it starts, which should save money for us and of course many builders are struggling at the moment so we may be able to find a competitive rate.

We continue to work on the land, the drive is fixed after the incident with the lorry, we have also increased the width of the car parking area to make absolutely sure no one does it again.

We walk the land most days which has allowed us to spot many of the errant balsalm plants. We shall see how many seeds germinate next year but I feel confident that we have broken the back of it. The two areas pictured below were absolutely full of the stuff, so that's hundreds of thousands of plants less for next year! Also the woodland plants are starting to show themselves now which would have been suppressed by the balsalm over the years. We have been busy on the tractor, it's been great having it, moving stones, moving wood, moving grass, cutting the grass and so on. Without it we really would have struggled. It's fun to drive unless you hit deep ruts and then it's more like being on a bucking bronco... you are left holding on and praying to any passing deity.

On the subject of wildlife we have put up a few birdfeeders now, along with a few more nest boxes and we are getting a huge variety of birds visiting: Woodpeckers; Chaffinches; Wrens; Long Tailed Tits; Great Tits; Willow Tits; Blue Tits etc etc. It can be a bit distracting when we are working in the caravan, especially when the Nuthatch comes to visit as he is a complete vandal and thrashes the seed holders, emptying most of the contents onto the floor.

The other morning James and I were walking around the land and as we were walking back up the river I noticed a great cufuffle in the water. I stopped and could see a Brown Trout throwing itself about and then a beautiful Otter swam down the river and swooshed back up in pursuit of the fish. I knew we had an Otter living on the river but this was the first time we had actually seen him so it was a very special moment. Next month the Salmon will be coming up the river to spawn and the Otter is meant to become extremely active, I will be sat by the river with my camera until I get a good photo of him!


Another time when we were walking down in the hollow we noticed the deer footprints and an area of ground which had been gouged and scraped. We initially were very confused and then we realised that it's rutting season and deer decorate their antlers with moss and grass... to make them look hard presumably!!?

We did a bit more exploring on James' birthday. We found a lovely walk which takes you up to the largest iron age fort in Wales, it's stunning and it's just across the valley from us. Garn Goch is a very special place and yet so few people have heard of it. In a very agricultural valley you can stand on a wild blasted hill and look into the past at this astonishing and massive human creation. Whilst we were up there we met the farmer who looks after the place for Brecon Beacons National Park, Nick Somerfield and he is a fantastic individual. Very chatty and enthusiastic to share information about the place. What was odd is that after a long chat with him it turns out that he knows one of our closest friends in Cardiff as Nick had been very active in the anti GM campaign and is a keen supporter of the green movement.

Finally we went to the village show, realised we should have entered the tallest nettle competition as we would have won easily, got drunk in the pub with a few people we have met here (and a few new people) and James, under the influence of cwrw, ended up on the cricket team. The fact he hasn't played since he was 16 was swept aside as an irrelevance, so next season I look forward to bringing you pictures in his whites playing for Llansadwrn cricket team. Everyone round here has been so friendly, people seem to be very relaxed and welcoming, we are constantly amazed about how long it takes us to do things, if you bump into someone who knows you vaguely or has even just heard of you, you end up in a conversation which can last a good long time. Anyhow I had better get off and do some digging and I'll try to make it less than a month next time.