Looking forward to cooking breakfasts again...

When I first poked my nose out of the door this morning, the wind was so warm

. The thought was the Caribbean Trade Winds. Then the reality was I was in North Yorkshire and what a nice morning it is. Jack had already been up two hours ahead of me. So another chapter to the book as he was actually the pirate. Oh dear what this lockdown is doing.I must have been still half asleep. Dorthy the cat flew out of the door as I opened it ,so quickly she could have been the parrot. Reality was I was just up by 6am to get Jack his breakfast. I listen to Bojo give his statement of how lockdown is hopefully going to unfold. 17th May looks like D Day for the Bed and Breakfast providers which includes us. We are so looking forward to welcoming guests again. With the amazing surroundings we have and have explored this last year which we are happy to share with you when you stay with us ,there is now even more reason to stay with us on your stay in North Yorkshire .

Thank goodness for the telephone

And I dont mean a mobile. I mean the house phone. I have a mobile because I need to ..in case I break down when I am out in the car,in case I want to take a photo and in case I have forgotten to take something out of the oven and have to ring Jack to rescue his near burnt tea. For one thing the buttons are too small ,I have to put my glasses on to see what I am doing and you have to keep charging it up .SO I have Alexander Graham Bell to thank Yesterday I spoke to two people, Sue in Cornwall and Chrsitine, touching base with her, over the other side of Harrogate. So while I was busy nattering I was able to get Jacks dinner ready, put the pots in the dishwasher and feed the cats. Also I went outside to feed the birds for the umpteenth time of the day. It makes for good viewing on the live cam on www.carrhousefarm.co.uk website. You should take a look if you havent already. Christine ,another Christine often tells me what is on the bird table when we speak on the landline phone . Jack tends to watch them through the dining room window. There are so many robins about now ,and blackbirds and too many pigeons come. The last couple of days we have seen the woodpeckers back again with their flash of red tail. Anyway back to my conversation that I had had on the phone .I was surprised when they both said they had read my blog and how they had missed it. So as I had finished my breakfast by quarter to seven- you cant beat Quaker Oats to make porridge. As they were on offer recently I bought quite a stack - my normal non Covid hoarding habit. I thought I had time to write another blog before the world wakes up and I get side tracked. I dont know if it is more a "woman thing" but I can spend ages chatting on the phone. I even delight in asking the person who rings up to offer me double glazing or change my energy bill .Trust me it is quite fun and doesnt raise the blood pressure quite as much as swearing at them down the phone. When asked if I am the home owner I never say yes as I once read an article which says if you say yes to such a company, they move it like copy and paste. The next thing you know you will be in a contract for something you dont want .. So after they ask and say I hope you are having a nice day I launch back to them and ask them are they having a nice day and where are they ringing from and so I ask them what the weather is like. Is this such an English thing to say ? amd a host of other questions reeeling them off so fast ,they havet time to get a word in edgeways and mission accomplished they hang up on me rather than the other way around. Well one thing I wont be giving up for Lent is the telephone. I saw some said she was coming off Facebook for 40 days and I thougtht what a good idea but then I would miss what was going on in the world. Giving chocolate up for Lent is like me making New Years Resolutions - a complete waste of time .So I will stick to making pancakes . There will be two batches one lot for Jack at lunctime ,the other for my Dad at tea time and I will probably have to have them for bother meals .Life can be hard some days. I used to love it when it fell that the grandchildren were here on Pancake Day and it was who could eat the most . I was sure Martha would have popped as she seemed to be able to tuck them away and eat a phenomenal amount of them. She is always the winner of who can eat the most Yorkshire puddings. I will be glad when we can have them over for Sunday lunch again.

St Valentines Day

Well we are 6 weeks into lockdown and I had hoped to blog most days. But even the best made plans dont always work. You dont need to know but when you had good health hold on to it. So aplogises to my loyal blog followers for bearing with me. Snow, well yes it comes most years and social media must think it has just been invented. For people like me, who went to school in the 1960s, the snow we get now a days is just a sprinkling. In those days you could be snown in for 6 weeks so similar to lockdowns of today . In the 70s and in teenegae years it was great as th eschool bus couldnt get through or was later so we used to hang on until the last minute, see the bus coming in the distance and then scarper. Two miles in those days was nothing to walk home.We would get home just in time for dinner,snowballing and sliding along the way. I feel sorry for the white owls as the mice run under the snow and there is not a lot we can do to help them. It has been extremely cold but with good supplies of logs Jack keeps bringing them in by the barrow load every day. So as Valentines Day is tomorrow.I

dont need to be reminded he loves me with a soppy card or flowers. As long as he just keep bringing logs in that is enough for me. Today we sat snuggled up on the sofa with the log burner door open now that was poor Heaven. The heat is so much better than having to wear long john under your trousers. Oh dear they arent called long johns these days they are thermals . Well whatever they are called that extra layer of clothing is so appreciate when you areout and about. The basin in the down stairs bathroom is frozen so glad we have others to use. That bathroom is facing north so really doesnt get any sun on it at all. I went for a walk the other day up into the woods. I would never have thought to take photos but Tom had been up and said it looked like Narnia . I saw 5 deer too. They are coming down now off the moor as there is no food for them and someone spotted 30 last night. With the seasons all to pot there are still some very late born ones about so sadly if the weather continues like this they will not survivie the winter. We feed the garden birds constantly during th edays and sadly keep finding little wrens dead from the cold. The days are starting to lenghten and when the sun comes out it throws its heat around. The aconites were out first and now th esnowdrops and other bulbs are pushing through. My dill and thyme have taken a beating and the early showing of chives well we will see. So try and stay warm everyone ,stay safe and look after your selves till next time . . .

D Day for father

Tuesday was D Day for my Dad as we set off on our second trip to Malton in three weeks. It was for his 2nd Covid jab. A big thank you to everyone who stood out in the cold, directing cars and making sure everything go like clockwork. All went well, till his leg gave way getting back into the car. He ended up on his backside on the ground. Fortunaley no broken bones and two kind helpers came and with a shove, a push and a bit of lifting we managed to get him to his feet. I told the helpers, one of the last time, over 5 years ago, when fell was when he was planting peas in the garden. It was just before he was due in for his dinner.It didnt help that he had just had a full clean set of clothes on that morning. When my mother went out to see what he was "playing at", she was a stickler for meals on time and it was probably 3 minutes passed 12 noon. She discovered him "riggwelted" in a pea row looking like a snow man. My Dad, as many of you know, is a keen gardener and he spread the wood ashes from the fire on to the garden. Wood ash is an excellent source of lime and potassium for your garden. Not only that, using ashes in the garden also provides many of the trace elements that plants need to thrive. As any of you who have empty the grate you will know the grey mucky looking sediment of ash. As he couldnt get up ,had wriggled about and covered himself in ash. Not a pretty site. Anyway yesterday was a doodle of a job as previously he had been well and truly stuck like a sheep. Previously had been well and truly stuck like a sheep . So on your walks and jaunts through the countryside if you ever see a sheep laying with its legs up in th earea this is what we call riggwelting. You need to go up to the sheep and usually just by doing that the sheep gives that extra push to get away from you and there you have saved its life. Sometimes you have to push it over ,so go to the spine side of it and push. Anyway yesterday was a doodle of a job. So now is the time to think about planting your seeds ready to plant out when the weather get a bit better. When the house get turned into a potting shed and the growing cycle begins, here is a photo of my dad in warmer weather in the position he would have been in just before the pea fall. The other photo shows Jack out with the dogs ,the ground is hard and icy so do take care folks as the last thing you need is a trip to hsopital to fix a broken bone at the moment . Eldest granddaughter had taken to her sisters' Christmas present the other day - a hover board- and ended up with a damaged wrist. I would have hoped when I was young and at school I would have had 6 weeks off but no less her she was back to school after the weekend. Stay safe everyone.

Well it is here 2021.

We must look forward. As the days are even now starting to lengthen, just a little bit I know,we start to think about planting seeds and the year start it ever turning cycle. Wont be long until lambing time .Nothing is better than seeing lambs frolocking about in the fields. Even with the Covid hanging over our heads, we still live in such a fast moving world. The years are ticking by. As I said to Jack this morning I cant beleive it is 15 years since we were planning out trip to New Zealand. Social media brings news of our friends who live there now, lighting up screens in our living rooms with photos or sunshine,hazy days and bright flowers. For the many, they have found new vocations in life. I seem to bake more, day dream more and still have a host of things to do with not enough hours in the day. We are lucky to have so many choices and I have lots of hair brain ideas. Well I did find out that there wasnt any courses on how to be a professional scarecrow maker. Then I see something on Pininterst and think ah I shouldnt have thrown that away. I am a hoarder, it is in my nature as when I was young things were not as plentiful as they are today. My parents grew up through the war years, there were hardships and I suppose I adopted their way of making do and mend. Sharing the last piece of cake between 3 was not uncommon and hand-me-downs clothes were what we expected to wear and grateful for them . So what will 2021 hold for us all. I will continue with my little cakes of kindness which put a smile on faces. If anyone has any spare bundt tins or individual cake tins they do not want any more I would be happy to give them a new home. Bundt times are good as they make a pattern in the cake and so it leaves you with very little decorationing to do as the mould has done it for you. I expect I will continue to knit for the youngest in the family as my dinosaur jumper went down well for Christmas and in next to no time it will be Easter. What we all should wish for is Good Health as without that we are nothing so below you will see my dad raising his glass to just that, with homemeade Christmas cake and Wensleydale cheese it is the Yorkshire mans way of welcoming in the New Year.

💥AULD LANG SYNE 💥 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards💥

Christmas Newletter

View this email in your browser 🎄 Bringing you Warm Wishes from Jack & Anna at Carr House Farm B&B

We had a very busy Autumn with the added joy of wonderful weather, Autumn colours and stunning skies. The orchards were full of fruit and the harvest was good and plentiful. I have been busy baking little gifts for the people who have made our year a nicer place to be, and to older people who miss home baking. I have a job in hiding it all from Jack as he has quite the sweet tooth! All I have to make now are some apple cakes. I hope I will be able to go to see my Dutch friends next year and give them my cake and take one of of their specialities. I have also been busy knitting for the little grandson with a dinosaur jumper with a stuffed dino on the front. Jack is set for getting in the Christmas tree tomorrow. Christmas in the countryside is so fun as I bring in the greenery from the woods and the smell that floods the house brings back memories of years past. As usual I will be having two Christmas dinners, one with my dad at 12 noon and another with Jack at about 5pm. That is our Christmas. Our tree will be in the summer house so the grandchildren will be able to see it without coming into the house. We will also look forward to having picnics with them in Summer like what we did this year. We are not big present givers and in the past I have had a bicycle pump, a battery for my torch, and this year I would like a metal potato peeler. We are located in the North York Moors National Park which has just been designated an International Dark Sky Reserve by the International Dark-Sky Association. I am hoping in 2021 guests will be able to enjoy long table suppers sat under the stars. WiFi is installed in the bedrooms so that guests do not have to use a shared space to get their updates which I am sure will be welcome news. There are more in our plans for what we are doing for guests so they do not need to venture out once they get here if they would prefer not to. With foraging and art courses to be on board. There are also more eating places popping up so if you would rather go out than make your own you will be spoilt for choice. And lastly as I went up the woods a couple of months ago I saw this little fawn waiting in the sunshine for its mother to come back for it. I just want to share this with you and leave you with the thought of how marvellous nature is. We’re surrounded by nature and on our live outdoor webcam you can get a glimpse of the local wildlife for yourself. The best time is early in the morning to see the most activity before the squirrels pinch all the food from the bird table! View the live webcam Facebook icon Instagram icon Twitter icon YouTube icon www.carrhousefarm.co.uk You are receiving this email because you opted in on our website Carr House Farm B&B Carr House Farm Ampleforth York, North Yorkshire YO62 4ED United Kingdom Add us to your address book