Old girl

I'm afraid I have some sad news to share, my old hen whose photo is on the blog, died in November after a long and bravely fought battle. We had her in the house in a cage and I had medicine sent from England for her, from a very nice lady who has a farm and a website called "Happy Chicks". Unfortuantly to no avail and she died in her peacefully in her sleep.

Penderff looked so beautiful, all the trees were covered in snow, the sheep and calves of course had never seen snow before so they were very funny, playing and digging down to the grass, the dogs of course thought it was great fun, poor Floss, all the snow stuck to her fur on the legs and tummy like big snowballs, we had to defrost her! I don't think I fancy a dip in the pool at the moment, could be a little cold! This picture was taken before the snow got really deep.

Penderff in the snow

This is our driveway in the snow. We never expected to have snow like this in Brittany, what a pity we left our sledges in England. I couldn't leave the house for six days as the roads were so bad, Jeremy had to drive me to the shops in our 4x4, it was really exciting!

Floss the princess of Penderff

This is Floss showing off this season's new look tirara range. Jane very kindly brought this tirara for Floss whilst we were away on a girl's holiday (we, being Jane, Lynn and Judith)

Floss just loves to dress up, she is a real little girl, after of course she has finished her jobs with the animals.

Getting wood in for the winter

Jeremy and I worked hard today getting in firewood for the winter. We chainsawed, felled trees, split logs and stacked them in the woodshed, it was back breaking! Ragdale, Floss, Fleur and Growler all came to help (in Floss's case she was more of a nuisance than a help) Growler rode to the woods in a basket on the quad bike as he thinks it is far to far for him to walk at his great age. The chickens thought that they would come and see what we were doing in the afternoon and they found lots of juicy bugs to eat. It was a lovely warm sunny day and we ate lots of blackberries to keep us going.

Summer holidays drawing to a close

What a super summer we have had here at Penderff. Some old friends came back to visit us again in the gite and we also met two new famillies coming to Penderff for the first time. Our first new family has two little boys who had such fun in the swimming pool, it was a joy to watch their confidence grow in the water, and all the splashing and laughing! We are looking forward to their return next year. Our next new family had four children, the dogs thought that they were in heaven! Floss was soooooo in love with the little girl that she didn't eat properly for a couple of days after they left. The dogs had never had such much walking and playing with balls as they had that week. The swimming pool was also very busy with games etc most afternoons, fun was had by all. Our dear friends "The Robinsons" have been here this week, this is their fourth visit to us. We have all eaten and drunk far too much, and last night we were invited to share a paella with them in the gite which was great fun. I can't believe just how much Laura has grown in the past four years, she has loved spending time with Growler again. This is Lise and Laura in 2007 with Growler

Poor Growler

Poor Growler had to visit the Doctor's recently as he ripped his claw off and he also needed a blood test to see if he is ok, Growler is very old and is 15 years old. He was very brave but had to have two bandages on his legs and here he is sitting on Granny's knee in the garden recuperating.