October 2019

October has seen much activity in the garden as beds are cleared and the bulbs are planted for next spring. The hedges have been trimmed and we look forward to testing out our new meadow scythe which will help cut back this year’s growth in a way that will encourage many more flowers next summer. The meadow scythe took longer to arrive than we expected, so we’re now waiting for some dry weather!

Meanwhile, inside the house we have added a sliding door between the kitchen and the reception room, and redecorated. This has made this room more light and welcoming, all we need now is some new furniture, perhaps some curtains and the transformation will be complete.

At the end of October we introduced an Exmoor Horn ram to our ten ewes, with the hope that in March 2020 we might be lambing for the first time. We’ll let you know how that goes!

September 2019

September saw Suzy entering the Milton Abbot village show and doing very well, this followed her success in the Lifton village show. Rob completed his ministry at Derriford URC and began another period of Interim Ministry, this time at Lavington URC in Bideford, north Devon.

At Tinhay Retreats we hosted the Tavistock Area Christians Together away day, which was a great day of fellowship. Rob attended the South West Regional Fairtrade event in Exeter, which was an encouraging day with activists from all over Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and beyond - in response to this conference Rob was inspired to help Bideford to renew its Fairtrade Town status, which will take several months! Rob’s experience in helping Tavistock renew its Fairtrade Town status will also be useful.

It was also a joy to host Rob and Sandie’s family and friends, who had exclusive use of our campsite for a weekend, as they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. A great weekend was had by all and they have booked another weekend for another family celebration in 2020!

August 2019

August has been a busy month, we were delighted to see so many people on the camp site - we had groups of friends as well as individual units. We had units of all shapes and sizes including motorhomes, caravans, family tents, a bell tent and some small tents for just one or two people. Keeping the grass cut was a challenge as the weather meant that the grass kept growing right through the summer.

We also hosted various groups and a retreat day in August, alongside the activities at Tavistock United Reformed Church and Derriford United Reformed Church. During the summer, Rob also completed his MA studies in Contextual Theology with support from many people within the Synod and within Tavistock URC.

Rob enjoyed the children’s activity days at Derriford URC, which were organised in conjunction with Transforming Plymouth Together. At the end of August we were delighted to see Rev Mark Woodhouse inducted at Derriford URC. Rob was called to serve Lavington URC in Bideford and begins his work there as the part time interim Minister.

Suzy has been kept busy with all the animals and our latest bundle of joy, a guide dog puppy who is just a few weeks old, she is a well behaved black labrador.

July 2019

Our campsite continues to develop, in addition to the chemical disposal point, we are installing a flush toilet cubicle and we are grateful for Amy's help as she is home from University for the summer break. Amy has extended her skill set and can now mix and lay a concrete base! This summer is a working holiday for Amy as she busy working at the local farm shop called Strawberry Fields.

We were delighted to see our friends from Reading, Zie and Enala, when they came to visit for a weekend. We are looking forward to joining with them for a special family occasion in Reading in April 2020!

We were also delighted to host a gathering of elders from the United Reformed Churches in Plymouth and Tavistock - we had a good time together, in a day led by our Moderator, Ruth Whitehead.

We look forward to our next group visiting in August from the Salvation Army in Tavistock.

We hope and pray that this summer may be one of blessings, for you and your families.

June 2019

Well summer is here and we have our electric hook ups connected and working well. Since their installation we have had a flurry of bookings, already we have more campsite bookings than last year.

We have our first week long retreat visitor, who is mainly using the time for some quiet reflection but incorporating some spiritual direction and a walk on Dartmoor. It is great to be able to offer tailored retreats for everyone who comes along. We welcome people of all denominations and have already welcomed visitors from Methodist, Anglican, Salvation Army, United Reformed Church and Roman Catholic traditions.

Our meadow field is looking great, with many different varieties of grass swaying in the breeze and a number of wild flowers sharing the space. The habitat is ideal for all sorts of butterflies and moths. We're looking forward to seeing the swallows return, their acrobatics over the field are a sight to behold.

You may recognise the town in the photo above is Tobermory, that was taken during our holiday in Scotland. We had a great time catching up with Toby and he enjoyed showing us all the sights near Oban. We were fortunate to see Sea Eagles on the Isle of Mull, these magnificent birds were re-introduced by the RSPB in the 1970's and are thriving.

May 2019

Bees, bats and biodiversity - seems to be a good title for this month’s news as we have been busy on all these topics!

Suzy has completed a beekeeping course with a couple of friends from church (three church families are now keeping bees) and we started with one hive but have just set up a second (which came as a flatpack and took a while to construct). We all look forward to some honey later in the year.

We've taken part in the Devon Bat Project for the second year, by having the bat detector in our garden for three nights - we look forward to receiving the results - last year we recorded eleven different bat species. We’ve added flowers to encourage pollinating insects and the meadow field should also provide a good habitat for a wide range of creatures.

Many of you will know that we have been eco-champions for many years, encouraging everyone we meet to be more aware of the damage that humanity is doing to the environment - so we are delighted that this is now such a high priority subject. We are no longer referring to climate change but climate emergency. Even before we moved to Devon we had decided that all our projects and plans at Tinhay Retreats would take into account our environmental impact - we continue to keep this at the fore in our thinking.

On another of our fields, we are also planning to plant an orchard of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees - using locally sourced, traditional varieties. As David Attenborough has reminded us - we all have to take action now, so we encourage you to get planting trees, bushes, flowers wherever you can!

April 2019

It was a warm, sunny day when our friend Peter came round to capture some great photos of the progress we’ve made in March. The bell tent, our first venture into the world of glamping, looks great with Suzy’s home made bunting! The aim is to have a tent that is ready pitched with all the bedding required and a small gas cooker so that visitors can cook simple camp food and make those all important teas and coffees! We are now ready to take bookings, just form an orderly queue behind Charlotte who was first to enquire when we posted a picture on Instagram!

Elsewhere on the smallholding, the chickens are now laying well - about five eggs a day, white and brown eggs. The sheep are happy and healthy, they are enjoying the nice new grass, but the warm weather means Robert has had to dust off the mower and try to keep on top of the lawn-mowing and keeping the pathways clear. On the camping field the horsebox is well on the way to complete transformation and the electric power points for caravans, motorhomes and tents are being connected up this month.

The wild meadow field is a blaze of yellow, with the celandine flowers catching the sunlight. We have installed a couple of nest boxes for swallows and Jim has made an owl box for our tawny owls that we hear on a regular basis. We’ve also got a pair of buzzards circling above the fields, no doubt they are looking for field voles, just like the owls. To ensure that we encourage the field voles, we were advised to keep the grass in the meadow field a minimum of ten centimetres long (4 inches) . Seems to be working!

March 2019

After a warm spell in February, the weather changed and it has been a challenge to make much progress with the horse box, the lower section will be pale green and the roof will be a cream colour (one side is completed and if the weather stays dry long enough this will soon be completed)! This week it should be possible to make some progress inside the horse box, which will include adding new entrance door and partition.

We have added another two chickens to our collection, they are a rare French breed called 'La Fleche' - Suzy chose these as they lay white eggs and they are both laying well. Suzy has been busy preparing a programme of craft activities for her friends in the Lifton area, those white eggs will be useful for the egg painting workshop.

By the beginning of April, we should have some photos of our Bell Tent, our first foray into the world of glamping (camping for people who like their extra comforts)!

February 2019

Snowdrop planting on 2nd February was a great day, we had a good crowd of people joining us. We managed to plant over 400 snowdrops along the lane that goes past our camping field and we look forward to adding more each year. Snowdrops were planted in memory of loved ones by visitors from Tavistock, Plymouth, Horrabridge and we planted some for friends unable to join us from Reading and Folkestone.

With all the warm weather we have been able to improve the gardens, we have removed several large tree stumps that were causing a trip hazard on the lawn and in the orchard area. We have even been out on the lawnmower to ensure that the camping field is ready for any visitors - we have several bookings for September already this year!

We have also been improving the gates around the grounds, soon they will all be easy to open and close - well that is the hope! Wooden gates have a habit of swelling in the wet weather and then drying out in the summer. The sheep haven’t been helpful either as they enjoy leaning on the gates to see if they can break free!

January 2018

During 2017 we concentrated on preparing ourselves for the challenge ahead. We now have 8 acres of land to develop; some will be devoted to camping, some will continue to provide valuable habitat to local wildlife and some will be used by our farm animals. The land has been grazed most recently by sheep and all the fields are enclosed by established Devon hedgerow. The River Thrushel runs at the bottom of one of our fields and the river bank provides opportunities for fishing.

We've already started work on  maintenance and improvements:

  • repairs to an outbuilding roof
  • chimney swept to remove nests
  • logs delivered for wood fire in lounge
  • oil delivered for central heating
  • shrubs pruned and bulbs planted in the garden
  • decorating in the lounge and bedrooms
  • repairing gates
  • trimming overgrown hedges and trees
  • clearing space for our chicken run and coop
  • redecorating the lounge
  • replacing outside lighting
  • installing bird feeders
  • registering with authorities so we can keep sheep and pigs