DECEMBER 2020

In the last week of December, I took our Springer Spaniel for a walk on Dartmoor, she loves to run free, leaping over heather and tussocks of grass. At this time of year the moor is rust coloured due to the bracken that is dying back, a really beautiful autumnal colour mixed with the straw coloured tufts of long grasses. As I sat on a piece of granite rock, I watched a couple of buzzards circling above the tor. The air was cold and  clear, I was glad of my windproof jacket, my woolly hat and gloves. 

Sat there quietly, I had a real sense of calm and peace. It has been a very strange year, dominated by a virus, which affected many of our plans for the year. The progress made on the various vaccines allows us to end the year with much more hope for the coming year, which will also have its own challenges. My hope is that there will be many more opportunities to experience the calm and peace of a quiet walk on the moor, or in the woods by the burbling streams. For those moments are special opportunities for refreshment, restoration and reflection. Not to be rushed, nor quickly forgotten.

All being well, we will be able to resume our camping activities in April and day retreats after the summer. Hope all our plans can be fulfilled in 2021. May peace be yours, this New Year.

October 2020

During September we were pleased to welcome a number of campers, as expected we had fewer visitors than during July or August. We took down the Bell Tent after our last booking on 20th September and it is now safely away in storage until the next season begins. The campsite grass is looking very lush and green, having fully recovered after the busy summer months. As the weather changes and the leaves started to turn to their golden autumnal colours, the grass has not needed as much mowing as in previous weeks.

Out in the gardens we have been busy harvesting raspberries, potatoes and sweetcorn. We will be able to harvest curly kale, Swiss chard and Brussels sprouts for many weeks to come. Our chickens are doing well and the Buff Orpington chicks are nearly fully grown, with their beautiful coloured plumage. We are still unsure whether we have three hens or whether one might be a cockerel, we are hoping for hens as we really don’t look forward to being woken at the crack of dawn by a cockerel crowing.

The meadow field has been partially mown, the wet weather has slowed progress but we are keen to finish the job and encourage even more wild flowers next spring and summer. We have been tending the flower borders which still look great and full of colour. Plenty of bulbs are going in, to ensure a splash of colour in the Spring, both in the garden and in the old orchard area.

We are so grateful for the quiet, peaceful place in which we live, which continues to be a source of joy and hope.

August 2020

We've been busy during August, with a steady flow of campers to welcome to our site. The pizza oven and the camp fire circle have seen regular use; with pizzas, BBQ and toasted marshmallows being a regular feature! 

We've also been busy painting the front of the house, dodging the occasional shower of rain, the white exterior walls really brighten up the entrance area. We have new windows on order and look forward to their installation, as they will keep out the draughts and really finish off the transformation.

This month we said farewell to Chelsea (the black Labrador) after 12 months with us. She has begun the next stage of her Guide Dogs assessment and training. We have heard that she has settled in well at the centre in Leamington and after careful consideration she has been chosen for breeding rather than as a working Guide Dog. It is always sad to say goodbye, but we know the huge difference Guide Dogs make which helps in the process of letting go. She won’t just make a difference for one visually impaired person, but for many, as each one of her puppies will have the potential to become a Guide Dog. We will have to wait a little while before our next puppy, as Covid-19 has affected the breeding programme for 2020.

Our campsite was fully booked for the final week of August, but we have plenty of spaces for anyone looking for a quiet break in September. We have postponed all our Day Retreats for the rest of the year, but hope to restart in 2021.

July 2020

As the Covid-19 restrictions began to be eased at the beginning of July, so we were able to open our small campsite and launch our glamping unit, a bell tent. Little did we realise just how many people were desperate to go camping and take a short break. As the month progressed we received even more enquiries and life has taken on a very different rhythm.

We have been pleased to see so many people, as we have been able to make new friends and meet again with old friends. The peaceful nature of our site has been appreciated and perhaps we have been so busy, as we only have a small number of visitors at a time, so everyone can maintain social distancing requirements. With the weather being warm and wet at times, Rob has been very busy with the mower on the campsite and in the garden.

During lockdown we were inspired to have a go at building a home made pizza oven in the old orchard area. First of all we built a stone plinth, on which we laid a concrete base for the oven. Then we dug clay from the ground, we had to dig quite a deep hole in the meadow field; we mixed this with sand and after some experimenting shaped it into a lovely dome. Then we added several more layers of clay until we created a well insulated oven, complete with recycled bricks for the entrance and a recycled chimney pot. We have now perfected the art of baking pizzas in this rather special oven and we are beginning to explore other meals we might be able to cook inside.

The pizza oven has proved very popular with visitors to our campsite and one of our younger campers declared ‘it cooked the best pizza ever’… and we can’t argue with that.

MAY 2020

At the beginning of the year, I doubt if anyone expected we’d have to spend the whole of May in lockdown… nor did we anticipate that it would be the driest May since records began. Life is full of surprises! The whole of lockdown has thrown many of us into a very different pattern of life and many people will no doubt be reflecting on what is really important in life. In many ways, many of us have been given a real opportunity to pause… But for others, this has been a very different and stressful experience, we pray for and give thanks for all those doctors, nurses and other NHS staff who have tended those in need during this Covid 19 lockdown.

For us at Tinhay Retreats, life has continued to be very quiet. The gardens and grounds have received more attention, but with the dry weather the grass hasn’t needed such regular mowing and we are now praying for rain! The bees have been busy making honey, last year we were unable to harvest any honey but this month we finally had a taste of home produced honey - twenty delicious jars and we look forward to more later in the year.

In the vegetable plot we have a number of crops doing well, despite the dry conditions. The potatoes are recovering, having been caught by a frost in early May. There are several rows of peas that are doing well, which is great as there is nothing as sweet as a pea straight from the plant. The sweetcorn are planted out and the butternut squash should be planted out this afternoon. We look forward to the harvest later in the year.

April 2020

When we began to convert our home and smallholding into a Retreat Centre and camp site, we knew that we wanted to ensure that all our grounds would encourage and support bio-diversity, whilst being sensitive to the environmental impact of all our activities. To this end we have taken significant steps to encourage the flora and fauna. We have been rewarded by a growth in the local bat population, our engagement with the Devon Bat Project has given an insight into the number of different species passing though our smallholding, we have also added bat boxes and made provision for bats to roost. With the help of our local Scout group we have installed several bird boxes and owl boxes in various locations. Following advice from the Devon Wildlife Trust, we have ensured that our meadow field is kept at a suitable length to provide the perfect habitat for field voles that make up a large proportion of a barn owl’s diet.

Since 2019 we have been able to cut the meadow field with a special mower which ensures that the wildflower seeds are spread and the grass cuttings are removed. This will encourage the flowers and reduce the vigour of the various grasses across the meadow. This month we have introduced yellow rattle, a semi parasitic plant that also reduces the strength of the grasses, thereby increasing the diversity of flowering plants. Each year we enjoy watching the natural developments in the meadow field, last year we were delighted to see a great number of swallows darting across the field in the summer evenings. This month we have spotted our first stoat, this small mammal is just 25 cm long but easily identified by its black tipped tail. It was leaping above the grass, perhaps chasing field voles or mice!

Social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic has meant that our usual activities have ceased but the opportunity to spend more time with our lambs, our hens, and in developing our grounds has been a very positive outcome - not just for our wellbeing but also for the biodiversity of the area.

MARCH 2020

We have enjoyed the delights of lambing and are on a sharp learning curve as we discover what to do and when! But watching the new born lambs jumping round the field is so rewarding. We’ve not just been busy in the fields, but also in the garden... The allotment area is ready for planting after some de-weeding. We are still harvesting purple sprouting broccoli, curly kale, leeks, chard, celery, carrots and parsnips.
I know some people have already started to sow seeds, but I haven’t. It’s on the job list for the next few days. The problem I have is that as soon as I put any full seed trays out in the greenhouse, they will be emptied of seeds the same day by our resident field mice. This means that I will have to propagate all our plants indoors, which with two nosey dogs might not be easy.

However I’m looking forward to sweet peas, marigolds, calendula, antirrhinums, helchrysum, rudbeckia, to name a few and of course more vegetables to keep us going through the rest of the year. Pam (Mum) has spent time at home drawing up designs to improve the gardens here. The designs look great and I’m excited to be able to put most of the ideas into action. It will take longer than I want to do as I can only do so much each day. We will have to measure up the borders and make a mock up of where they will be.

We have hedges cut, hedges trimmed and hedges planted. The lawn has been mown several times, composts heap turned and one compost heap container blocked in. The sit on mower is at the mower menders for its service. This is going to take longer than normal because they are allowed only one mechanic in the workshop at a time.

In the midst of the human chaos which we are experiencing now, nature continues its rhythm. I’m sitting in the field with the sheep writing this and I can hear the river rushing along just a field away. Blackbirds, robins, chaffinch and various tits are singing at the tops of their voices making a beautifully loud noise. They are occasionally interrupted by a pheasant. How can such a beautiful bird have such an astringent call?

I have opened up both of our bee hives. After getting stung through industrial strength rubber gloves, I changed into a pair of long arm leather gloves meant for tackling brambles and the like. This was a revelation and I can now happily sort through the hives, with bees trying to sting me, but only succeeding in stinging the gloves! We should get some honey this year. I have put a super on each hive. We had a tiny taste of honey from some comb which I had to scrape off because the bees had made the comb in the wrong place. The honey was so sweet and fresh tasting. Knowing it was from our own bees, on our own land was just awesome.

This enforced isolation has given us both plenty of time for reflection. We are so blessed to have our home, land and animals, but we are also blessed with family and friends. Like many other people, we’ve been trying to keep in touch via phone, email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Zoom. Even the Lifton WI committee had a meeting on Zoom! We give thanks to God each day for continued good health, for all those we know, for this beautiful countryside in which we live. We pray each day for our NHS, the country’s leaders, scientists working on a solution to the virus, for those in less happy circumstances than our own, our nation, our family. And we look forward, so much, to a time when we can welcome people back here to Tinhay Retreats in order to share this place of peace and sanctuary with which God has blessed us.

January 2020

After a mild start to the year, we also had a cold snap and what a beautiful display the frost creates! We were able to capture some photos of the frost on the trees and bushes, not to mention the grasses clothed in that white blanket.

We are delighted to have had a great deal of interest in our Snowdrop planting day, with visitors expected from Tavistock, Okehampton and even Appledore! We hope for good weather as we will add another 500 snowdrops down the lane by our campsite. The ones planted last year have already pushed up through the soil and are in bloom, creating the illusion of a snow drift at the base of the traditional dry stone wall.

Preparations are going well for our lambing season, with an extension having been added to the shelter for the lambs, which we expect to arrive from 22 March onwards. The plan is to add double doors to the entrance to the shelter, to make it even cosier for our new born lambs during the cold March mornings.

We look forward to hosting the Tavistock Methodist stewards for their ‘away day’ in February. Later in the month Suzy is running a gluten free baking day for anyone interested in learning some new recipes and some top tips for cooking and baking without gluten.

Suzy and I also look forward to enjoying a quiet day in Treargel Retreat Centre near Looe in Cornwall - knowing the benefits of retreat days we know the importance of making space to reflect and pray.

December 2019

December has been a great month, we have attended a number of Christmas dinners with friends in Bideford and Tavistock. We also enjoyed a lovely meal with around 40 other Guide Dog puppy walkers from all over Devon, the dozen Guide Dog puppies that also came along to the meal were very well behaved!

We've also had a trip to Manchester for Rob's MA graduation, the ceremony took place in the Whitworth Hall of the University of Manchester, an impressive Victorian building. After the ceremony it was good to meet up with students and staff back at Luther King House to celebrate everyone's achievements.

Our Springer Spaniel, Poppy, still loves her walks up on Dartmoor or along the vast beach at Westward Ho! which we visit sometimes when in Bideford. Chelsea also enjoys the moors and the beach, she is our Guide Dog puppy, now seven months old and making good progress. 

We enjoyed a trip up to Petersfield in Hampshire for the dedication of baby Joel, a wonderful celebration day for the family and everyone at Petersfield URC.

At the end of this busy month, we enjoyed a full house this Christmas as all the family gathered in Tinhay for a great time together, catching up with all our various adventures. We were delighted to receive another owl box among our Christmas presents - so we end the year with a Tawny Owl box and a Barn Owl box, ready for 2020.

NOVEMBER 2019

Caring for the environment is central to all we do at Tinhay Retreats and taking part in the Devon Bat Project, introducing bee hives, developing a two-acre wildflower meadow and rearing our own sheep are just some of the actions we have taken.

There are many aspects to being eco-friendly and heating our homes in this country is one of the major issues to address. Having checked our loft insulation, we had many discussions about how to improve our heating system. In the end we have replaced an old inefficient oil boiler with a gas fired boiler. The gas boiler will be more efficient but it does still run on a fossil fuel... in the future we will need to find an alternative, along with around 80% of people in the UK that heat their homes with gas.

To help offset our carbon consumption we are planning to plant an orchard of twenty or more trees... when we are able. We plan to use one of the fields in which we currently graze our sheep. Hopefully, the boiler will ensure that we are warm and cosy for Christmas this year and as we begin the Advent season on Sunday, we wish all our readers every blessing this Advent and during the Christmas celebrations. As we celebrate the arrival of a special baby, the light of the world, may the twinkling lights around us remind us of the light and hope that can be found in Jesus.