Spring at Craighead Howfs, Animals, Wildlife and Preparing for the New Season

Spring Is Finally Here Spring is coming at last. Today the sun is splitting the sky, the birds are singing and the animals are all soaking up a bit of the sun. There is a real hive of activity down at the Hobbits. My goodness though, it has been a wet, wet winter. Keeping the animals fed as they and us plod around in the mud has been a bit of a challenge. Despite that, lots and lots has been going on here to get ready for the start of this year’s new season. Early in the year we took a very critical wander round all the accommodations and, armed with pen and paper, we made a long list of things that we wanted to do to make sure that when we reopen everything is in tip top shape. Signs of Spring Around the Farm When this week started we had yet more rain. Then suddenly we had a dry day and finally saw some blue sky. Low and behold, all around us we could see spring appearing. Bulbs are coming up everywhere. Daffodils, tulips, bluebells and crocuses are all coming through to follow on from the snowdrops. The birds were singing, the red kites were back out and in the next door field four hares were lounging in the sun. It really put a spring back in our step. Our animals were able to dry out and enjoy feeling the sun on their backs. New Additions and a New Garden Area For those who haven’t visited us before, we have an ever increasing selection of animals and poultry. Over the winter we have added some more peacocks to the tribe, which involved a trip to Yorkshire to collect them. Ian then started to ponder on the possibility of restructuring the area at the top of the garden that, over the past few years, has been just one large space that the hens turn into soil. New runs for the poultry have been constructed, some serious tree surgery has been done and the area cleared and prepared for grass seed. Ian is sowing wild meadow seed and has planned areas of planting. Once the grass is through there will be a new path leading past the peacock runs and up to the top where visitors will be able to sit and enjoy the garden, the view and the wildlife. It has been one of those jobs that grew in size and has certainly been a lot of work, not made easy by the rain. It will though be well worth it and we are hoping that people will really enjoy it. By the time we open on March 27th we are hoping that the grass in the new garden will be coming through and the bulbs right across the garden and down as far as the Hobbits should be well into bloom. The Rhea Showing Off Spring changes the behaviour of some of our animals, not least the Rhea. We have three Rhea, two white females and our grey male. All year round he is very quiet, submissive and definitely the bottom of the rank. However, suddenly this week as the sun came out he is strutting his stuff. His neck stretches up so he can show off how tall he is. It feels like at least six foot when he comes over to see you. His wings puff out and he spends the day being the boss and herding his two ladies around. He is no longer at the back trying to get a bit of the food when they let him. He is the boss there too and he has started to boom, the sound that male Rhea make. We love hearing it and you can easily spend time just watching his antics. Our Emus and a Big Surprise Last year two Emus came to join us. We have not had Emus before and didn’t intend to get them. We were visiting someone to collect turkey eggs and she happened to say she had too many Emu. Of course that is a fatal comment to Ian. A few days later Tom and Jerry arrived. They settled really quickly and we have become very used to having them around. To our delight Jerry started to lay. We think a total of seven eggs. Emu are unusual because the male sits on the eggs for weeks and weeks. To our great surprise Tom is sitting. Carefully choosing his spot, pushing the eggs together where he wants them and taking his job very seriously. At the very bottom of their field, under the watchful eye of the Wee Tree Howf, he proudly sits. So the early visitors to the Wee Tree Howf will have a bird’s eye view of him and may even see the eggs hatch. The Mystery Golden Pheasant A couple of years ago Ian went up to the poultry pen at the top to feed and there, mysteriously, was a very impressive Golden Pheasant. We have no idea where he came from, how he arrived here or how he knew to add himself to the poultry pen. However, he did and he has been here ever since. He is small, very brightly coloured and normally quite passive. As spring arrives though he becomes a tyrant. He rushes around bossing everything, from hens to turkeys and even us if you let him away with it. Zooming in as soon as he thinks you are not watching or when you bend over collecting the eggs. We love him and all his nonsense. Why Spring Makes It All Worthwhile Winter is always a challenge with animals, especially a wet winter. However, spring always comes around and makes it all worthwhile. One of the things our visitors often say is how much they enjoy the peace they find when they come and stay with us, along with the time to enjoy our animals and all the wildlife that makes its home

Counting Down to Spring 2025: A Craighead Update

Counting Down to Spring 2025 A Craighead Update Hello from Craighead… It is ages since my last post on here – I still have a love‐hate relationship with social media, but love a good blog, a story, a personal account. We would, of course, much rather chat to people when you are here staying with us! We had a bit of fun thinking about this post – even looked at the AI version – well, if I was an old‐fashioned sceptic before, I am even more of one now, and I will carry on chatting to you on paper as if we were chatting over a cuppa! So what have we been up to? Well, the garden has had a big clear‐up after the winter weather and the wind. Clearing it all up made all the lovely bulbs show their heads clearly. The snowdrops were fabulous this year, and the crocuses, daffodils and tulips are all now coming up, ready for opening properly on 28th March. This year again we kept the Whisky Howf open all winter and that has worked really well. It certainly kept its visitors cosy by the wood‐burning stove; it never ceases to amaze how snug inside a stone‐built Howf it gets and how it keeps the heat! The Whisky Howf guests who stayed with us at different times over the winter left some fabulous comments in the visitor book – we really love reading them. When we go down to do the changeovers it is the first thing we do and it is much appreciated; reading the nice comments puts a spring in our step. The Whisky Howf sits on the side of the pond so one of the great ways to while away some relaxing time is watching the wildlife on the pond come and go. At the moment there are two pairs of moorhens and a pair of ducks nesting. The heron calls regularly, hopeful of some supper. The other awe‐inspiring thing that will happen on the pond soon is the frog and toad migration. This is truly wonderful. At some point in the coming weeks, when the weather is just right, hundreds of frogs and toads will make the pilgrimage back to the pond to reproduce. It is the most amazing spectacle. Visitors may well be lucky enough to be here at the time and will find the road teeming with determined little creatures, and then the pond will be alive. This year, if we see lots of them on the road, we will be helping them along if we can by giving them a lift in a bucket! I did hear of one or two roads down south being closed for the frog migration! We are really delighted with it as the pond was built by us in 2000 and has now matured into a great place for wildlife. We now need to get on with getting everywhere else ready for visitors starting on 28th March. There is a whole list of things to do to prepare each area – the garden, the animals, the Wee Shop, etc. We do have a bit of a routine now for doing all of this and last weekend it was the turn of the Hobbit roofs to get their treatment. The roofs of the Hobbit Houses are for the rest of the year a no‐go zone, but we get to go on them briefly as they are trimmed back and the grass fed. It is a bit of a treat as it is a lovely vantage point. In response to getting regularly asked about the history of Craighead and about us, we decided to write the story of how we came to be here and how the glamping started. We wrote what I said was the first chapter of a book – though I have no idea how to write a book or how we would find enough to fill it! But we definitely have enough for another chapter. At the end of the one currently in our visitor information folder, we mentioned that, so we had better get started on that soon so we can add it! I’m thinking the next chapter might be all about the animals, how that side of things came about and a little bit about the most memorable ones. Talking of animals – last year we lost our two eldest cats, Sky and Kitty – both about 20 years old and both having spent their entire lives here. So our cat team is now down to three – not for long, though. We are very excited to have found three kittens who will come and join us, hopefully at the end of March! We will need names for them… Ian loves to keep the poultry side of things thriving, and the incubator will soon be coming out. One of the stories for the animal chapter will definitely be about Sid the Rhea, who started the Rhea tribe off and how he came about! I have no doubt Ian will be sourcing eggs very soon. Goodness knows who will be coming to join us next! Are you a spinner or do you love to knit? Alpaca shearing time will be at the end of June and the Swiss Valley Black Nose sheep are sheared in April and September – their wool has a very long ‘staple’ that spinners and knitters love, and alpaca wool is fine and soft. So why not come along and choose your fleece, have it spun or spin it yourself, and knit yourself a Craighead garment? Finally for now, we had a very new experience last year with a film crew who came along to Craighead. We are not able to give anything away yet but hopefully soon we will be able to share our experience of that with you! It was quite something and we were definitely out of our comfort zones! Looking forward to meeting more of you this year, we will