There is quite a lot of mistletoe growing on trees around our area of the Surrey Hills, which is unusual as it is much less common in the South East than it is in the Midlands. The mistletoe capital of the UK is Herefordshire and Worcestershire, with most of what is sold around the country bought [[...]
Archive for the ‘Farming’ Category
June 22nd, 2011 - 9:13 pm § in Farming
Rain Brings Respite to Drought in The Surrey Hills
The past month has seen some significant rainfall in the Surrey Hills, spelling an end to a significant drought in the South East. With only 49.4mm of rain recorded in South East and central southern England, 2011 has been the driest spring since for 101 years, beating the previous record of 57.3mm [...]
May 4th, 2011 - 9:26 pm § in Farming
Southdown Spring Lambs in the Surrey Hills
It’s lambing time here in our corner of the Surrey Hills. Visitors to the site will recall that a flock of Southdown sheep arrived at Woodhill Manor in January. The flock of three lambs and ten ewes is a venture between the Manor and Upper Woodhill Farm. The ewes were all expecting lambs and [...]
Pictures of the birth of a Sussex bull calf
Upper Woodhill Farm’s Andrew Cameron phoned at 6.45 this evening to tell me one of his cows was ‘showing’ and would probably give birth in the next hour. So I jumped in the Landie and headed up to the farm. Sure enough in Andrew’s maternity pen was a cow well on her way. This[...]
April 2nd, 2011 - 8:24 pm § in Farming
First Calves of 2011 Born
Two calves were born into the Woodhill herd of pedigree Sussex cattle on Thursday. The first was a bull calf who’s mother was still out on ‘The Bumps’, the field behind Upper Woodhill Farm, taking Farmer Andrew Cameron a little by surprise. Andrew has now brought all the expecting [...]
February 6th, 2011 - 7:51 pm § in Farming
Southdown Sheep in the Surrey Hills
A flock of thirteen Southdown sheep has arrived at Woodhill, here in the Surrey Hills. The flock is a joint venture between Upper Woodhill Farm’s Andrew Cameron and Woodhill Manor’s Paul Smith. The flock are currently on pasture at Woodhill Manor under the watchful eye of the Manor’[...]
January 20th, 2011 - 9:23 pm § in Farming
Interview with Sussex Cattle Farmer Andrew Cameron
It has been a while since we have featured the Sussex cows of the Woodhill herd, so I caught up with Andrew Cameron this week to find out all the latest news from Upper Woodhill Farm. Q. The last time we heard about your Sussex cows on the site it was August and they were over [...][...]
January 2nd, 2011 - 1:40 pm § in Farming
Does Keeping Chickens Pay?
We have been feeding Laura’s chickens up the lane this week and as a result have been enjoying several freshly laid eggs every day. But does keeping chickens pay? The answer to that question depends on what you want from your eggs and your chickens. If you want to keep chickens to save money i[...]
Christmas Trees at Santa Fir
Here in our corner of the Surrey Hills we are surrounded by the Christmas Trees of Santa Fir, the award winning Christmas tree grower. Based on the Willinghurst Estate in Shamley Green, Hans and Julie Alexandersen run one of the country’s largest Christmas tree plantations, with over 600,000 t[...]
Can Cows Really Forecast the Weather?
The Met Office is once again telling us that the Jet Stream is not where it should be this August and as a result the Azores High is not pushing far enough north to prevent endless low pressure systems hitting the UK. This is why the hot summer weather that holidaymakers hope for in August [...][...]
