Posted 23/02/10 by Theresa and Trevor

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary by going to the Indian Cottage just outside Newport for lunch, it is housed in a 13th century Tithe Barn and the surroundings are as spectacular as the food.  We then found a roaring fire to sit by to while away an hour or two looking out onto Wentwood Forest.

Trevors parents came for Christmas and New year and Trevors Mum who is a keen "Gavin and Stacy" fan desperatly wanted to go to Boofy's Fish and Chip shop on the seafront in Barry, so on New Years day along with hoards of others we went to pay homage !!

It's incredible how quickly the first two months have flown by and its been so cold out as you can see by the photo of our Laundry room door!  We have all had to contend with the snow and ice, but of course the dogs loved it and the first oppurtunity we had we took them up to Keepers Pond, keeping a very tight hold on their leads as the pond was frozen solid.  There was still snow on the ground and a beautiful rainbow came out for a brilliant photo oppurtunity.

It seems amazing that The Ryder Cup is almost upon us so we have a busy season to look forward too, with hopefully lot's of sunshine.

Posted 24/07/10 by Theresa and Trevor

We spent most of today in Abergavenny at the Shire Horse Show, as you can see there is a bit of a theme to our days out!!  Mostly involving 4 legs and a tail.  It took us just 20 minutes to drive to Abergavenny and get into the show.  The owners of these magnificent beasts spend hours preparing them for the ring as the show is a qualifier for Shire Horse of the Year at the NEC.

There was also a demonstration of logging methods as the Forestry Commission are much keener to use horses in small areas of forest than huge machines.  The trade and craft stands added to the spectacle of the day and we all went home tired and happy.

Posted 06/05/10 by Theresa and Trevor

We are priveledged to have at least two sets of Blue tits nesting very close to the house, Theresa can only just concentrate on cooking breakfast as one box can be seen from the kitchen window!!  It is a true sign of better days to come when they fledge whch is what the tiny bird on the right is seen doing in the picture.  The garden is full of bird calls and birds whizzing around with beaks full of food.  We have considered putting a webcam into one of the boxes but Theresa would never get any sleep!!

Posted 12/07/10 by Theresa and Trevor

We are supporters of a local horse charity based in St Maughans Near Monmouth called the "Society for the Welfare of Horses and Ponies" SWHP for short!!  They have two open days a year one in July and one near Christmas.  We decided that come what may we would get to their open day this year so finished our work as quickly as we could and headed out on a beautiful sunny day down the country lanes to find them.  This is SERIOUSLY rural countryside and we had fun getting there through some magnificent scenery.

The farm is set in beautiful countryside nothing like most of the rescued horses and ponies will have ever seen before as the majority of them are rescued from very barren,cold and unforgiving places just about an hours drive away and then given the very best care possible to bring them back into the pictures of health that we saw on our visit, although there were 2 new rescues called Starsxy and Hutch who were sad examples of how not to look after a pony, thin emaciated and full of worms and parasites.  A tough job ahead for the team. 

Below are pictures of Oliver the Orphan foal found on top of a mountain where it was thought that a Stallion had chased his mother away and she had abandoned him, it was estimated that he was just 2 days old, he is taking a nap after having shown off to the crowd by showing everyone just how fast he could run!! Next are two mares and foals again rescued from atop a mountain, and finally Martina who was found again on a mountain with her dead foal alongside her, she had to be rescued with the help of the local fire brigade as she was too weak to stand alone.  She lost an eye as well as her foal in her ordeal but with the help of the team at the SWHP she has returned to full health.

All of the horses are loaned out to responsible and vetted owners but remain the property of the SWHP.  If you would like to learn more click on the SWHO logo below.