Entering diary dates into the new fangled IT system, established that it is only 8 weeks until Easter! That’s when the house opens for the season. A tummy lurching discovery when I think about what’s to be done to be ready. If last year was anything to go by I will need to be firing on all cylinders. So no time for slacking! Just a quick shimmy through a few ‘one liners’ (what I call things that takes seconds to scribble down but in reality take hours or weeks to complete!).

Change the costume display (think of a theme first!)Dismantle old display & rewrap in acid free tissue etc

Write a Fursdon/wider world timeline for visitors to house & produce leaflet

Completely kit out Fursdon Cottage inc. all furniture, bedding, crockery & kitchen stuff. Oversee fencing of cottage garden, lay turf and plant some shrubs. Buy garden furniture. Oh and there’s more but actually, all this list writing is just getting me into a lather!

So no more  - but just wanted to say that everyone always thinks this is a quiet time of year at Fursdon. It isn’t!  M is removing all old tree guards from  woodlands ( “them’s murder tight” –  his memorable words! We’re  also planting lots of  new trees some up at Firdown and others in hedgerows (especially in Pigeon House Down) - I love those old field names! And I would love to plant more in the Meadow Garden….*gets garden design hat on!

I am seeing B about improving signage around the Coach Hall. Repairs inside the hall need to start very soon and I’ve had some ideas to make it more attractive in the cobbled yard for when visitors have tea outside.

Meanwhile Zola dog training goes on – one bound forward for every leap back – its good fun though and has a bit of a following on Twitter these days! Ruby pony and I did some traditional landlady stuff today – we rode to Upcott to assess the damage to the retaining wall that has collapsed at the farmhouse there.

Ruby & friends off to work

Meadow Garden in winter

Looking forward to summer?

Winter sunrise at Fursdon

Mrs F is having a well earned couple of days out of the office in the run-up to Christmas  but work goes on here getting ready for guests who will be arriving in the next couple of days. The Park Wing and Garden Wing are cleaned and sparkling with  lovely fresh Christmas trees, ready to welcome our Christmas holiday visitors and the visitors lobby has a few festive touches, too. There is bustle everywhere – I am being hoovered around as I speak – and the logs are being topped up for all the fires that will be merrily burning over the next couple of weeks.

Today is going to be a full on day for me as the office is dragged into the next phase of IT upgrades. Alchemy Systems will be installing our new server and two new computers and the training that goes with it!! I hope I can remember it all after Christmas when I have had two weeks off.

Fursdon Cottage, the lovely soon-to-be holiday cottage, is still going through its makeover. The kitchen is in now and Tony and Gerald are working hard right up to Christmas to get as far as they can with the painting. New Year will see Mrs F choosing all the furniture and pretty things to make it ready by March for the first visitors.

This time last year the snow was so deep (and crisp and even) that the holiday visitors didn’t manage to get here. Today by contrast is mild and misty – typical winter weather in Devon – but the views are still wonderful, just a little shorter than sometimes.

Well, I must get on but Fursdon wishes you all a Merry Merry Christmas  and very prosperous New Year. We hope to see you here before too long.

Trees feature in a major way at Fursdon! We have planted hundreds since we’ve been here and I always try to promise to plant two (at least) for every one that has to be felled. This morning PT was valiently sweeping leaves from the cobbled courtyard  -  it was blowing hard (so was he) and also squally showers of rain made it look like a thankless task. I was having breakfast at the time and felt guilty. MT (father and son team) is also here today – he is working his way through  – ‘Hector’s Wood’ (I’ll explain the names another time other wise I’ll never get to the point), weeding round the young trees,  removing those guards that are supposed to be released as the tree grows, and trimming off any damaged branches etc.

A few years ago I planted some hedgerow trees against Oxen Park Meadow in memory of Walter who’d worked for us for years. MT has just made sure they are all secure for the winter gales ahead  – and generally given them a bit of TLC.

Logs for all the open fires and wood burners in the house (and office -I’m enjoying this now!!) need to be replenished so PT has also been stocking up the woodshed for our Christmas guest. He is great at making sure there is always some kindling too!

Trees are so important in this landscape and instrumental in reminding me that we are just stewards at Fursdon…..some of the oaks in The Park are ancient and the rings on the stump of the sweet chestnut by the carpark indicate that it was at least 300 years old.

I’m seeing a young tree chap on Friday who’s going to put in some more hedgerow trees around Pigeon House Down and advise me about some for a wind break too…..

Lots of field and wood names here – idea for another blog?

Just a quick update of stuff happening in a small rural estate in Devon…..We had visitors today, planning their group visit for later in the year.They saw the Coach Hall -huge log fire and table laid ready for a shoot lunch and they had a brief whistle stop tour of the house. This did the trick (oh and maybe Judi’s charm helped too!) and they are keen to come and bring their group of 50 and have lunch!

Just to show you how versatile the Coach Hall is – it was the venue for a lively talk by Jon Pitts,  fitness advisor to the Australian equestrian olympic team – encouraging us all (Witheridge Riding Club) to balance on a big exercise ball, and to engage the brain at the same time (plus a bit more if I’m honest). So there’ll be no stopping Ruby and me jumping hedges and ditches …) We also hosted the Cadbury Parish Meeting in said Coach Hall last week attended by the local councillor – good community stuff. A few action points resulted for me mainly to do with organising something for Cadbury for the Queen’s Jubilee…..hey ho.

Office-wise we’re updating IT ( it will be painful) and also making changes to the website. Our first e news letter is about to be spawned……

Lots of thought and chat about next year’s opening – we will be joining a group called ‘Invitation to View’ offering special private tours of the house by yours truly (and even Mr F if we can catch him) These will be at prearranged times and there’ll be homemade edible goodies and coffee in the library and maybe some evening tours with wine and the fire lit and time to linger…

Holiday accommodation? -we have a lovely hard working young couple staying in the Park Wing who are in need of a bit of time out and relaxation. I hope Fursdon is working its magic! And today my lovely goddaughter and friend arrived to stay (and maybe help a little in the garden if the weather holds).

The guys renovating the Cottage are at last tiling the floors – which means that the kitchen can start in 10days time. Then I will allow myself to feel excited about it rather than daunted. I hear you thinking ‘What a weed! How feeble!’ but I tell you – you don’t know what a massive task this has been!!And how many horrible things we discovered.  These old properties  are a bit of a minefield. But enough of this – there is good progress at last.

Right. That’s enough. My blogs are too long I think. Must resolve to write more often but not so much!

Tomorrow I mark out The Walks (for visitors) and The Rides (for me). Enough! Stop.

Ok

This morning there was a bit of an ‘atmosphere’ in the house caused by ref’s decision to send off Welsh rugby player so Zola ( doodle pup) and I have moved to the office where it’s more peaceful, to light the woodburner and blog….

……..busy day yesterday – for the first time ever we’d had the apples from Fursdon pressed into juice and pastuerised to sell in the Coach Hall tea room next season -if there’s any left! It is so delicious! We took the fruit to West Lake Farm near Hatherleigh; fellow Devon Farms members, Linda and George, are so infectiously enthusastic about apples, juice, cider vinegar – how to grow, blend -and talk about it! All the way back in Fat Erik (truck) the bottles of precious juice clincked and tinckled so I dared not take the short cut along the rough track passed Fursdon Lodge – even though the road workmen had blocked the normal route home – again (5 weeks taken to patch our lane??) so went the long way by Thorverton and was very nearly late for our meeting with Ed from ab design group for a review of our website. Such a good meeting with lots of  ideas and plans! Lots more Twitter, Facebook et al too. Can’t wait to get stuck into all this – it’s so easy to sit back and think well we ‘did’ the website very recently. But it was 4 years ago and things have moved on so fast. ( Funny concept at Fursdon!) The addition of the cottage to our self catering accommodation will be a big plus I think. Work was going well but there’s a  big set back today as the tiler has hurt his back and can’t do the floors after all.  Am really sorry for him, but grrrr  – we’d changed the whole timetable to work around his availability. We are going to welcome dogs to Fursdon Cottage (social life for Zola?) so all the floors will be tiled  and so easy to keep clean etc. My kitchen table is covered with swatches of fabrics, Farrow and Ball (of course?) colour charts and torn out pics from magazines of lovely colour schemes and ideas to emulate – this is the fun bit!

From our (grown up) marketing meeting t’other day Judi and I decided we can’t go on sharing a computer! So we’re gathering info for another laptop and therefore speeding up work. (Image of fast forwarding the adverts when you’ve taped Downton Abbey and don’t want to see all the other stuff in between….) In the office Amy is now helping us  – she can walk along the track and her baby gets parked in her buggy by the log pile downstairs, where we can hear lovely snuffly noises as she sleeps and we work. Really. Think this is a win/win sitch for Amy and Fursdon.

Zola and I did some excellent (in that we tackled real life Fursdon situations!) training with Leanne from DogsRdogs last week. Z demonstrated that she can carry treasure that she finds -  dead rabbit – for ages without getting tired and that ultimately she doesn’t mind sharing it with me. In case you’re wondering – yes that is excellent progress!

Our Garden Wing guests buy carrots specially for the ponies so Ruby and pals are very happy this week. Ruby will have her winter clip soon to keep her cool when being ridden. She’ll have to wear a rug then to keep her warm in the field. I’m going to keep her outside for as long as possible partly because its more natural and its also less work for me. We’ll see how the weather does though – she hates a rain/wind combo. The two miniature ponies have such thick coats and don’t get ridden that they will probably stay out all winter (they do have rugs too though just in case).

Although Fursdon House is closed to the public now I am always happy to take holiday guests on a private tour. So tomorrow morning the couple in the Park Wing who are celebrating their 80th birthdays, will meet me for a private tour. I haven’t yet dismantled the costumes etc after the summer season so there is still lots for them to see.

We’ve stored the apple juice in the cellar so it’s not very easy to go and help ourselves everytime we feel inclined to drink it – its the only way to preserve it for the summer visitors. Next year we will make enough to be able to holiday guests a complimentary bottle of Fursdon apple juice!

The title came to me in a moments lapse of concentration in our Estate Meeting on Saturday morning.  Picture the scene – two out of three boys present, two professional advisors, Judi, Mr F and me all sitting round the dining room table for our quarterly ‘family’ meeting to discuss estate strategy. I’m feeling a bit jaded as having organised and cooked for the Harvest Supper in the Coach Hall the night before, I know there are loads of pans to wash and clearing up to do and I’m a bit jittery as I haven’t done all the action points from the last meeting….O and E arrived last night with their very new Border Terrier puppy – absolutely adorable, but Zola-doodle thinks the puppy is a special wind-up toy for her. After initial aprehension that ‘Scrabble’ might be swallowed whole by Zola, the puppies become best of friends and amid lots of scrapping n’pouncing, we all relax and get on with the meeting and the other sort of Terrier – estate rents et al. Since we’ve been at Fursdon, we’ve tried to gradually improve all the properties and reflect this in higher rents. ST our agent had recently done a rent review and of course with that comes an inevitable list of repairs to be done over the next few months. The farm building repair (previous blog) work is progressing painfully slowly – the ‘tallet’ is the open ‘ceiling’ that runs the length of the building for hay storage etc. Designed for a different type of farming and smaller animals (and people) but we are obliged to replace it as part of the listed building regulations. ‘Tis hard to know what to do with a building that no one can stand up in….(well I can but not those that were born Fursdons as they’re rather tall!)

‘Tingles’  came up briefly as there are so many of these temporary little lead fixings keeping slates on the house roof – it’s a sure sign that the cheque book needs to be opened  and work needs to be done. But we’ve had to postpone this big job ’til next year because of embarking on the Fursdon Cottage ‘makeover’.  More anon on the cottage. (I probably wouldn’t have mentioned tingles but they fit well in the title and I was always a sucker for a good bit of alliteration….)

wedding wellies

Since the last blog there have been two wedding receptions using the house for a drinks reception and the meal, speeches and dancing in a marquee looking down across The Park and the Exe Valley. Rain was a bit of a feature on both days but it didn’t seem to dampen any spirits. Flower arrangements in wellies was a novel idea!

We’ve also hosted the annual (and 26th) Fun Run, a 4 mile romp over the estate which raised over £600 for Cadbury church funds and ShelterBox. A huge tea in the Coach Hall has become an important feature and a bit of a pull. The harvest actually wasn’t ‘safely gathered in’ either for the run (or for the Harvest Festival in church). We altered the route to avoid trampling crops and Jim had to do lots of extra strimming/jungle bashing to make new paths. Hero!

The holiday accommodation in the house is open all year round and we are still pretty busy through the autumn. We’ve retained our Gold Award which is pleasing – I attended a meeting to discuss Quality in Tourism  and the pros and cons of their methods. It’s important for visitors to know that accommodation is inspected but part of this is inevitably subjective and ratings can depend which inspector calls.(ha) I try to imagine what I would like, if I came on holiday to Fursdon – so to me – comfy beds with lovely crisp cotton sheets, plenty of hot water, privacy, space, good furniture etc are all important. A friendly atmosphere is crucial too – I hope we provide that, however busy we are behind the scenes!

In the meeting we discussed better marketing for the accommodation maybe with a newsletter, improving and adding to the walks for visitors – and whether I can get Fursdon Cottage ready to let for Christmas….. no promises on that last one!

I’m writing this at the kitchen table whilst Zola sleeps by the Aga – snoring quite loudly for a small 4 month old labradoodle, and not very ladylike. But she’s had a busy few days – and just back from the ‘hairdresser’ actually! The dog I mean – and actually it’s me that needs a haircut (rather urgently) but I am trying to be a good dog person and give her loads of different experiences and training now which I hope will pay off with a calm and chilled little dog – eventually. I may end up looking very odd if I don’t find time to do something about my appearance…..She came with me to the station to meet Mr F and as he was late we had a bit of lurking- around -time watching amazing things like people with HUGE rucksacks going through weird automatic doors, kids screaming etc  - all part of the learning curve for Zola’s education.

Meanwhile, looking back over the last few weeks, I can report on a successful day in aid of NGS.(charities including Macmillan and so on). We were steadily busy in the tea room and people seemed genuinely to like the garden – which is so encouraging for us. The Coach Hall where we bake the cakes and serve teas in the summer, is looking very colourful as it is decorated with dragon pictures by Class 2 from Thorverton school. I always put a log fire on if it’s a dull day – it looks so cheerful and folk love it! If its sunny we have some outside tables now.We also had a local fund raising evening  for  Cadbury Church  - the Strawberry Fair!  We had hot dogs,skittles, a coconut shy, plant  and cake stalls  - and of course mountains of local strawberries and dollops of clotted cream. So very traditional and a great way to see neighbours and friends – with no pub we have to arrange to meet up like this every so often. Next event at the Coach Hall will be the annual Fun Run  - well most people  including me, walk  - it’s about 4 miles over hills and fields and through woods on the estate. We have held this for over 20 years and its a brilliant social and (keep fit) event. It’s on  Saturday 10 September  - and this year it’s in aid of ShelterBox – more detail will follow.

We’ve  had a visit from Devon Gardens Trust and two groups for  evening garden tours. One group were so long in the Meadow Garden that I was just about to go and rescue them only to discover they’d been having a meeting down by the pond because it was so peaceful!

Thanks to some very generous friends we now have a wonderfully restored long case clock in the hall. It has never worked since we came here in 1979 and although the face showing the phases of the moon and high water times at Topsham, was charming, the case had been covered in a dark lacquer – probably in Victorian times. So not only does it now tick tock it also chimes – and the original oak with inlaid mahogony has been revealed. So we are very grateful and very happy about the clock- restored by a small firm in Crediton.

There have been lots of lovely guests staying in the two apartments; some for family holidays and others for weddings and currently graduation from Exeter Uni. We welcomed our first Finnish visitors and and we had a German family for 10 days. It’s good to have a mixture of new guests and of course always great when people come back again (and again). We are going to a wedding in Suffolk in September -of ‘children’ who have been coming here for 22 years!! Actually that suddenly makes me feel old so I wish I hadn’t said that.

I have just put the kettle on to make tea for the chaps who are cutting the creeper back at the front of the house -it takes over and needs to be kept back from the parapet and the windows. The wisteria was actually growing inside my bedroom recently – so on changeover day when there was no one in the Park Wing I went out on the parapet and cut it back.

We’ re having a Big Meeting with the builders tomorrow to see where we are in the repair schedule – it’s a constantly shifting thing – slightly reminding me of Churchill’s black dog actually! The list includes: the drainage and pot holes on the lane at Upcott, the  ongoing major repair to the farm buildings by the CoachHall, the repointing of the very tall chimney at Fursdon Barton,the re tiling of the cob wall around the Fox Garden and the overhaul of the Cottage ready to re let asap. The latter is a big ‘clerk of works’ job for me to coordinate all the repairs with the decorating, flooring etc. Decorating and repairs in the holiday accommodation is always a winter job so that we’re ready for spring holidays. The quality inspection is coming up soon – one of those important things that we do to reassure guests that standards aren’t falling. (As if)

I remember the boys’ “saying I wish our bedrooms were as nice as the ones for the holiday visitors……”. Oh dear  - the guilt!

Well the tea is getting cold….

This morning was so uplifting and looking out of my bedroom window and seeing that tell tale mist in the valley something told me it would be a good one. I’d planned to go for a ride with a friend and I haven’t had time to ride Ruby for ages so that was good too. First, our new addition Zola – a black labradoodle puppy, had to go to the vet for a jab. I’ve been doing short drives with her so that the winding road to town wouldn’t be too much of a shock to her delicate little tummy. All went well – and she has lots of fans at the surgery  – always a good insurance policy for the future.

Ruby and I had a fab zoom around the fields and woods and thro the village, timing it badly and coinciding with ‘schools out’! but all was well. Came back thro’ The Park and up Pond Meadow looking into the Meadow Garden, which reminds me I haven’t done any work there since Zola arrived. It is supposed to be a Wild Garden I say out loud to no one in particular. Ruby knows anyway because she cantered off Today  turned into a day-off, by mistake  – which makes up for yesterday when everything went pear shaped in the telecommunications department making internet access even worse than normal. I won’t go on about it – and the good news is that the smiley BT engineer actually managed to find a fault and sort it! Brilliant – the wifi is no faster but at least it lasts for more than two consecutive minutes. Office work is not my natural forte(!) and what with the excuse of still being in a whirl after our BigFamilyWedding  – combined with Zola’s puppyish demands – I have no trouble not darkening the door of the office. It does mean however that the kitchen table is covered in papers, laptop, lists of things to do, puppy toys, ironing, and more lists of things to do…… Am trying to use new Ivor iphone for the endless list so they don’t get lost……

On my ride I saw Laurie Steen taking photos of her work to update the art on her website – take a look. I think she’s brilliant – I would fill Fursdon with her work but that would be selfish. www.lauriesteen.com

Quick overview of what’s happening – the farm building project is coming on slowly but surely. Its now been agreed that we will have old tiles on the roof instead of fibre cement sheets so we’re all pleased about that. We are having a meeting with English Nature to finalise our HLS application – sorry for the jargon but it’s an environmental stewardship scheme which will (hopefully) allow us to give more access to Cadbury Castle, increase field margins for wild life, maintain the traditional pastures and so on. The house is due for some serious roof repairs (gulp) – the valley between the library and drawing room has been in a sad and soggy way for a while; tenders are now coming in. The guys today said the work would take 9weeks. Sounds expensive – I didn’t ask! I’ll find out soon enough.

We had an absolute wash out in every sense of the word on Sunday – it was one of our National Gardens Scheme days – where the gardens are open for the charity. We did loads of baking, madly weeded the bits that serious gardeners notice, and I lined up lots of helpers.Last time there had been more than 100 visitors. This time we had 2 visitors for the house – and 2 for the garden.Yes no typo there. We were completely overstaffed with Helen, Judi, Jane, Gabbi and me all ‘hangin’aroond’ (sorry quote from Scottish gap year job) waiting for the rush. It didn’t come. Deeply depressing – EXCEPT the garden so badly needed the rain that we had to look at the big picture.

Big Picture – yep that’s what being custodians of Fursdon is all about!

Having started Twittering recently I thought I’d investigate Linkedin too but the first hurdle was to categorise myself for the profile that you provide. I hate that multiple choice thing – and Fursdon never fits into boxes. I ended up ticking ‘Hospitality’ -as the nearest right answer – but where was the category for gardening or horticulture, land management, domestic cleaning, amatuer clerk of works, costume conservator  – oh well you get the gist. Running a small country house and estate means that I have become a ‘jack of all ……’ and master of absolutely nothing. Except multi tasking (usually fine until one of the multis becomes something to do with numbers and then it has to be a solo task). But coming full circle (in a ramling way), maybe ‘Hospitality’ is right after all – holiday accommodation and house opening are all about being welcoming and looking after people. There is also a community responsibility that goes with living here – or at least an expectation of responsibility…….. mmm this is all getting a bit heavy for a Friday morning!

Today, it’s changeover day for the Park Wing and the Garden Wing. The lovely couple from Canada just leaving, would like to return for a month next time, so that’s great and its like having old friends to stay. No ageism intended – it’s a compliment! Jane will come to clean the appartments – no mean feat – so we all admire her energy and skill.

The garden is having its weekly overhaul by Derek – he has been working for us for about 3 years now and the difference to the garden is fantastic. He has also just imparted lots of chicken keeping advice too.

And now Judi has arrived. She is a breath of fresh air in the office – great with visitors and can also do a good house tour if needs must! Yesterday she sent out about 60 packs of house leaflets to local tourist information offices, hotels, caravan clubs and so on. She keeps things running smoothly in the admin department and tries to make sure David is in the right place at the right time……

Perhaps then my main task is just to keep everyone else busy!

The house and garden are open on Monday -  usually we are quite busy on a Bank Holiday. So I need to make sure we have lots of lovely scones ready in the Coach Hall. How much cream shall I buy? I must remember to put fresh flowers in the Library

Finally today I’ve sifted a pile of post that’s been building up and apart from the bills (which I won’t bore you with) there were lots of really cheering thankyous from people who’ve come on group visits during the last few weeks. I’m always amazed when people take the time to do this but I love it! Lots of correspondence from The Furniture Society. Speaking frankly, the visit didn’t have a very auspicious start -the main entrance looked odd and not at all country house-ish, because Mrs Fezzy, sittting on her eggs in the flower tub was roped off (more on her later) and I had a massive black eye sustained the day before while chatting to Buffy our very small (fat) pony. ….. things were not boding well for a tour of experts.But, judging from the letters, they loved their time here though! I learned lots from them, for example, some five feather silver crests that we have, I now know are ‘head plates’  from the Fursdon State Coach. Lots of enthusiasm for their cream tea too.

Here’s a picture of one of the gorgeous stripey pheasant chicks that hatched. I am so sorry to report that they only survived for 24 hours before a marauding rook took them, one by one. Horrible but I suppose Mrs Rook had a family to feed too……so no more talk of Mrs Fez except to say that Mr Fezzy is hanging around again. Oh well…..life goes on!

We’ve been really busy with groups this past week or so – some coming for coffee and a morning tour and others having lunch too. In between, I’ve been to talk to a local history society.  Selecting pictures to put on power point took me forever as I kept side tracking myself. One day I must scan  some of ye old original 1979 ‘just arrived’ pictures so that it’s easier to explain what we’ve been doing for the last 3o or so years….People sometimes say ‘It must be  difficult having to open your house to the public!’ But it isn’t really -partly because we’ve always done it – well since 1986, so I’m used to it. Also it certainly makes me get on and do stuff – there is nothing quite like knowing that the ‘public’ are about, to motivate ‘one’……..And another thing is that when we get lovely positive things said about the garden or the house it’s so rewarding and it makes me feel that it’s all worthwhile. Usually.

I’ve sneaked a quick trip up to the North East to help to chose Grandmother’s wedding outfit; overnighted with little sister in Newcastle; popped in to the lovely church where eldest son is to be married very soon, and zoomed to London to try to ‘get something done with’ my hair(!). Another bonus was a whistle stop night in a pub with some friends and then to see Rohan McCullough in My Darling Clemmie – so brilliantly performed and very moving.

Meanwhile back in Devon, failure to make it to the Devon County Show this year was a disappointment but I’m grateful to my holiday guests from Cambridge who did some research into different  sheep breeds for me and came back with lots of info and contacts. It’s nearly time to have my own flock again. I loved my Black Welsh Mountain girls but I probably should have a local breed. Favourites are Grey Faced Dartmoors at the moment. The fencing is good and I’ve still got hurdles, foot trimmers etc so that’s the basics……but have I got time?

Just took a quick break from all this writing to see that last night’s rain has made no difference to the state of anything in the garden so I’ll have to do some watering (instead of the ironing?) again this evening.

This is the view from the drive across the park.