END OF THE YEAR !!

Well the end of 2006 is upon us, I don't know where the time goes. It does not seem 10 months since I started this website, but so much has happened that the time has just flown by. As you know I am starting a new project in the New Year, the walled Kitchen Garden, which I am sure will keep me busy during 2007 and hopefully beyond. At the moment I intend to keep my allotments going, with the sowing, planting and harvesting running in parallel with the Kitchen Garden so my weekly updates and advice will still be beneficial to allotment holders, the only difference being that I will be operating on a bigger scale.



After working out what plants I intend to grow for the Hotel & Restaurant and the quantity that I think that I will need to try and produce, I will need to have a bigger growing area than the Kitchen Garden itself so the area shown by this photograph in an adjoining field will become a part of the growing operation. Hopefully in the next month this will be ploughed by a local farmer ready for me to create 6 x ( 20ft x 60ft ) growing areas which I will incorporate into my crop rotation plan. In time if we need to produce more, then the rest of this field can be utilised further.
The owners have expressed an interest in us keeping free range Chickens to provide eggs for the Hotel residents breakfasts and also to rear Chickens for use in the restaurant which sounds like a wonderful idea and one that I would like to be able to achieve in time, I know that I have a great deal to learn to make this a reality especially in light of new regulations brought in as a result of the threat of Avian Bird Flu, but I'm sure in time we can succeed.



This half of the Kitchen Garden is where I intend to start clearing and preparing first of all, the other half which contains the greenhouses and polytunnel will be left for the time being as it is intended for these to be moved to the field growing area and the remaining large Victorian Glasshouse will be renovated and used as a large conservatory for guests using the health spa which is going to be built in the adjoining stables to sit, relax and view the Kitchen Garden with it's array of vegetables, fruit, flowers and shrubs.

Last weekend we went to a German market in Birmingham which is held each year, it was very busy as you would expect just before Christmas Eve but we had a great time with all the traditional food, sweets, arts and crafts and a lovely mulled wine to keep the chill at bay.

We also enjoyed our trip to the Bull Ring markets with their fabulous fresh fish stalls, Daniel was amazed at the different variety of fish and seafood on display, this is where we bought our starters for Christmas Day dinner, Daniel had Mussels while Sarah and I had Dressed Crabs followed by Tornado Rossini which is fillet steak topped with pate and a rich Madeira wine sauce, we were all that full we had to skip our puddings but a great meal was enjoyed by all.

The vegetables we had with our main course were of course all home grown, the only disappointment being that when I went to my plots on Christmas Eve and harvested the vegetables the Brussels Sprouts were not very good, most of them had blown and the others were too small so I decided not to harvest any.

In next week's update which will be the first of the New Year, I will hopefuly be able to show you my planting plan and growing calendar for the year ahead which as I mentioned earlier will apply both to my allotment and the Kitchen Garden.

Well it only remains for me to say a big thankyou to all of you who have followed my progress during 2006, I hope that you will follow my progress during 2007 as it promises to be an exciting time for me, I will be back next week with my first update of the year, hope you have all had a good Christmas and I hope that you all have a healthy, prosperous and fruitful 2007 ,thanks Steve.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!