LDF Entertainment Hub – Diary October 2011

It’s fright-time down on the farm this October half term!




	Wheat field being drilled for next year’s crop – the dust shows just how little rain we’ve had recently


	The dipping pond looking unrecognisably empty!

With Halloween on the horizon, we’re busy preparing a host of ghoulish delights for our October half term ‘Spooktacular’. From Sat 22nd Oct, there will be plenty to entertain all the family with scary highlights including our ‘haunted wood’, pumpkin races, terrifying trailer rides, ghostly face painting, a dog agility demo, fun fair with bouncy castle, an undercover play area and, naturally, lots of wicked food and drink from 11am-5pm daily. The week will come to a close with our special Saturday, 29th October ‘fright fest’ party where everyone’s invited to come along in fancy dress to enjoy all of the above attractions in addition to a craft fair with home-made toys, local foods and more on sale, and a fabulous firework display at 7pm to end the party with a real ‘bang’. For more information click here.

As another exciting addition, on Saturday 29th there will be some metal detectorists on site who are keen to share their hobby with visitors. Friends of Terry Herbert, who discovered the famous Staffordshire Hoard, the group will be happy to offer those who fancy their chances of unearthing similar treasure the chance to try out the metal detectors, as well as showing off the various fascinating objects they have found so far on the farm.

Those visiting during half term are in for a real treat in the form of the latest addition to the farm menagerie – one baby Rhea survived out of seven eggs hatched by a specialist bird rearer and will be joining its parents on the farm in the next couple of weeks. There are a further 7 eggs still to hatch so, fingers crossed, there could be more precious babies to add to the flock soon.

But that’s not all on the subject of new arrivals - the farm Labrador is in pup with her 5th litter! Due imminently, everyone can’t wait to welcome some tiny puppies to LDF. Watch this space for details....

Indian Summer

As ever on a working farm, it’s not ‘all play and no work’. With the last of the summer wheat crop harvested, work has already begun drilling the soil to prepare for the planting of seed for next year’s crop. Although the ‘Indian summer’ is making work easier on the farm, it does have downsides – there’s very little grass for the cattle and the dipping pond is not totally dry, so we are all praying for some typical Autumnal rain to come soon!

Another side-effect of the unseasonably warm weather is that we still have some of our beautiful annual visitors, the swallows, around on the farm; making ready for their epic migration to Africa and ‘fuelling-up’ on the bounty of insects the warm weather has spawned. Our sunflowers have also flowered again, turning the fields golden and proving just how warm the weather has been over the past few weeks!

Farm fun for local schools

Since start of autumn term we’ve had lots of group visits, including schools from Penkridge and Codsall and Guide groups all wanting to earn all about farm life in the Autumn. The experience has been made all the better by the beautiful sunny weather and, if anyone would like to follow suit, there are still dates open for school or group visits. For more information, please contact Val on 07817 691352.

Sweet home-from-home

We’re also delighted to report that our recently refurbished B&B and self catering accommodation has proved a real hit, with many guests making return visits thanks to our warm welcome. So it seems the word is spreading about the quality accommodation we offer, both by personal recommendation and via the web, thanks to Stafford Website Company for our website’s great new accommodation pages. If you’re looking for a ‘home from home’ for a stay in Staffordshire, please follow this link to get a feel for our lovely B&B and self-catering facilities: http://www.lowerdraytonfarm.co.uk/accommodation.htm.