Broome Park Farm, Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast Accommodation Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire

Sorry I haven’t blogged for ages but we have been on the ‘holiday of a lifetime’! Hence the photo of a glacial lake in Iceland! This is Jokulsarlon and the opening sequence of the James Bond movie ‘Golden Eye’ was filmed here. It was my absolutely favourite place amongst the host of extraorinarily beautiful and amazing places we visited.

Other highlights were The Blue Lagoon - an outdoor geothermal spa; Hotel Anna where we lazed in the hot tub and enjoyed excellent local food and Akureyri, the capital of the North, where we ended up when part of the Ring Road was washed away and we had to do a 600 mile detour the opposite way round the island. Certainly a holiday to remember and somewhere I would love to return to!

The weather hasn’t been too bad today so John decided it was time our ewes were sheared! Fortunately there are only 6 so it didn’t take too long. Some of the fleeces will be kept for spinning or felt making and the rest will be sold - not that they are worth much, less than the cost of paying someone to shear them! Hopefully the weather will stay mild now so they don’t get cold!

Had a great day out today, courtesy of Jodie at the Shropshire Hills AONB. The day was titled ‘Organic Farm to Fork’ and we started with a visit to Rhos Fiddle Nature Reserve, an SSSI managed by Shropshire Wildlife Trust, high in the Shropshire Hills. The views are stunning and it is so peaceful. Part of the management is the grazing of highland cattle - an unusual sight in the Shropshire countryside! The cattle are owned by local organic farmer, Trevor Wheeler, who introduced us to his cattle and hebridean sheep on the hillside, then took us to his farm a little way down the valley. This organic mixed farm trades as Clun Valley Organics, supplying meat and vegetables through local shops and farmers markets. We also viewed the eco cottage located on the farm, fully self sufficient with a wind turbine and solar hot water panels.

After a delicious lunch made by Zara from Myriad Organics in Ludlow we headed for Daysdrove Abattoir in Bishops Castle to see the next stage of the journey from farm to fork.  It was interesting to tour the building and see the care taken to ensure animals are slaughtered humanely. The business prides itself on the fact that animals have low food miles and are of a high quality.

Finally we visited Andrew Pugh, the local butcher, who gave a very informative demonstration on how to cut up and present a forequarter of beef, one of the less popular parts of the animal. To finish he produced samples of slow cooked chuck beef and salt cured brisket, both of which were delicious, but the salt beef was devine! Something I will try to reproduce at home!

When you come at stay at Broome Park Farm the rooms have a fantastic view over open countryside towards Neen Savage. However I can’t promise you will always get a view as dramatic as this! It was a double rainbow, with 1 arc behind the tree but I’ve only captured this view!

Here are our 2 newest arrivals, Davina and Blossom, whom we collected on Tuesday. They are still a bit nervous but seem quite happy with their noses in the trough! Hopefully we will soon have some baby chicks too as one of the hens is sitting on some eggs. The weather here has been fantastic recently, if any thing we are desperate for rain, particularly for the grass to grow into a good hay and silage crop.

All the lambs are now out in the paddock, although 1 ewe has yet to lamb - not sure if she will now! So far we have 9 kerry cross lambs and 2 orphans I have been bottle feeding with the help of lots of young guests!