Dorset Countryside Newsletter Sept-Oct 2022

West Dorset Countryside Newsletter September & October 2022

Our September and October Barnyard Buzz, Countryside Chronicles newsletters are in this post.

Campsite News September & October 2022

 

I was really pleased to see some German and Dutch campers for the first time on the campsite since Brexit.  One Dutch couple came because they had been recommended by another Dutch couple who stayed here 8 years ago.  Poodles, Willow and Phoebe, both 9 years old, visited with their owners from Guernsey.  (1) 

It was the first time I had had anyone from the Channel Islands.  Another couple came with an enormous jigsaw puzzle which had its own suitcase  – an ideal pastime for rainy days. (2, 3)  All in all there was a steady trickle of visitors to Crabbs Bluntshay during the early autumn, especially in October. (4)  Hopefully the advert sent out during the summer about the site has started to pay off and will continue to influence campers for 2023.

The Farm In Autumn 2022

There was great excitement when Wilbur. farrowed and had 9 piglets.   A week later Gertrude farrowed with 8 piglets.  This is the first time I can remember such an occurrence at Bluntshay as my parents never kept pigs and I'm too young to remember by grandfather keeping any.  The piglets need a heat lamp for the first week or so. (5)  They make squeals of delight whilst they are suckling. (6)   Nelson the boar has his own patch to live on out in the orchard. (7) Do pigs get lonely?

The rams were indoors for a brief period because they needed to get to know each other. (8) Their names are Mario, Ed and Eric.   Alisha's rare breed sheep are now down in the meadow alongside the campsite.  They can stay here for months as their tiny feet do not 'poach' the land as cows would do after a lot of rain.

With ash die back we have had quite a few trees to cut down and saw up.  (9)  An enormous one in the first orchard cracked off near its base and fell over onto 4 apple trees.  (10, 11) The circumference near the base was big enough to make small coffee tables.  (12)  It is taking weeks to cut it up as my handyman has so many other things to do when he comes for 2 sessions a week, but I should have enough wood now until I 'pop my clogs'.

There must have been 25 years' worth of ivy growing on two sides of this barn. (13)   Sam attacked the worst part and found all sorts of paraphernalia under this thick ivy blanket.  When it was all pulled off it nearly made this rather dilapidated shed look quite tidy!

Double Trouble With The New Kittens

My 12-year-old cat Tiger died after quite a short illness about 2 months ago.  (15)  One minute he was bouncing around like his old usual self, meeting me when I got out of the car, and the next he could not even jump up onto the armchair.  I took him to the vet and she said that there was nothing wrong but 2 days later he died! 

I was hoping to have some mourning time for him, but it was decided for me that I should have an early Christmas present of a ginger female kitten.  When I finally decided that it might be a good idea I asked for two female kittens so that they would be company for each other.  I was expecting them to arrive at about 6-7 weeks old but they were at least 10 AND they weren't house-trained! 

I went down with the worse case of flu that I had had in years and really didn't want to have to cope with naughty kittens and hoped to give them back!  Eventually, I got through it and put 4 litter trays behind the sofa and one at the side of it so that they would have some privacy during their intimate moments. 

This did eventually work.  Inevitably they have knocked over two cups of coffee in the last week not causing any major damage but a lot of cleaning up – and my mobile phone still works!  There is very fragile wallpaper hanging off the wall by the sofa  (it was once attached to a wall that has no foundation and no damp course – but still looked presentable). 

But since  'double trouble' has arrived it has been ripped to pieces.  Also, my brand new computer keyboard somehow fell off the table and hit the sewing machine case and I have now lost one foot and the comma key.  Hopefully, they can be repaired with superglue.   I have to save my work on the computer at very regular intervals now for fear of a kitten pouncing on it and sending the screen into a nosedive!

They have had two injections so far and now await the 'major operation' on 13 December so I will not be inundated with kittens!  I expect that I shall get them chipped as well.  After lots of suggestions from friends for names, nothing leapt out at me so I think I shall just be boring and call them Gingie and Tabby.  Only now am I just beginning to like them!

 

River Char Project At Bluntshay

We had been trying to tidy up around the farm and the areas near the yards and the house for months in readiness for this event. 

Fortunately, it was a clear October day with no wind.  One stop en route was the new orchard where the hedge was planted in 2000.  Several people admired the overgrown hedge and its plentiful abundance of berries and rustic charm.  (17)  Later on we climbed to the highest point on the farm to get a good view of the Medieval Marshwood Vale landscape.  (18)  After doing the circular tour we finished at the campers' cabin for tea and biscuits. (19, 20)

It seems that everyone enjoyed the event with Nick Gray and myself giving commentaries about botanical, geographical, historical and many other items of interest.

Pumpkins At Purcombe 2022

When I arrived at this exciting event everything was in full swing with bits of pumpkin everywhere.  Nick Gray and his two daughters (22) had already worked hard to create interesting faces.  Other people were still adding the final touches to their creations. (23) 

Pippa did a marvellous job serving teas and donned her Prof Minerva McGonagall costume for the role.  (24) (You will remember that Prof McGonagall was a professor at Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry).  I presume that she was a white academic witch only working for the good!  

Two young boys were enough to frighten the bad spirits away in their skeleton costumes.  (25)  There were plenty of "cobwebs" around and spooky pictures (26) to add to the Halloween atmosphere.   Edith was even practising with a broomstick to get into Hogwarts. (27)

Coffee Morning And Mini-Exhibition At Blackdown Church

Blackdown church held a coffee morning in September to raise funds for the church. (28)  Helen and Sarah were in charge of the bric-a-brac stall (29) with Evelyn and Edith doing the refreshments and the raffle.  (30)  It was very well attended (31) and the main attraction was Helen Doble's exhibition about Blackdown, Burstock and Broadwindsor Jubilees. 1887-2002.  (32) 

As this coffee morning coincided with the Ride and Stride event, a few extra visitors called in.   The organisers made £300 on the church event and another £100 was donated to the Ride and Stride charity.

Pond Dipping By The Freshwater Habitats Trust

This organisation sought my permission to collect water samples from a pond on my farm.  This was to test the presence of great crested newts DNA (which the animals release into the water). (34)  The sampling was a one-off survey which needed to take place before 10 July 2022. 

The work is part of a new approach to newt conservation known as District Level Licencing.  Essentially this places the emphasis on making sure newt populations are healthy across the landscape as a whole, rather than trying to protect every pond where newts are recorded.

This photo shows Jane taking a scoop of water from the side of the pond. (35)  The water needs to be agitated a little as DNA is heavier than water so can sink.  Sampling needs to be done at as many points around the pond's perimeter as possible. 

Twenty scoops were taken in all.  The scoops of water are placed in a plastic bag with a zip tie. They also sucked up a tiny water sample into two water quality testing kits – one tests for nitrate and the other for phosphate.  The great crested newt generally favours clean water ponds with low levels of phosphate and nitrate.  (but not always).  (36)

Next, the samples are shaken for 10 seconds.  This is then pipetted into 6 test tubes containing ethanol which preserves the DNA.  Each test tube is shaken for 10 seconds to ensure that the DNA is preserved.  They wrote on each sample box which contains the 6 test tubes with a unique barcode and these were sent off to the laboratory for analysis.

It seemed that my pond tested positive for great crested newts which are exciting!!!

Visit To Dawe's Twine Works At West Coker Near Yeovil

This establishment is the UK's only surviving Victorian Twine works with it original twine-making machinery in place and working.  It is an educational tourism and community site which welcomes visitors. 

They celebrate the former hugely important Somerset and Dorset twine rope and sailcloth industries which were built on locally grown flax and hemp.  They have a 100 m 'twine walk' on two levels with machinery that made twine working and driven by a 1927 oil engine.

Over the centuries it was found that the soil found from Bridport on the Dorset coast past Beaminster, Crewkerne and the Cokers to Castle Carey was ideally suited to grow flax and hemp.  Demand for twine rope and cloth made from these crops led to flourishing industries from Medieval times. 

During the heyday of sailing ships in the 18^th and 19^th centuries huge quantities of these products were required and 'Coker Canvas' was the premium sailcloth specified by the Admiralty for the Royal Navy. 

Maritime links with the area are strong.  William Dampier, a first-class navigator, explorer and one-time pirate was born in East Coker.  He sailed with James Cook to "discover" Australia and has a town in West Australia called after him.  Thomas Masterman Hardy, the Captain of HMS Victory at Trafalgar was a Dorset man who went to Crewkerne Grammar School.    

A  twine works was established in the early 1800s by Israel Rendell.   In 1877 John Dawe took over the business using the existing facilities until he built his own works.  The new buildings were completed in 1899.  Later his son Frank Dawe, and his grandson Stuart took over the business. 

They employed up to 30 villagers up until its closure in 1968.  Dawes had become derelict by the time it was compulsorily purchased by the South Somerset County Council in 2005.  Restoration on the buildings started in 2010.  In 2014  an equivalent oil engine was found as a replacement to the previous one. 

In September 2016 the Heritage Lottery Fund approved the grant application enabling the completion of most of the restoration tasks, historical research and the building of the new visitor centre.

Our family history group visited this amazing piece of history last summer.  It was a complete departure from our normal summer visits which are usually to stately homes.  It was really a very informative visit with Ross Aitkin, Chairman of the charity, (37) giving us an introduction and brief history of the site and its developments. 

Angus McPhee, standing behind him is a Trustee.  Christopher Barker, the Chief Engineer, then showed us the large stationary engine which drove all the machinery.  (38)  Later we went to another part of that building and saw how the pulleys were organised for maximum efficiency. (39, 40)

The ropewalk, which showed the twine stretching for what seemed like miles, was ideal – working in the open air but having a roof over one's head in inclement weather. (41)

Our last port of call was a room full of archives, although authentically from another local twine works, which did not hold the records of Dawes (as they had been lost to antiquity).  Val Barker showed us around this Aladdin's Cave of history.  (42, 43)  To round off the visit nicely we had delicious tea in the tea room.  (44)  Lastly I  took a group photo, although some of the members were still hiding in the visitor's centre. (45)  It was truly a marvellous day out.

The charity is run by The Coker Rope and Sale Trust and CIO.  They have recently been awarded the 2022 Community Engagement by the Association for Industrial Archaeology.

Acknowledgements

Chris Barker,  Helen Doble, Amanda Streatfeild,  Nick Gray, Andrew Carey, Alisha Lambert, Jane Nordstrom and Angela Peters.

Comments

 

Loved the story of keeping up to date on the farm, the tale of the naughty kittens (sad about your long time companion) and the history of the twine production. There's one inaccuracy. William Dampier, born Aug 1651, East Coker, Somerset died in March, 1715 in London so he couldn't possibly have been on Cook's 1770 voyage along the east coast of Australia. Dampier travelled along the west coast twice, once in 1688 in the north west and again in 1699 round Shark Bay then via New Guinea to Batavia, Java. His mapping and plant collections were an influence on both Cook and Darwin.
I do hope the kittens have settled down. They can be hard work, especially if you're unwell. I hope you've recovered now.

 

Best wishes
Wendy Davies

 

 

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