Here’s our own #10YearChallenge. Can you spot the difference?
Wheatland Farm in 2018, images chosen to show the same scenes.
OK, there’s a little cheat. The old images would have been taken in April 2006. They are from an estate agent brochure, and spring flowers in another picture of the farmhouse garden suggest that’s the most likely month. Our more recent images are more like June, and they’re last year, so 12 years not ten. But you get the general impression. A little over a decade of management for wildlife and Wheatland Farm is looking good on it!
Last year, tree creepers nested under the eaves of Otter Cottage, and the sparrows always love the covering of ivy. So do the bees. The lodge field is managed for wildlflowers and butterflies, bringing in clouds of swallows and house martins in summer. The fence in front of Beech, Nuthatch and Honeysuckle Lodges has gone, giving guests a better connection with the meadow. And the field in front of Balebarn Lodge has gone from a slightly poached horse paddock to a lovely place to stroll, complete with the Wheatland Farm wildlife pond where we found 13 species of dragonfly and damselfly last year.
Oh yes, and the insides of the holiday accommodation have had some serious upgrades too. Balebarn Lodge, for instance, didn’t even feature on the estate agent blurb as it was a cow shed in 2006.
So most importantly, THANK YOU to everyone who has stayed at Wheatland Farm over that time – your holiday has made all the difference.