It takes two to shift this.
“This” is a cider mill apple squashing/squishing/juice squeezing wheel. Those who have assiduously explored the site and avariciously absorbed the history of the cottage will recall it was a resting place on the “drover’s trail”. A service station on the cattle (and geese, and sheep) motorway from the Pembrokeshire coast to the markets of London and Birmingham. Around 1750 to whenever. The enterprising owners charged one halfpenny per five head grazing fee, and ran a cider house to quench the thirst.
No longer a cider house, the wheel makes a hurricane proof base for the rotary drier; a private place for the privates. Don’t have one at present as it didn’t survive the last named storm and old-age and it went out on the last skip.
The cockchafer or the ‘doodlebug’, a nickname later given to the V-1 flying bomb of WWII…
The time is late afternoon, the date is early May, after some heavy rain and…
Our wild flower meadow and orchard is a riot of colour and activity from the…
and the Turkey is already fat! But rather incongruously she is in the garden! Not…
One swallow does make a late Spring. Today, 25th April, bang on target, they have…
It’s ready. It was a deadline to not miss. The cleaners have been in, the…