Harvesting is in full swing and the wheat has now been combined around our farm. Arthur filled our barn with straw this afternoon which is a relief as the talk is that straw is going to be in short supply, so it's great having a good supply for the coming season.
On Saturday it was Blakesley show, which is one of the few truly traditional country shows left. It's a great social event and you see people at the show that you haven't seen since the last one. Doug has his 'Greener Pastures' stand there and we always have a good group of people partaking in a few 'refreshments'. After that we went to Stuart Morris's retirement party - He was a very successful amateur jockey who had a bad fall last season and has decided to retire and concentrate on training horses. He is also a master of the Pytchley so he will be busy. Judy Wilson who has a number of horses in training with Nicky Henderson (including Punchestowns) has put all of her point to point horses with him as Bill Warner (her pt to pt trainer) has decided to retire - they are all lovely horses and she has had tremendous success with them in the past, so he should have a great season and we wish him all the best in his new career. It was a great party, but as we had had a busy day at the show we rather wimped out and (unlike us!) didn't stay until the end.
Yesterday, we had a restful day and in the afternoon I took the dogs for a really long walk around the estate and past the grass gallops towards Culworth - it was absolutely beautiful. We still can't believe our luck having found this place. It is just pure heaven.