Blog

Long or short, historical or scenic Walk this way with Ald white craig cottages. Our cottages can cater for singles couples or families, we accept pets so bring your waggy tailed friend with you.

Walking the roman wall or the Pennine Way we are ideally located and can arrange pick up and drop off to finish and start your walk.

We will provide a continental breakfast pack or packed lunch on request.

What better than getting back to the comfort of your cottage and being able to relax on our patios, why not have a barbecue enjoying the peaceful surroundings or help feed the chickens ducks goats and YES emus.

Well, I say emu fun. however, the emus are causing quite a stir, we had great fun chasing our Cagney and lacey up and down the shield hill. they are now safe and sound back in their enclosure. poor old lacey was quite traumatised by the whole affair, but following a visit from the vet she is much improved and back to her old self

Well who could believe it our emus escaped. Wandering down the shield hill without a care in the world 

Oh dear me who would have thought we would be living through these awful times, but never mind things are starting to get better.

So, Dave and I are getting ready to welcome visitors again. We are determined to provide a safe environment ensuring social distancing is possible. Every cottage will have it's own cleaning supplies for visitors to clean as they go. Then a deep clean by myself and my team to provide a save visit for next guests.

Each cottage will have it's own designated outside space, so please come back to the wonderful Northumberland countryside and let's move forward together.

All the animals can’t wait to meet you all. We have a few additions as in 4 runner ducklings (many thanks to our runner duck Bart for all his hard work!) and we have chickens sitting on eggs so hope to have lots of baby chicks for you to see too.

We are hoping to have a little pets area set up where the children can feed and pet our smaller animals. Dave, Paul and I are working hard to get this set up...

The biggest lock down project has been the painting of the planters so hope you all approve.

Please come and visit soon cos we love and miss our visitors.

Any concerns, just ring and ask questions. Hope to see you soon

Susan

The 10 little ducklings who hatched 3 weeks ago are going from strength to strength. Growing in size and eating us out of house and home. Today they will be taking their first steps into the big wide world from their safe haven of the stall in the barn. They are already trying to follow us out of their enclosure now. They are wonderful to watch. We will soon be taking the lamp away and mixing them in with the rest of them.

Meanwhile, the chicks and ducklings we moved out of the “nursery” 2 weeks ago are also thriving. The chicks are of a size they couldn’t be classed as chicks any longer and the ducklings – well, they are a force to be reckoned with. So much so, we have called them the SAS. They go around in a little pack, marching out across the fields and leading the other ducks and hens astray. They have worked out where we live and are almost knocking on our door if we don’t come out when they are ready to go to bed/have their evening meal! Georgie – the duckling we brought in with us for a few weeks when they were younger - she is the ringleader!! She now has one webbed foot in each camp – she leads her little motley crew but whenever we are near her, she will come up and tug at our leg to get our attention, letting us know she is there and will happily be picked up for a cuddle!

The rest of the animals are all doing well – the bunnies (Boudica & Chester) and guinea pigs (Salt & Pepper) are all settled and happy; the goats (Denbar & May) are still as stubborn as ever; and the horses are great. The horses and pony are owned by nearby neighbours but we will be having more to do with them as the nights draw in, and will also be helping with training the little Shetland – Luna – to pull a little cart.

So, all exciting here with our extended animal family.

Sue & Barrie

Last week we decided that the 10 Indian runner ducklings – although they were not even a month old – would be ready to get out and about. So for a couple of hours each day since then, we have been letting them out. The first few times they all stayed together, very tight knit and needed to be coaxed out. By Wednesday we just left the stable door open for them to come and go if and when they wanted to. For hours they stayed in the nearby enclosure with the goats. But the next time we looked out, they weren’t there. They had found their way down to the pond/little lake with all the other ducks and hens. We reckon the SAS (the Muscovy army/ducklings) had come and got them to recruit onto their team! They were having a ball in the water and amongst the reeds. So much so, that when dusk came and it was time for everyone to go to bed, they stayed where they were. They just weren’t interested in coming away from the water. No amount of bribery or coaxing from me, Barrie or Drake could budge them. We kept going out to them throughout the evening, in the pitch dark, but no, they stayed where they were, quite happy. They might have been happy but we weren’t. They were used to sleeping under a lamp during the night and yet here they were, having been outside for most of the day already, wanting to stay out under the stars. It wasn’t a particularly bad night, but it was such a contrast to what they knew, and they were still babies. We had to resign ourselves that they would be out for the night and hope that they would be ok. We just prayed that they wouldn’t freeze to death or succumb to any foxes or anything. We had a sleepless night.

Next morning, we went out with bated breath and there they were, where we left them, near the water, none the worse. I am sure they looked bigger and taller, and more grown up! And ironically, having spent hours trying to coax them into their enclosure, or at the very least to go in with the others that previous evening, the following morning, they had easily found their way back to their own place and were happy and snug by the afternoon.

Since then, it seems they have learned their lesson from staying out, and they go out in the morning, happily mix with all the others, play in the water, forage for whatever, and then toddle back to their enclosure by mid afternoon where they know they are safe, and can sleep under their lamp at night. We are so proud of them.

The rest of the farm inhabitants are all doing well. The SAS still go out on their manoeuvres throughout the farm each day and the rest happily do their thing.

On Sunday, Barrie will be taking Star to the local church for Remembrance Day. He did this when we were in Devon and this will be the first time here in Northumberland.

Sue