Summer in the Coed y Berclas gardens

June 2020

Still quiet here at Berclas! We had our daughter staying for 7 weeks, which was lovely but she has now left to start work as a new doctor. Our eldest son has swapped being an airline pilot for being a volunteer delivery driver for a food charity, we are really proud of them both for their different contributions in these times.

We’ve spent plenty of time outdoors, and despite being on a learning curve when it comes to gardening we have been stunned by how amazing the garden is looking this year. At the moment the peonies are fabulous and the water lilies are exquisite. We have all sorts of fruit appearing. In the orchard there are apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, plums and sloes to which our cottage guests are very welcome to help themselves, and elsewhere we have figs, raspberries and tiny wild strawberries. All organic of course! The herb garden now has (possibly) the world’s largest sage bush, along with rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley, mint and borage (the cucumber flavoured flowers and leaves of which are a classic accompaniment for your Pimms). We’ve added a fantastic sage pasta recipe to the welcome file to encourage its use!

We’re not sure if we’re just enjoyed being outside more in the last few months but the dawn to dusk birdsong has been spectacular this year. Our resident blackbird has been making his presence (and territory) known, and we have been entertained by our family of buzzards who live in our woodland beneath the house. We’ve had a super busy family of blue tits in the cottage bird box, mum and dad flying in and out non stop all day feeding the young. We have seen plenty of jays, thrushes, sparrows, wrens and finches. In the wildlife pond the newts are thriving and we experimented by adding some tadpoles into the mix a few weeks ago, so we’re waiting to see if they mature.

We have been working on our Covid procedures for when we reopen, and will let guests know before they arrive how our cleaning regime will be enhanced, and what we would ask of our guests to minimise chances of transmission.

Hopefully the end of this isolation is in sight and we are really looking forward to welcoming our guests back in the next weeks and months.

Jane and David