Self Catering Holiday Accommodation on Orkney

Time to book your Orkney self catering holiday accommodation at North Wald.

Around Orkney

It is that time of year again when people start browsing through literature and the web looking for holiday ideas.  I, personally,  have always preferred self catering holidays as I feel that they allow much more flexibility, especially when doing as much sight seeing as there is to do on Orkney. Having had a large family, by today’s standards, self catering holiday accommodation was also a no brainer.

It always amazes me how people can be organised enough to even begin thinking about summer holidays at this time of year. I find it hard enough to get my head around Christmas never mind looking as far ahead as summer. I know, and I am now extremely grateful, for the fact that people do book a this time of year, as we are already getting bookings for our accommodation coming in. This year even more than last.

I also know that I am biased but I would happily stay in North Wald Cottage at any time and I am sure, if you read the reviews on www.selfcateringonorkney.co.uk, you will understand why. I can even recommend North Wald Caravan, having stayed in it ourselves when family were visiting. We will do our best to make sure you do not have to find room for the chickens and ducks, or the occasional tup that may visit. I should also like to say that having lived here for three years now, and spoken to many guests, I can honestly add you will never see it all in one week. For this reason alone many of our guests return, some even year on year. Perhaps you should seriously consider a two week holiday.

So if you are thinking about taking a summer self catering holiday on Orkney (and why wouldn’t you), then please have a look at our website. I am sure you will want to book at North Wald, Self Catering Holiday Accommodation on Orkney!

Am I so gullible?

“Hello. Mrs Park?”

“Yes This is Mrs Park”

“We are calling with regard to your land line at North Wald Cottage”

“I don’t have a land line at North Wald Cottage”

“Sorry? What? I am talking to you – is that Mrs Park?”

“Yes this is Mrs Park”

“We are calling with regard to your land line at North Wald Cottage”

“I don’t have a land line at North Wald Cottage”

“But you are Mrs Park?”

“Yes”

“Ok, about your land line at North Wald Cottage”

“I don’t have one”

“Is this number yours?”

“Yes, but it is not the number for the cottage. The cottage doesn’t have a number”

“Ok I will talk to you”

“Yes, you are already talking to me.”

I am mean, but I couldn't resist it.

The conversation then went along the lines that they were working with the government in a scheme to stop nuisance calls from sales and especially Indian call centers (I do suspect due to the incredibly bad English, hard to understand accent, and general background noise, that I was somehow connected to one such centre). It had been reported to them, not by me, and I was ignored when I asked her to clarify by whom, that I was getting a number of unwanted sales calls.  They were the CPS – Call Protection Service working on a government grant and I would be receiving a blocker in the mail in the next few days. I was to insert this blocker between my phone and the wall box to prevent unwanted calls. All I had to do was pay a small installation fee, and a monthly fee, to them to cover their costs.

Strangely enough I hung up on her.

I wonder why?

Is this a scam? Let me think!

I don't know how daft people are but does this sort of scam really work?

I actually got this through the post this morning!

And another one bites the dust.

Little Chick

Such a shame! Another one of the 15 chicks had chirped its last chirp. 

All three survivors were missing this morning and I suspected one was missing yesterday as well but became distracted with other things and forgot to look for it. I found it this afternoon underneath a bush in the back garden. No obvious sign of injury so I don’t know why it suddenly gave up the ghost. It was the biggest one as well, which makes it even odder. I had thought the littlest one was a little under the weather and would not have been surprised to have found it lying feet up.  I did a search of the grounds and eventually found the other two little ones, in the long grass, on the other side of the drainage ditch, by the caravan. They did not come in for either feed today so I am not holding out much hope that they will survive either.

On the up side…They must be feeling happier about the new hen house as egg production is going up. There have been about seven a day for the last few days. We sent every last egg we had away with Iain and Sam just a week or so ago and, even after a few egg meals, we already have another three dozen sitting there. Eggs for tea again! Redhead is still laying behind the oil tank! Daft chook. She is laying almost an egg a day though which is pretty good for a home bred chicken.

The sheep leather had been sadly neglected over the last couple of weeks. I simply have not been able to stretch it and pull it about and it has just been sitting in the porch. I decided to give it a good stretch today and was pleasantly surprised at how supple it has become. It was so much easier to stretch. I suspect that the moisture content of the air in the porch, now winter has arrived, has a lot to do with it. I had wondered if they were too dry to stretch properly and had sprayed them with water a few times, but the oils had just prevented the absorption and it had mostly run off. 

Where on Earth...?

Keeping an eye on things

I got a fright last night as I was getting ready for bed. It was just after midnight and I had decided against watching “Walking Dead”, mainly as I am a scaredy cat and prefer watching scary things in the daylight. Years ago I would never even have dreamed of watching such stuff but I think my children are a bad influence on me. Anyway, as I sat down on the edge of the bed, something winked at me from just under the edge of the chest of drawers. I didn’t have my glasses on at this point and assumed it was a bit of silver paper of some similar thing glinting in the light. So on went my glasses so I could check it out.  I jumped out of my skin when I saw what looked like an eye glaring up at me. Now I was feeling a little squeamish at this point as I know the cats have been bringing in various creatures in different states of disassembly, although mostly whole to be honest.  I steeled my self expecting who knows what and reached out to pick it up. I half expected it to be cold and slimy. Well it was cold but it turned out to be a glass eye stud, I can only assume, from some toy of some sort.  I have to admit to being a little perplexed and unsettled , to say the least, as I went to sleep. Stranger still, this afternoon  I asked Sam and Iain and it seems none of Alexander’s toys are missing an eye and neither is Sadie’s toy puppy. So where on earth it came from I have no idea!

Playing Cat and Mouse

I saw a mouse!

As I mentioned the cats are bringing in more and more rodents at the moment. It started out with mostly voles, then mice and then baby mice.  They seem to kill the adults straight away but like to play with the young ones. A real cat and mouse game. They let it run away then pounce on it. If it stops then they slide towards it and you can almost hear them meowing “Oh come on…I’ll give you a head start”. Then they pat it’s behind or give it a nudge. Last night Lily brought a young mouse into the bedroom and proceeded to play with it. We think it got away under the bed as she was in there for hours hunting for it. Then during the night first one then the other of the cats were haring about the house in hot pursuit of something. Really annoying when trying to get back to sleep after having nightmares about disembodied eyes coming out of the woodwork and staring at you. This morning there was no sign of mice, dead or otherwise, anywhere to be seen. Then this afternoon one appeared in the kitchen running out and back from the side of the fridge. We watched it for a while expecting one of the cats or the dog to snatch it up. None of them obliged us. What do they think their job is? Eventually we realised that it was probably blind as it ran out into the middle of the floor and then came straight towards us as if we were not even there. Frankie simply picked it up and it sat there quietly in his hand. In shock I suppose. Oh well at least it is no longer in the house and being subjected to Lily’s games.

Fresh Veg again

The weather has improved along with my health and, with the water levels finally receding enough, it is now safe to dig tatties again, with out a crane on standby to heave you out of the mud. Frankie dug up a whole load while I harvested some carrots, onions, turnips, swedes, sprouts, cabbage and leeks. It was so nice to have fresh veg for tea again especially with slow roast South Wald lamb shoulder.  Loads more left for later in the week as well.

A New Guest?

A Runaway Ram who came for a visit.

Our Guest

We had a short visit from an escapee this morning.

One of Neighbour’s tups  decided to check out the accommodation available in the caravan. We knew some sheep had been moved this morning as we had taken Sadie in so she wasn't tempted to help out in any way. I am sure the Farmer would not have appreciated her joining in.

Once we thought he was sufficiently far enough away we carried on with the task in hand, which was to move the cage, with the five chicks, from the porch to the hen house. Just as we rounded the corner of the building, with the cage swinging precariously between us, Hubby called out to me to look up and ahead. I was busy, gingerly watching my feet, afraid of snagging my foot in a tussock of grass again, or catching the cage on my wellies, and falling flat on my face and having a cage full of chicks and chicken poop landing right on top of me.

There he was, in the small yard area at the back of the caravan,  feet planted firmly down and facing us, just daring us to get closer. Not wishing to add to my current collection of bruises I promptly packed Hubby off to let the Farmer know he was minus a tup. I must admit he didn't move much (the tup) except for turning around a bit, we just stared each other out for a while.  Hubby thinks he must have thought he was in a pen of some sort.

He is now safely ensconced back home and none the worse for his little adventure -  I hope.

Chicken Brained!

Can we come in please?

I despair of those chickens. Obviously they have a memory longer than a week. I knew that some of them were staying out at night but it turns out it was more than I thought.

Out of curiosity we went out tonight to see just how many were roosting in the new hen house. Not that many! I did manage to pick up one that was roosting near the oil tank and threw it in with the others. You should have heard the noise. You would have thought I had put a fox in there. We then searched for the others. Ant and a few of his old girls were in the Peedie Hoose, but I couldn’t see any in the bushes or behind the little hen house. That was until I leaned over and shone the torch directly into the entrance. There were most of the others, all huddled up leaning against the wood we had blocked the entrance with.  I felt we had no option but to go in and open it up for them. I am not happy about this as it leaks like a sieve, but it is still shelter of a sort. I am not going to replace the nest boxes though as I don’t want them going in there during the day. Back to square one I suppose. I will need to order some more supplies and perhaps, if I can get them back into the new house, keep them locked up longer.

The ducks seemed to miss the chickens, when we locked them in, and even went off their food. They just seemed depressed and sat around the garden not even grazing much. They perked up when we let the chickens back out and things seemed to be getting back to normal. Now they still don’t seem to be feeding much from the feeder but they are grazing in the fields a lot. I am worried that they are going to the splash pond in the back field which was seeded with barley by the shooters last year. They spent so much time there I was convinced they would get shot. Maybe they have just remembered. They are also flying around a lot more than usual and as they are so bad at landing gracefully we often have one or more limping about for a while. This afternoon Sid and A. N. Other decided to perch on the kitchen window and kept rapping on it for ages. It wound Sadie up no end, which agitated the cats. I was ready to have duck for dinner, I can tell you.

Thor is alive and kicking and currently staying on Orkney!

Well Thor was certainly making his presence known last night. We had an almighty thunderstorm with incredible thunder and lightning.  The lightening even took out a power pole in Rendal. We had a number of small cuts last night as well but nothing major. At one point we must have had a ground strike nearby as there was a flash followed by a loud bang from the kitchen and then all the power went out.  We checked out everything in the kitchen when the power came back on but could not find any thing blown. Frankie eventually found it this morning. It was the phone. The base unit and the splitter were both blown. I imagined finding the polytunnel a twisted, melted, wreck this morning thinking perhaps the lightening had struck it but thankfully it is OK.

About a month old now.

I have turned off the heat light for the little chicks today. I do feel a little guilty about it but as they are bigger and better feathered than the three that are living outside they should be fine. A couple of days with out the heat lamp and we will move them to the new hen house. I will still keep them caged for a few days so that they can be seen and heard by the other chickens, then, when I let them out they should be accepted. Here’s hoping.

Here we go round the Mulberry bush – I hope not.

Well winter has arrived at North Wald Self Catering on Orkney

The Oyce from North Wald

 .......and it is certainly a cold and frosty morning out there!

I was more than a little worried about the hens last night as it was so cold. If I had thought that they were all tucked up safely in their new hen house then I wouldn’t have been so worried, but fat chance of that.

 After spending over a week in their new quarters we decided that it would be OK to let them out into the wide world again. Partly as I was worried about the lack of greenery and grit in the diet while locked up.  So Frankie duly created an opening for them and let them out. Would the little darlings go back in that night. No! He and Iain tempted and cajoled them but only a few were willing to go back. All the other hen houses had been blocked off so there was no where else, with the exception of the Peedie Hoose, to go. They weren’t in the Peedie Hoose. We can only assume they nested overnight in the bushes.  

The next morning quite a few were in the new house waiting for their breakfast so that was at least one step forward.  Night came and this time even less of the hens would go into the house. I was really worried about the three little chicks, the only three left of the fifteen. One of them was sitting huddled by the caravan on its own as the mother has now decided they are old enough to fend for themselves. I managed to get behind it and guide it towards the door and thankfully it jumped in. Frankie found the other two in the long grass by the drainage ditch. We did try to chase them out towards the house but they managed to get deeper in under the thickets of grass and simply disappeared. The next morning all three little ones were in the house waiting for breakfast.

When the snow arrived last night I was really worried I would find a row of hens frozen in a line, perched in the bushes this morning. I was also dreading having to round them all up and get them in for breakfast. Gratefully the majority of them including the three little ones were inside and waiting impatiently to be fed. Phewww. No ready frozen chickens in the garden. I did however find one sad little sparrow, frozen solid, on the gravel outside the tool shed. Poor little thing.

Deaf as a post!

Now I am a little deaf – quite literally. 

My Grandpop used to refer to me, playfully, as deaf, dumb and daft, as he’d clip me round the head with a rolled up newspaper. Maybe that’s why I was deaf, dumb and daft! Anyway this morning I have managed to miss both the dustbin men and the coal man. I heard neither of them and that is amazing considering the noise the dustbin lorry makes as it reverses back and forward and manoeuvres it's way out of the yard. I was very worried that the coal man had not arrived as we are running short but when I went out to feed the ducks there was a scrap of paper stuck to the feeder.  I picked it up and looked at it and it had “two bags of Columbian” scribbled on it so I knew it must have been from the coal man’s pocket. I cursed myself for not hearing him and panicked about running out of coal before next week. 

Then I went into the byre to check the door was securely bolted in this wind. Big surprise the coal was there! He must have let himself in the tool shed and opened the byre door. At least I hope so or he would have had a long walk round with all those very heavy bags of coal. But all the slates and bricks used to block the bottom of the door were still in place so it is possible he went the long way round. I just can’t believe I missed two great big lorries arriving and departing. I was just sitting here in the living room with no music or TV on so you would have thought I would have heard them. I must be deafer than I thought!

It's nice to be loved!

Well that’s me another year older. Wish I could say wiser.

It was a nice surprise this morning to find even Google wishing me Happy Birthday and giving me a special home page. Nice touch Google! It never dawned on me when I moved to Google Chrome that they would do that but I really shouldn’t have been surprised.

Happy Birthday from Google

A few years ago I did not even want to join Facebook but the fact that people kept asking me if I had seen such and such a picture of this, or that, grandchild made me set up an account. I was still not overly impressed once I did join. I was amazed, even stunned at times,  at the trivia and inappropriate things that people posted. It took me a while to get used to it and to learn how to switch certain aspects on and off but I got there. What I did love was the feeling of being connected to people again. Not only close friends and family but friends you had not seen in years and more distant family members that suddenly became much closer. My Birthday bought a special treat last year and again this year. It really does warm your heart to receive so many good wishes. Thank you one and all.

I am still not convinced about Twitter. +Rene Looper  at +Tuminds Social Media  advised us to join as part of a social media presence for +North Wald Cottage and +North Wald Caravan , but I am still not convinced. I suppose part of the problem is I really do twitter (twitter on – as my parents referred to it)  and not Tweet. Tweets are far to short for me. I can’t get my head around saying something important (if I ever do) in such a short number of letters!  I will try to get used to it and I am sure I will eventually. Hopefully before Rene get fed up of the mentions.

There is not much to report on the goings on of life here. The weather, and a blip in my health, has meant that not a lot has been done this past week. One thing I have noticed is how the colour of the egg yolks is already changing. The yolks are normally such a deep golden yellow that when you bake with them any one eating the cakes would be convinced you had put a whole load of yellow colouring in them. Now after only a week locked indoors with no access to the grazing the yolks are significantly paler. I need to organise some greenery for them and also some grit and calcium or we won’t be getting any eggs at all. I have loads of eggs shells dried off ready to be recycled for the calcium, and there is a beach full of grit, and more calcium, in the form of little shells just a short walk away. I also have a garden full of very green, if very waterlogged, cabbage, cauli, sprouts, turnip tops, carrot tops etc etc, so I am sure I can get them some of them to nibble on. Hopefully we can restore the golden glowing yolks in no time at all.

Animal farm.

Ducks

The weather has been so wet this week and I have been so involved in getting the new web site running I have not had much chance to do anything outside. One thing I did do was to put my wellies on and squelch my way into the garden. I had to try and do something about the water that was constantly streaming through the hedge and turning the back grass into a complete bog. 

The ducks are loving every minute of it but are slowly destroying the lawn as they dig for worms and bugs in the mud. The chickens are not so keen and although they paddled through the water at feeding time they prefer to avoid it.

So I grabbed a spade and dug a trench along the side of the hedge to try and divert the water to the gravel and away from the grass. This was not easy as it was difficult to lever the clumps of mud away from the sodden ground but I eventually got it done. It does seem to have made a difference as the grass is slowly beginning to drain, even though more rain keeps falling all the time.

It has created a small stream running down the gravelled area but at least this seems to be soaking away. No matter how much drains away the level of water in the back garden does not seem to be receding. I think that a new drain into the ditch at the side is needed. I am not even sure how to set about this but if I don’t do it soon I think I will lose all my winter veg.

Sheep

It was a lovely day today, we even watched a female Hen Harrier hunting in the field out front.

We also had our first experience of rolling a sheep! It had got stuck on it’s back in the field and was unable to right itself. The Postie was worried and told us about it so we took a walk up to see if we could help.

I managed to fall flat on my face in the process. I simply caught my foot in a tussock of grass and before I knew it I was stretched out with my face in the mud. I can’t remember the last time I fell over but I am sure it won’t be my last.

Good job Hubby was there to haul me to my feet. He was very good and managed to sound genuinely concerned. Not a titter crossed his lips. I was just relieved that there was no one else around to see. I am sure that the sheep will tell no one, as one of them was already in the same predicament.

and Chickens

We finally decided today to see if we could get the hens into the new hen house. Earlier in the week I had been trying to gradually tempt the hens closer and closer to the door of the new hen house, and even inside with a few handfuls of food scattered about. On day one the little chicks refused to leave the bushes. On day two I got them as far as the car. Day three they came onto the main drive. Day four onto the grass nearby the new hen house. This was going great!

Then this morning I determined that with Hubby’s help we would get them all inside. Not that easy. What else did I expect? I shouted the hens and most of them turned up – not the little chicks though. With me inside calling, and Hubby and Sadie outside herding, we shepherded most of them in, while managing to keep the ducks out.

We swiftly locked them in and closed off all the other hen houses so the remaining hens couldn't get back in. Raymond hung around for ages but try as we might we could not tempt him inside. Bridie was the same. The little chicks and their mum were firmly ensconced in the bushes and nothing was going to tempt them out. We tried again, twice, during the day and the only thing we achieved was to let one back out, for a short while.

We then decided that the only way was to let them back in the roosts and catch them at night. This also was not as easy as it sounded.

The first one was Bridie, she was relatively easy as she was in the coal bunker. All we had to do was block the door open the lid and scoop her up. Done. Into the hen house with her!

Next was one of the old girls. One of the Vorweks had managed to avoid us this morning. We looked everywhere but couldn't find her. Eventually we found her perched high on the wall in the lean too house. We tried to put a towel over her but she fought free. I then tried to catch her in Hubby’s fishing net (well it might as well get some use). She managed to evade us and got out the door through Hubby’s legs. Finally with Hubby shining a torch in her eyes, to dazzle her, I managed to catch her in the net. Done. Into the hen house with her!

Next Raymond. He was on the perch in the little hen house and after a game of Ring around the Roses we caught him. Done. Into the hen house with him!

A little Polish Hen was next. Boy could she move fast but we did it. Done. Into the hen house with her!

Finally the mother and her chicks. We decided to take the mother first which was not too difficult as she was so desperate to protect her chicks she didn't move fast at all. Done. Into the hen house with her! Now the chicks. Well, if I thought the Polish hens moved fast, it was nothing compared to the chicks. It was crazy! We dashed back and forward, throwing towels, swishing a kids fishing net about and looking like complete idiots.  One done. Two done. Three done. Into the hen house with them!!!

I am not sure now if that is all the hens or not. Tomorrow will tell. I suspect that there may be one little polish hen still at large but if so she must have been in the bushes.

I will keep them inside for the next couple of weeks, to get accustomed to their new surroundings. Barn eggs, not free range, for a while. Meanwhile I will gut out and close off all the other hen houses with the exception of the Peedie house where the ducks go at night. Hopefully this means I can now keep them locked in on a morning until they have laid and before I let them out to forage. This should increase our chances of getting the eggs and mean less hens sitting on nests in the bushes.

We live in hope.

Googled Out

I can’t believe how busy I have been this week. Normally when it is wet and miserable (On Orkney?  - Really ?– I can hear you thinking.)  I am stuck inside twiddling my thumbs and feeling very frustrated. Not so this week. I have been completely occupied with the new web site and trying to get my head around my “web presence”. I have been on Google, Google +, Google profiles, Google pages, Google Maps, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster, Google this and Google that and I am now well and truly Googley eyed!!

I always knew that the web would be extremely important for a self catering business like North Wald so I spent a couple of weeks tracking down any, and every, website that I could advertise on, so I could get North Wald out there. I did keep a spreadsheet of all the places I advertised on so you would think it would be a simple case to get them all updated with the new web site and email address. Ha! I wish. On some North Wald had just vanished. On others no matter what I tried I could not log in. Another insisted it had to call me before allowing changes (at least they cared). On top of that there is now a multitude of sites on which I never actually advertised but that have scraped my details from the web. I am still working on tracking all these links down but I am slowly getting there.

It has been quite a while since I have been so deeply involved in IT so much, so that so it is no longer referred to as IT. I had forgotten just how intense it can get. It is no wonder I am having problems sleeping, when I close my eyes all I see are web pages swimming around in my head. Pretty appropriate with all this rain!

Sleepless in Seattle (North Wald)

A Beautiful Sunset over the Oyce at North Wald on Orkney

To Sleep.....please.

It was one of those nights last night. 

No matter which way I lay, left side, right side, arms in, arm out, leg in, leg out, sleep would not come. As I lay there contemplating the meaning of life, the eternal soul , and what you could possibly do with all the fluff from the tumble drier filter if you saved it up for a year, it dawned on me that had I possessed a smart phone, an ipad, a Hudl, a megaphone, or even jungle drums, and if, for some strange reason, they had been to hand right then I could have let the world know of the unfairness of my predicament at such a late hour.

The most infuriating thing about not being able to sleep is when your nearest and dearest is snoring away by your side, oblivious to your situation. Even Sadie was snoring. It was not one of those rolling, thundering, deafening snores that made you wish you had earplugs, but just a gentle “I am fast asleep” type of snore. I was so jealous and so annoyed by it. Now I know I snore, it’s a family tradition.  I am sure that I have annoyed Hubby with my snoring on many occasions, however, last night I would have given anything to have been snoring my head off.

I lay there and attempted to empty my head and relax, all to no avail. So many thoughts kept popping in to keep me company. I finally decided that if I was still awake in fifteen minutes then I would get up, make a cup of hot chocolate, relax and sip it slowly, while wrapped up in a fluffy dressing gown sitting  in front of the fire…... Ok five more minutes and I am getting up……. I have had enough of this now and I am definitely getting up…… Soon. …… Zzzzzzzzz

Can Potatoes Swim?

Well that was a surprise. When I looked out the window this morning all the water in the yard had almost vanished.  I had not expected that at all – not considering the amount of rain that continued to fall last night.

I wish I could say the same for the garden. I was is desperate need of some potatoes for dinner tonight and had to wade through a foot of water to get into the garden.  I made the mistake of stepping onto the soil and promptly sank so deep I thought I might be stuck. I had an image in my head of wading back through the water in my socks, while behind me the tops of my abandoned wellies would just be visible above the mud of the potato bed. I did manage to dig (if that is the correct word to use perhaps “scoop” would be better) a few tatties , so wet they were almost pre washed! They still made great chips.

Poor Sadie does not like all this water. At one point yesterday she jumped out of the door onto a slab that was above the water level and stood there whining. Today she was a little better and waded through the water with me. However she was filthy by the time I got back to the house and had to suffer the indignity of having her paws cleaned before I would let her in the kitchen.

Autumn Storms

The Storms have arrived here with a vengeance.



The wind howled around, and the rain hammered on the windows, all night. 

I knew there would be some standing water this morning but didn't expect it to be quite so bad as Christmas last year. The yard was under a good few inches of water and parts of the garden are submerged almost entirely. We had even cleared out the drains in anticipation of a winter deluge. The small drain we cut across the entrance last year was still working so things could have been worse. Even parts of the polytunnel are flooded although the patch at the back has held through yet another gale. Hooray for that at least. 

The poor hens in the roost have a small river running through the entrance way. Six refused to leave and had to be fed inside. I was worried about a few leaks in the new hen house I am setting up but it is far dryer than the roost is right now. I just wish I had got them in there before now.

Sadly Ginger has lost all her three chicks. One didn't cross the road fast enough and was run over by a marauding duck eager for food. The other two seemed to be doing well but, being a young and inexperience mother, she left them exposed far too long in the bad weather today and they succumbed before we noticed. We did try to rescue them and warm them through but it was too late.

The five chicks we are rearing inside (I know - I'm soft) have been relegated to the porch. They provided far too much competition for Hubby when he is strumming away on his guitar and they can out sing anybody.  They also outgrew the box they were in.  I provided them with a large cage to run about in but, naturally,  they prefer to pile on top of each other in the last two inches of the cage. They did not dare venture from there for the best part of 24 hours. It was only when I moved the food and water a little closer that they plucked up (sorry) the courage to move away from the light. I can’t believe how fast they are growing compared with the ones outside. They will be fully feathered in no time if they continue to grow at this rate.

More rain due tonight I think – fingers crossed it is not too bad. God job Hubby has left his boots in the porch, he will probably need them to get out in the morning.

New Beginnings

Where do I start?

This is my first official blog although I have been doing a blog of sorts on Facebook for over a year and a half now.

I want to tell you about all aspects of my life on North Wald. The good the bad and the ugly.

First some short details about who we are and what we do.

My name is Mary Park and in my previous life I was an IT professional. I moved to Orkney with my husband, Frank, three years ago and I am loving every minute of it. We live at North Wald, a seven acre small holding on mainland Orkney, about half way between Kirkwall and Stromess, the two largest towns. I am biased but it is such a beautiful location. I can honestly say that I am never bored. There is always so much to do. The garden occupies a large amount of my time and provides us, and sometimes our guests ,with a large amount of fresh vegetables. We have a number of chickens and ducks ,which provide eggs and meat, and also a great deal of comic relief.

We also host self catering accommodation on North Wald. North Wald Cottage, a two bedroomed, self catering, traditional Orkney Cottage, and North Wald Caravan, a self catering, two berth static caravan.

Hopefully I will get the knack of this quickly and life on North Wald will unfold before you.