Max and Paul's Excellent Adventure

A three-hour drive east brought us to the outskirts of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The owners welcomed us and introduced us to the animals we were to look after over the next 3 weeks. It seems we have our work cut out as the pets include 8 ducks, 6 Alpacas, 3 chickens, 2 dogs and 2 cats. The only thing missing is a partridge in a pear tree! The house is of an 'Oast' design that incorporates cylindrical sections used many years ago to dry hops for beer brewing. A fire was lit in the lower central area and heat travelled up and released from the flue at the apex of the 'cone'. The flue has a wind vane that rotates to chase wind direction Royal Tunbridge Wells has many dwellings that incorporate Oasts. The view from the back. The Oast ground floor sections comprise of (L to R) Dining room, Bedroom 4, and Music room. The upper floors are Bedrooms 1 to 3. One of the first-floor bedrooms situated in an Oast 'cone' The pets have been wonderful. Stanley is 4 years old and fo...

We had a night to fill between sits and booked a room in Salisbury to break up the trip to Shaftesbury. There was a couple from Sweden staying in the same house who, we got on with very well. So much so that we all went out for dinner that night and the chatter never stopped. What gets driven home to me indirectly is the fact that most people in Australia have a command of one language whereas in Europe, residents have two or 3 languages under their belt and, it's not uncommon to have more. The next morning we made the 1 hour trip to Shaftesbury which was the first sit we've done on a working farm. The family were there to greet us and we were given the brief on the place. What we realised here is it's so quiet. Normally we hear a freeway in the distance no matter how rural we thought we were but here, we have a beautiful silence... Tilly  Allan's Farmhouse The Cornfields They farm beef cattle and sheep and grow corn and barley using the rotating crop field method   The...

The owners came home at 2am on the morning we were to leave Grangecon at 5.30am. It's weird leaving a place, knowing the family is sleeping in the home as we quietly exited without saying goodbye. Of course, we communicated later in the day to debrief. All went well even though Tilly was apparently walking around looking a bit depressed for a couple of days! We arrived at Rosslare at 7am and caught the ferry back to Fishguard on the west coast of Wales. Our next sit was in Burgess Hill on the following day so we stayed a night near Bournemouth, where the bathroom was bigger than the rest of the space. 🤣 The next day, we caught up with someone we knew who used to live on the Sunshine Coast who now resides in the New Forest area. We had a nice lunch with him and his two children and then ventured on to Burgess Hill to meet the owners of 'Archie' at our next sit. It was a hot day with the temperature in the car reaching 35 degrees! It was only a week or two before we realised...