May 2013

Hiya, folks, sorry its been a while since i updated my Blog page, i dont know where time goes, the year flys by so fast.Welcome to all our new guests for 2013 and a big hello and thankyou to all our previous guests. 2013 has been a busy year so far, lambing has now finished with a really good lot of lambs, (20) 5 (caddy) lambs with no mums,these lambs are bottle fed and are very tame, 3 of them are little North Ronaldsay(seaweed eating sheep) they came on the plane from the island of North Ronaldsay. Black Diamond our shetland pony had a lovely foal called Ebony, Our very old pony Puzzle is still with us and is loving having a little foal around. 2 New additions will be joining us on the croft on friday of this week, Rosie and Cotton which are a mum and baby pygmy goats, their pens is all ready and waiting for them. Sadley we lost our lovely dog Brakken eairlier on in the year, he is a great miss. keep in touch with us on our facebook page, their are lots of photos of the animals and news of what is happening on the croft.

Sorry everyone, the blog has been neglected for a while, i promise i will try and keep it updated, we have just had the shows, our little miniture shetland Eddie won the shetland pony championship and Bertie came in as the reserve, so we are very proud of them. The duck and drake section we won the best waterfowl and reserve best waterfowl along with soem other 1sts, 2nds and 3rds. The baby North Ron lambs are growing well, they have just come off thgeir bottles and are now learning to live with the other sheep. We had a chicken hatch off 3 babies yesterday, they are all doing really well. Lots of baby ducklings this year. The hay bales are all safely stored for the winter. We have 3 baby budgies and 3 more just hatched, all different colours.The cottage and caravan are now starting to get quiter, so we are offering reduced prices for longer lets over the winter time, just phone or email us for details.

Pentland Ferries Office Opening Hours Pier Rd. St Margarets Hope Office St Margaret’s Hope 7am-5pm every day of the week Orkney and 7-6pm in peak season KW17 2SW Gills Bay Office Head Office: +44 (0)1856 831 226 9am-6.30pm every day of the week Booking Line: +44 (0)800 688 8998 and 8.30pm to 7.30pm in peak season. Gills Bay: +44 (0)1955 611 773 Fax: +44 (0)1856 831 697

may 2012

hello, from The Slap, sorry its been a while since i updated the blog, been busy with lambing and getting all the farm jobs done. The lambing is nearly finished only petal left to have her baby, im hoping it dosnt come today as we have snow showers and its very cold. We have 3 little baby North Ronaldsay lambs that are bottle fed, they are 1 week old, they are growing like mad and up to all sorts of mischeif. All the ponies are doing fine and Yes Puzzle the old pony is still on the go, getting more grumpy as she gets older, but her health is good.The potaotoes have been planted and the rest of the veg will be going in next week.Baby ducklings in the incubator are due to hatch next week.

2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL, WE WELCOME YOU TO OUR CROFT DURING THE YEAR OF 2012, THE SHEEP ARE DUE TO LAMB AT THE END OF APRIL, THE SHOWS TAKE PLACE IN AUGUST (A GREAT TIME OF YEAR TO COME) ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COTTAGE OR MOBILE HOME, PLEASE JUST EMAIL, CATHERINE AND FAMILY X

FREE

DOES ANYONE FANCY A WEEKS FREE ACCOMODATION, IN EXCHANGE FOR SOME GARDENING, EMAIL FOR MORE DETAILS

special winter offer

special winter offer for The Slap, £200 per week from now 29th oct- 1st march 2012

Petal the lamb

more orphan lambs

we now have 6 baby orphan lambs, there mums have died and a local farmer knew that we would look after them, so he dropped them in by, their names are jeffery, chandler, joey, ross, anna and polly, all lambs are doing really well.We have got more ducklings hatching in the incubators, and the newly hatched ones are growing like mad. Black Jack the new baby foal is now 2 weeks old and is a little monkey, he gives his mum quite a hard time and she spends most of her day following him around the field to see what he is up to.The sheep are all now home and are due to have theri babies anytime after the 15th may, so that will keep me busy.The grass is really growing in the fields now so we have to ewatch that the ponies dont eat too much as it can make them quite ill.We now have our tatties planted, onions in and over the next couple of weeks the carrots and neips will be going in.So busy days at the moment.

new babies

2 baby orpan lambs arrived on our croft last night, their mum had died and a local farmer did not have the time to care for them, so they came to live with us and all the other animals, they are called polly and anna. 1 baby duckling hatched yesterday a long with 3 baby guinea fowl. Our new foal, Black Diamonds Black Jack of Ruemuera(Jack for short ) is doing really well and enjoying all the attention from poeple stopping at the roadside taking photos of him.

foal

Diamond has just had her new baby foal about 1 hr ago, still cant get close enough to see if its a boy or girl yet, will post as soon as i know, both mum and baby are doing fine

spring

hello to everyone from The Slap, sorry ive not updated the blog page since Newyear,its beeen a busy winter.Now that spring is here, i promise the blog page will be updated on a regular basis. The grass on the croft is at long last starting to grow, we have been spreading sand and manure on the fields to encourage the growth of nice lush grass.Yesterday we had our first baby duckling hatch in the incubator, and 2 baby quail followed last night,We have a chicken sitting on a nest of eggs they should be due in the next couple of weeks. Daffy duck is also sat on a huge nest of eggs.Diamond the black shetland pony is due to foal any day now, she is huge.All the other ponies are doing really well after a long horrible winter, even Puzzle our very old pony is feeling good, she had her feet trimmed last week and it seems to have given her a new lease of life. The sheep are due to have their lambs in the middle of may so a busy time ahead. Have a lovely easter weekend.

christmas greetings

All of us humans and animals from the Slap self catering cottage would like to wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year from a very cold and snowy Orkney and look forward to seeing you next year in the better weather.

do you fancy a week in ORKNEY

WE ARE OFFERING FOR THE WEEKS OF DECEMBER A SPECIAL OFFER OF £150 PER WEEK INSTEAD OF £250, THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE CHRISTMAS WEEK, JUST PHONE OR EMAIL FOR DETAILS

Ferret

Domino the ferret turned up home today, he seems to have had a great time on his adventure, he had a nice full tummy, and just wanted to climb into his nice warm bed, and now hes sleeping.

Weather

This week has been the most wonderful week to see the Northern lights, the sky has been lit up, with lots of different colours. Friday last week Domino the ferret escaped out of his cage, at the moment the whole of our island is keeping a look out for him, hes proberly having a great time up on the heather hill catching rabbits and not in the slightest bit worried about what he is putting us through, i will keep everyone updated.

STUFF

Today has been really horrible gale force 9 winds, i was supposed to be on the plane to Aberdeen but after 2 hours bumping around on the Kirkwall runway and not getting any where, it was decided to get everyone off the plane as it was not safe to fly, by now it was 11am and the plane should have left at 07.40am, all planes were grounded so i gave up and came home, but first i had to get accross the barriers, they had huge waves comming over. I am now booked to fly next thursday(i will get my christmas shopping) All the sheep and lambs are now wormed and toe nails trimmed ready for the winter, the ram will be going in with the females on 1st dec so this should make our lambs due on 1st may 2011. Snow flake and Diamond the shetland ponies are due their foals in March and April of next year.

November

Gosh its cold and very windy, the churchill barriers have been shut since 09.20am and only opened at 15.40, gale force 9 winds, not nice!! We have 2 new additions, 2 lovely little fluffy chicks, they do not have names yet. All the other animals are fine, Iam just getting Puzzles winter pony coat cleaned ready for her to wear, she will not be happy as she does not like it, but with her been so old she needs some extra protection.Vinnie has been in trouble again, last night, he got into our christmas stash of food that i have been gathering up, he ate a giant jumbo bag of crisps, a lovely mess of crips wrappers every where.
Today we are getting all the sheep and lambs in as they need to be wormed and given their vitamin boosters for the winter,plus lots of toe nail trimming(lovley) the sheep will then be moved to new fields and mum and babies seperated, so their will be some noise for a few days.

october Its cold !!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a very cold week, tuesday and wednesday morning has seen snow on the Hoy and Orphir hills, yesterday morning the snow came down to lower levels, so winter is well and truley here. The ponies coats are already looked out ready to get on them as soon as their coats are dry.WE have started putting the winter food in the fields now for all of the animals. Their big shelter in the field has been bedded out with straw to keep them warm at nights.The cold has not stopped Vinnie(dog) taking his morning swim in the duck pond(yuk!!!) he comes back every morning all smelly and then has to be showered, which he does not like, i dont think he will ever learn.

october

i am now back from my holiday in the sun, it was a lovely break, and my suntan is already starting to fade. The animals have all been spoilt rotton by Tony and Tula who were staying at the Slap looking after the croft and animals while i was away.On the way home from my holiday i stopped off in Aberdeen to go to the Shetland pony sale. There were many lovely ponies and foals and i could have taken them all home, but as i only have room for 1 more pony, i bought a lovely little 8 yr old skewbald (brown and white) mare called Snowflake, she is 33inch in height. Snow flake came home on the boat from Aberdeen on tuesday night. Wednesday was a big day as Snowflake was introduced to all the other ponies at the house, Erland the little foal has fallen madley in love with her and follows her everywhere.
October is a busy time of year as the lambs need seperating away from their mums, all the animals need their feet trimming and worming before they are all moved to their winter grazing.When i get a photo of Snowflake i will add it to my blog.