First storm Bert visited the UK but that did not effect Pembrokeshire at all really. The Welsh valleys bore the brunt for that one. It was a totally different story earlier this month with storm Darragh. Winds up to 140-150 km per hour wipped accross the county over two days. We still went out on the Friday evening before the full blast hit the county and then we battened down the hatches as much as possible, and only assessed the possible damage late on Sunday. It turned out we were very lucky, especially considering the amount of buildings and land we take responsibility for. Some loose things were a bit blown about and two very heavy plant pots blew over but stayed more or less in place. The main damage was to the roof of the greenhouse and that took us two days to repair.
A bigger job is still awaiting us as several large limbs from enormous Leylandii came down, on our drive, in next door’s field and on the playground. We will have a well stacked log store after that. They say wood keeps you warm three times: cutting, chopping and burning. We would add a fourth one: carrying the logs up(hill) to the woodstore, stacking them, and clearing away all the brushwood.
Friends and neighbours of ours were not so lucky: roof damage, car damage, fence damage and what have you. As our neighbour John said “the wind really gets to me nowadays, the one real drawback to Pembrokeshire” and we have to concur. If you have never lived near the roaring atlantic in winter time you probably would not know what it can be like around here. Exciting, dangerous and annoying at the same time. We were glad that although stormy, we in Walwyn’s Castle did not have much rain so our misery was at least not compounded.
Winter however is not only about the trials of the weather, it is also of hope. This morning we noticed that the first daffodils are popping up their heads on the premises. We have several varieties on site creating a succession of flowering from late December to well into June. Just short of a fortnight before the days start lengthening again.
Our chooks also know Christmas is just around the corner so they very obligingly have restarted laying – not all of them yet but enough to keep us in eggs! Wishing everyone a lovely Yuletide in the company of loved ones.