Author: Alan Cole

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Gourmet Dining in Lockdown

Our (now not so) recent culinary experiences at River Cottage and Ynyshir Hall had us inspired to visit some other top UK restaurants. We had planned to visit L’enclume in the Lake District but lockdown put an end to that for a while. We’ve had a few gourmet dining experiences thanks to Ynyshir Hall takeways...

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Hedgehog Nest

I came across a hedgehog nest while preparing the garden for the robot lawn mower. I was trimming back the pampas grass and clearing out the dead, dried growth in the middle. As I did it I thought to myself ‘this would be a perfect place for a hedgehog to over-winter’. Sure enough, the next...

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The perfect habitat for a robot lawn mower

Robots, they are all the rage in our house at the moment. We were a little dubious about how well they would work but the robot vacuum cleaner that we have has been a revelation. It may not be as powerful as an all singing all dancing upright vacuum cleaner, but that fact that it...

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16 Already! Happy Birthday Morgan

Who’d have thought it, Morgan is 16 already. How did that happen? It wasn’t the most of exciting birthdays for him as we were in lockdown and therefore at home all day long. He was also in school lessons most of the day. He did allow us to wake him up a little earlier than...

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The First Hive Inspection of 2021

With temperatures just about getting to double figures, the sun shining and no wind I decided it was time for the first hive inspection of 2021. The bees and been flying for a couple of days. They’d even looked quite busy for a few minutes at one point. I therefore knew that there were at...

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Spring is Here

No doubt it won’t last long, but it feels as though Spring is here. The skylarks are singing, there is a definite dawn chorus and I even saw my shadow whilst walking back from the beach, which means the sun must be out. What’s more, I mowed the lawn at the weekend as well. I’ve...

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The best health and fitness gadgets in 2021

As a society, we have certainly become a lot more health-conscious these days. There is certainly no shortage of information around health and fitness in 2021, enabling people to manage their all-around health a lot more easily and seek new ideas and inspiration as and when they need it.  Another huge factor behind the increased awareness...

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Shrimps by Post

I’m not entirely sure of the ethics from an animal welfare point of view or sending shrimps in the post but it seems to have worked OK. Battling Algae I was getting something of a build up of algae in my planted aquarium so need some Amano Shrimps to help keep on top of it....

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Ynyslas Perfection

My usual morning routine is to get up at around 5am, chill for a while eating breakfast and getting the fire going. I then start work early. After an hour or so of work and as the sun rises I generally wander over to the beach to take a look. It’s nice to grab a...