News from Riscombe Farm

On this page we keep you up-to-date with any new arrivals, projects and other news here at Riscombe Farm.

New kittens - May 9th, 2010:
Three kittens were born to Minx. Once more she had been to a high quality siamese sire. The three are beautiful: one white (which will become seal point, possibly seal-tortie) and one a lovely deep brown, a colour called 'havana', and one paler brown (or is that one havana?!).

Three kittens - 2 days old	Eyes not yet open - 2 days old
10 days old - eyes open and beginning to move around a little	10 days old - with mum
Nearly 4 weeks old - now out and about examining everything	Again, 4 weeks old - you can see the lovely mid-brown one here beside the darker brown/black one
You can see the colouring of the pale one here	Getting tired and sleepy

New lambs - April/May, 2010:
Three new lambs born in late April. Born to Mollie (2 black lambs) and Mousie (one white lamb).

Mollie with her two black lambs, plus the other lamb	The lambs, with Mollie, Mousie, Little Dorrit the pygmy goat and Doris

Yet more snow ... and an igloo! - February 18th, 2010:
Another fall of about 2 or 3 inches of snow today - with some of the biggest snowflakes we've ever seen! As it's half term week, we have a lot of children in the cottages and they've been having a great time with snowball fights, building snowmen and a superb igloo!

Great snow for making huge snowballs	The amazing igloo is completed!

A good fall of snow - January 6th, 2010:
Several inches of snow fell last night. Our hens are mostly staying in their houses! The horses are bemused. The roads are a bit tricky. But the place looks lovely!

Looking down on the farm from our woods	The track down from the woods
The horses having a drink from the river	The River Exe looks very pretty!

Chickens & ducks in the snow - January 2nd, 2010:
A little more snow last night, and the hens, ducks and chicks are scratching around for food again.

Mother hen and 10 chicks in the snow	All the hens, ducks and chicks feeding in the snow
Hen and chicks basking in the winter sun	Mother hen and chick on plant

New Guinea Pigs - September 13th, 2009:
Five babies were born to Rosie today. Very sweet and lovely colours.

Proud mother, Rosie, with two of the babies this side of her, one on the other side and two underneath, keeping warm	All five babies with mum's companion, Chloe
Rosie (mum), Chloe & babies at 6 weeks old	A wonderful variety of colours - 6 weeks old, and for sale!

New Kittens - March 11th, 2009:
Minx has had kittens early this morning. The father is an Imperial Grand Champion, so we have high hopes for them.

Minx with her kittens - about 12 hours old	Six healthy kittens at 4 days old
Now 7 days old - and their eyes are open	Lined up at 7 days old
Weaver, our dog, gives one ktten a close inspection!	Again, 7 days old. Where's mum gone?
17 days old ... starting to look a little more grown up	Starting to explore at 18 days old. You can begin to see the colour variations
1 month old. Growing quickly and getting adventurous	1 month old. Keeping warm together.
Oh she's so sweet!	This one is the most adventurous and is now a great friend of our dog, Weaver, whose leg he is resting on.
Kittens in a basket! Six and a half weeks old.

Heavy Snow - February 6th, 2009:
We have had some moderate snow over the past few days, but this morning we woke up to the heaviest snowfall we've seen in the 14 years we've been here. Leone dug out a space for the chickens and hens to come out of their houses (although many are saying 'I'll stay inside thank you very much!'). The guinea pigs needed their pen clearing of deep snow, and the horses, sheep and goat have stayed inside the field shelter, just looking out occasionally! It all looks very pretty though.

View between wood barn (right) and Heather Cottage	Looking down to the river behind Heather & Fern Cottages
Behind the farmhouse	So that's how much snow fell!
The lane down towards Silly Bridge	A garden chair turns into an arm chair!

Christmas 2008 - Little Dorrit arrives:
Brian's mother-in-law, June, gave him a pygmy goat for Christmas! What a lovely surprise. For a couple of years he had dropped the occasional hint that he wanted pygmy goats. Her name is Little Dorrit. She has been into the farmhouse twice and was very well behaved. She's 18 months old and is fully grown, but despite being small, she rules the field and the sheep know who's boss! By the way, these look like black and white photographs, but it's just very frosty ground.

Little Dorrit ... our latest addition.	The horses examine the new arrival over the gate

August & September 2008 - Brian cycled across Australia!
Brian completed his cycle ride across Australia, with his brother, in August and September - more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km). He raised about £3,500 for WaterAid. See all the details and photos on the cycle ride details page.

June 1st , 2008 - New Foal:
In the early hours of this morning Bonnie gave birth to a new foal. It's a boy, and he's delightful! Keep checking this page and we will add new photos of the foal as he grows ... we've named him Brooke, after the charity which supports the welfare of working equines in the world's poorest communities, for which Leo does a lot of fund-raising. Mrs Sue Lanz kindly donated the stud fee to The Brooke charity.

Bonnie's new foal ... just a few hours old	Having a rest after the exertions of being born!
Still only a few hours old and standing proud	... and is feeding well
About 14 hours old .. still feeding	About 14 hours old and very active
About 14 hours old and Brooke is already jumping around	About 14 hours old and mum won't leave Brooke's side
Two days old	Two days old ... nice pose
Two days old, with mum following him everywhere	Two days old ... and Brooke is very inquisitive
Six days old, relaxing in the sunshine	Six days old, catching up with some sleep
Six days old, looking fine	Six days old, enjoying the heat

May 9th , 2008 - New Kittens:
One of our cats, Minx, has had 3 kittens today. Two boys and a girl. All well. Keep checking this page and we will add new photos of the kittens as they grow.

Three new born kittens: 2-3 hours old	2-3 hours old - All sleeping after their exertions!
One day old	One day old - the first born & biggest!
One day old - becoming active - but still with eyes closed	One day old - clambering over mum
Nine days old - mum still being very patient. Their eyes are open now.	Nine days old
Nine days old	Ten days old
Seventeen days old - she brings them through to the living room	Nineteen days old - and beginning to be cute and active!
Four weeks old ... their first adventure into the outside world	Four weeks old. Playing in the sunshine.
Five weeks old	Six weeks old
Eight weeks and hungry!	Eight weeks old
Weaver decides Morgan doesn't taste nice!	Where's my Mum?
Am I not the cutest?	Morgan aged 12 weeks.

End April, 2008 - New lambs:
Two of our ewes, Molly and Mousie, had three lambs between them this year. All are well, except Mollie's one lamb, Baz, who is a bit slow on learning to suckle so we are topping him up with powdered ewe milk from a bottle..

Three new lambs, Bing, Baz & Bong	Mollie with her new lamb, Baz

April 22nd, 2008 - Exmoor Foal:
It's that time of year when the Exmoor ponies on the moorland are having their foals. Whilst walking on the moor yesterday (a beautiful day), Brian came across a mare with a new foal. A lovely sight.

Exmoor pony mare and new foal	Looking sprightly, but only a about 2 or 3 days old!

April 16th, 2008 - Chicks & Ducklings:
This week Brian looked out of the kitchen window and saw one of our hens leading 12 black chicks out of our barn. This was a pleasant surprise! After taking a few photos we put them in a nice safe chicken run to protect mother and chicks until they are bigger.

Also, we put 6 of our Indian runner duck eggs under a broody hen (none of our ducks were broody at the time), and she sat patiently for 4 weeks. The result was 5 lovely ducklings which will be raised by mother hen!

Mother hen and 12 surprise chicks	Five Indian runner ducklings hatched and being raised by a hen!
Three weeks old now ... ducklings bigger than 'mum' !	Three weeks ... do you think she suspects something!

May 2007 - Bluebell Wood:
Our wood is looking lovely at the moment - a wonderful spread of bluebells beneath the oak and beech trees.

Bluebells in May at Riscombe	Wander up through our bluebell wood

A Harrowing Experience! (May 2007):
Our daughter, Alice, harrowing the fields having just dyed her hair for the occasion!

Scary new hair colour!	Good job flattening the molehills

Early April, 2007 - A new lamb:
A new lamb, named Lloyd, was born to Molly and arrived earlier than planned!

Lloyd, our new lamb	Just like his mum!

Saturday, July 8th, 2006 - A Foal is Born:
We are very proud to announce the arrival of 'Moth', a foal born at 2am to Bonnie. Mother and son are very well. Just to make sure that the she was there in case there were complications at the birth, Leo had brought Bonnie into a stable each evening, and then slept in the adjacent stable ... much to the amusement of the village, especially as it extended to 9 nights in the end! He is called Moth, because just before he was born our daughter, Alice, was the playing the character Moth in Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost".

'Moth' born at 2am on July 8th, 2006	Thinking about standing up!	In the field with proud mum

Look at me, I'm 12 hours old!	Three days old	Three days old, with Weaver our lurcher

Two weeks old - not so skinny!	Two months old and his colour is changing (with Maxine - Leone's sister)	Moth at 9 months old, April 2007

July 2006 - new chicks and ducklings:
We've now got 5 Indian runner ducklings and 12 chicks in three broods.

Indian Runner ducklings	Ducklings exploring ... those long necks help in the long grass!	4 of the 5 with mum

New chicks	Do I look different from you?