Restoring the flight of the bumble bee.

As I was at the back door this morning feeding the trio of warring robins whilst trying to explain to two of them (the other one is quite happy with suet pellets!) that there are no more mealworms until I've been shopping, this little stripey fella literally fell out of the sky.

Well it is no weather for bumble bees today, wet and windy, so I fetched a spoon of good old Devon flower honey (from the Quince honey farm, its delicious!) and added a drop of water and popped it near the bee.  He/she (I really don't know too much about bees, is there only the one female?  are all the busy worker ones males?  must do some research...) anyway, he or she found their way to the edge of the spoon and began to drink.

I didn't get a shot of the miraculous recovery but I gently moved the spoon, with bee still drinking, and placed it in the sunshine (when it came out) by the flowers and within about five minutes it had restored it's energy and took flight off into the crocosmia.

So I will like to think that now this little one with return to its busy day and continue to make more delicious honey in the sunshine.

Til next time

Sal.

Breakfast and dinner!

It has been a busy few weeks here in Land Cuckoo with making stock ready for the summer holidays and fitting in some bespoke orders.

I can share with you one of these orders which has now been delivered.

Ashelford Farmhouse Retreat is a beautiful bed and breakfast set in the North Devon countryside.

 I was asked to produce a menu board so their guests could discover their foodie options for brekkie and dinner.  I can highly recommend the smoked trout - I'm lucky enough to live locally and have sampled this already!

 This was a great project to work on, I decided to divert from the standard chalkboard menu type of look and instead found this fab chunk of rescued wood which I painted to look a little worn (not shabby!) and then protected it with a good number of coats of matt finish varnish.

The wood still has the stamp on the end and I liked it that way!

In case you need any accommodation down here in North Devon click here to get to their website.

Right now I am back to the workshop to finish off some more stock for the craft fair over at Lee Bay which is on for the next couple of weeks.

Take care for now, til next time

Sal.