The new year is here, in-fact as I type it’s the 6th of February. Already time is flying as we gallop towards a busy Spring here at Honour Farm. Whilst we’re still only cultivating from our family walled garden, plans are in motion to finally get a move on with work out on the field, ever working towards the goal of growing our first flowers from there in 2025.
For this to happen, we first need to get a handle on our unruly parcel of land. We are unfortunately entirely at the mercy of the deer population here, therefore we’ve been unable to start any cultivation in the field so far. Along with the mountain of work we’ve carried out on the house and walled garden we've admittedly not had the physical or financial capacity either. If you follow along on Instagram you’ll have seen we’ve recently introduced two assistants to lend a hand, Penny and Soane, our beautiful Ryeland x Valais sheep! They are already diligently grazing away, helping us to maintain the grass ahead of the deer fence being erected later in the year.
But this is year 2 at Honour Farm and things already feel to have kicked off much further forward than this time last year. Firstly, now we live on site in our half finished house making land work much more accessible and sustainable to fit in.
Secondly, our son Magnus, who is now 3 can you believe, has just started a nursery/preschool. So for the first time in years I have the space and time to really crack on with the land project. This was always the plan, to increase work flow gradually until he eventually reached the stage of starting primary school (Sept 2025). So, we’re on track guys and this new stage of development is unfolding nicely.
Before Christmas I planted a further 25 or so bare root roses, expanding our collection of scented garden roses. More shrubs have gone in the ground around the walled garden and I’ve got my work cut out to finish the deep back boarder in time for our guests this summer.
We’ve got a box of 60 alder bare root trees I keep staring at (trained for hedging) that need going in to the ground to start creating the framework for the flower field. In good time providing some wind defence and a natural screen from the graveyard. I’ve recently split over 200 dahlia tubers and put back into storage, prepped for planting late Spring and seed sowing is now well under way.
Our most exciting news is that we’re hoping to get a garden workshop built and in situ by the end of April! Finally a place designated for preparing our flowers for weddings. This is what i’ve been dreaming about since moving here and with a very busy event season a head we’ve decided to make this a priority. In between events this space will serve as a space to welcome couples to discuss flowers, as well as host our small, group workshops. You can find out more about what workshops we have available this year here.
As the months continue to progress, i’ll make sure to swing by here and give regular updates. My camera is permanently at hand as shoots emerge and the years cycle progresses which I can wait to share with you.
Hattie x