South Brittany Holiday Cottage

We have opened up our chicken pen so the chickens can go in with the goat, so they now have a lot of grass for them to go looking for bugs and grubs. We removed the old fencing that was between the two pens, but the goat kept going in to the chicken pen and head butting the fencing to try and get at the roses that are outside the fencing. After just one day we had to replace a fence between the two pens to prevent the goat from making more holes in the chickens fencing. We left a small gap so the chickens can get through but hopefully not allowing the goat through.

Wales done it! who would of thought that at the begining of the 6 nations championships that Wales would win the grand slam. Ireland were the favourites to win it this year but they were outclassed and out played. Not much happened at South Brittany Cottage this weekend apart from spending all Saturday watching the Rugby. Sunday was spent mowing the grass. We have had some great weather here the last few days, and it was so hot I had to wear a hat and the shirt was off while I was cutting the grass. lets hope it stays like this for a while.

We have now got a tow behind sweeper for the mower. I tried one that a friend down the road had, to see if it would do the job of picking up dead leaves twigs etc. and when it done what I wanted it to do I went on the hunt for one. I found one in the local Bricomarche in La Roche Bernard. It looks a bit like an old style push cylinder mower, but instead of blades it has brushes, it then flicks the debrit in to a large collection bag at the bag. And it is really good. It picks up the cut grass, dead leaves, twigs and stones. Well worth getting.

We have got a trailer for the ride on mower now. I was going to have a go at making one using wheelbarrow wheels, but I went into our local bricomarche (diy store) and there was a trailer for the mower right inside the doors, and it was as cheap to buy it than to buy the bits to make one. So I went back got our big trailer and went back and bought it. It has a removable tail board and it tips, just the job.While I was getting the trailer I saw a spring tine dethatcher which tows behind the mower, it scrapes up the dead grass, thatch and moss in the grass, so we bought that at the same time. And after getting them home and assembling them they worked great.On the lookout for sweeper to tow behind the mower now, so we can sweep up the dead grass, leaves and twigs from the land and around the cottage.

I got an RSS feed going for our website www.southbrittanycottage.com Im not to sure about the benefits of an RSS feed but I read somewhere that they are becoming more and more important, on websites. So lets see how it goes. If it doesnt work I can always remove it again.
Rss feed for our site is www.southbrittanycottage.com/rss.xml

I have seen a few small trailers for the ride on mower or lawn tractor on the internet, so i will be looking into the cost of shipping to France from the UK. Meanwhile I will keep an eye open for one heare in Brittany.

We now have broadband at South Brittany Cottage, I forgot how quick it was.... and hear it is 4 times as fast as what I had in the Uk. It really is nice to be able to surf without falling asleep between downloads.

We went back to the shop the following day and picked up the new ride on mower or lawn tractor as they are also called. Its a M.T.D with a 12.5 over head valve engine and around a 3feet cut. So now I am after a small trailer for it. As last summer the apples we had from the orchard had to be collected on an almost daily basis and it was done with a wheelbarrow, which was a little tiring, so a trailer on the back of the little tractor will be great.

I went off with Helena this afternoon, she needed to get horse food, and while we were at the shop I spotted a rather nice new ride on mower. After returning home and chatting it over, we returned to the shop with our trailer to buy it. But we were told that we had to go back again tommorrow to get it, or at least I think that is what we were told. So I will let you know tommorrow if things work out and we get it.