What a beautiful day we’ve had on the Quantocks today – rather chilly, but fabulous blue skies and plenty of sunshine.
I had a wander around the farm this afternoon, armed with my camera, to try and capture signs of Spring. I didn’t have to look very far! The garden pond is absolutely crammed with frogspawn (or it could be toadspawn – not quite sure!). Snowdrops have been out for a couple of weeks now, but still going strong. I also couldn’t resist a trip to the calf shed, where numerous new additions to the herd at Hill Farm can be found, looking all fluffy and lovely on their straw bedding
We have an exciting couple of meetings coming up over the next few days to progress the planning – so we’ll update you as soon as we have more news!
Spring at Somerset Yurts
Filed under: General — Tags: Spring — emma @ 5:55 pm
All the snow over Winter has led to a couple of fallen trees on the farm. An Ash tree, in a field called Gotton Down near the planned yurt field, is one such tree that had succumbed under the weight of the snow!
Keen to make sure the wood doesn’t go to waste, we have been busy chopping it up for the yurt’s woodburners. Hopefully this pile will be ready to use this Autumn/Winter, as Ash dries out quite quickly
We’re really pleased – we’ve been featured in a Visit South West article on the Guardian website – there’s a “mini-site” detailing some of the great attractions down here in the South West and we’ve been listed as one of their top Eco holiday destinations.
Last weekend Mark and I made our way to London to collect three new yurts freshly imported from Mongolia. It was so exciting to see the different colours of the doors and roof poles, and we can’t wait to get them up once we have some spring weather, and the planning application approved!
In case you are wondering, the colours are green, orange, and red to add to our existing blue yurt. Orange is the traditional colour that most of the Mongolian yurts would be painted, so we were keen to make sure we had a properly authentic orange one! red is seen as a holy colour, so it will be interesting to see what sort of vibe this yurt has. Apparently green has no real meaning, but does set off the elaborate hand painted patterns very well, being a darker colour. We also think the green will fit very well into the countryside setting.
Along with the yurts, we ordered some authentic Mongolian furniture to furnish the yurts with, and they look fantastic. We think they will really add some character, as well as providing some useful storage and seating
We’ve also updated our bookings page to reflect that we are not yet in a position to take bookings, but we’d still love you to fill in your details so we can let you know our launch date as soon as we know it! Plus, we’ll send you a money off voucher as a thank you!
So, if you haven’t already done so – go and fill out your details here and be one of the first to know when we launch.
The Yurt has certainly seen some extreme weather since we put it up in September – including gales, hard frosts, and now snow and prolonged freezing temperatures! This weekend we headed back to Somerset, thanks to the well salted motorways, to stay in the yurt and to see how it was holding up in the snow. I was delighted the snow had stuck around for me to photograph, and we couldn’t believe the icicles on the back of the yurt! Amazing.
I was rather dubious about staying in the yurt overnight, but with the woodburner stacked up with some well seasoned oak, lots of sheepskin rugs on the floor, and a warm blanket on the bed, we were absolutely fine.
We look forward to welcoming guests no matter what the weather now!!
Over the Christmas period we had some extremely cold weather and hard frosts, but we didn’t get any snow We are back in Reading at the moment with a seriously heavy snowfall outside, and wish we were back in Somerset to see the snow on the yurt and get some nice pictures… oh well, hopefully it will stick around until the weekend when we’ll be back again.
A quick update on planning progress: We are still progressing well with the planning application, having now engaged with an Architect to help us draw up plans for the facilities. We also expect to collect three new yurts towards the end of this month, which will go into storage while we prepare the site and facilities over the coming months. All very exciting!
Anyway, here are a couple of images taken over the Christmas period. We are working on a gallery page too, so you can get a better feel for the yurts and the farm.
With our first yurt having now been up for two months, and three more yurts on their way, I thought I would outline how and why we decided to choose authentic mongolian yurts.
Ever since we decided to set up yurts at Hill Farm, I had authentic yurts in mind. There are so many different options, all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. Modern designs have excellent weatherproofing and a more contemporary feel, but for me, they seem to have something lacking. After several months of researching online, and a few visits to various places, we made up our minds to go for Ulaantaij yurts via Yurts Direct. There are many yurts being made in Mongolia and China, but not all meet the high standards or have the ethical credentials that Yurts Direct offer.
Our reasons for choosing yurts from Ulaantaij:
Designed and constructed specifically for a European climate.
Ulaantaij believe in the right of every person to a job at fair wages, with dignity and justice.
A percentage of all sales go to support Mongolian based charities.
Constructed using ethically sourced natural components and modern materials.
Yurts are painted or carved with traditional Mongolian designs.
Ulaantaij have exported yurts to the West longer than anyone else, so we felt confident that we were in good hands!
Once we had our yurt in place, we knew we had made the right decision, as we were (and still are!) blown away by its beauty. It truly is a magical place to spend time in, and everyone who has stepped into our yurt has exclaimed ‘wow!’. It has also withstood some seriously strong gales, and heavy rain over the last couple of months, so we feel more and more confident in its ability to endure all that the English weather can throw at it!
We can’t wait to collect the next three. We have opted for green, orange, and red painted designs, so it will be interesting to see how they compare to the light blue one, which has a really calming and peaceful feel to it.
Another great weekend spent in the yurt – rather blustery, but we worry less and less now about stability, as it is still standing despite some serious gales this winter! We love the new wood burner, and have quite happily been boiling the kettle on there for coffee, and cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast. I must try warming milk on there next week for some porridge, as it’s not doing my diet much good! Delicious though
We also spotted the most beautiful rainbow on Sunday afternoon.
This Saturday Mark and I entertained 13 people in the Yurt! It was a belated party to celebrate the arrival of our first Yurt at Hill Farm.
The weather was pretty awful – rain, rain, and more rain fell most of the day, but our new wood burner (a “Henry” from Windy Smithy) did a great job of keeping the Yurt warm and dry – so much so in fact, that some of our guests had to keep stepping outside onto the decking to cool down! We served Chilli con carne, kept warm on the wood burner, with lots of crusty bread, nachos, salsa, and sour cream – yum!
It was a great night, and comfortably housed us all. The next day the Yurt seemed huge with just the two of us in there!
I think the next party might involve mulled wine on the wood burner, and some mince pies!
We are back in Reading at the moment with a seriously heavy snowfall outside, and wish we were back in Somerset to see the snow on the yurt and get some nice pictures… oh well, hopefully it will stick around until the weekend when we’ll be back again.
