With the yurts closed down for the Winter, we have a few of our calves keeping warm out at the Dutch Barn! These comprise a mix of ‘followers’ which are young Heifers that will eventually join our milking herd after they have had their first calf in a year or so, and a few Angus calves that will go on to be sold at market for beef once they’ve grown up a bit and had a nice spring and summer out on the grass 
Here is a pic of our 1 year old, William, inspecting them while they feed on their maize silage.
They will likely be out there until April, so any yurters coming in the next few weeks will have a chance to say hello
Out reasonably early this morning loading the last of the 60 acres of straw we’ve bought from a neighbour, which will be used for cow bedding over winter.
Well we are almost at the end of our first summer season, and it’s been fabulous! We’ve met some lovely couples and families, who have loved our yurts as much as we do We’ve been delighted with how popular we have been, and really hope we can build on this for next year.
Speaking of next year, we have lots of ideas, such as building a clay oven, perhaps adding a couple more yurts to the neighbouring field, and adding the option for yurters to pre order BBQ and breakfast packs, to name just a few!
In the meantime, I thought I would share a few pictures of comments from our guestbook – we’ve loved reading these on changeover days, and especially love it when we get a lovely drawing too!!!
It’s been a busy week farming wise, with the 3rd cut silage and the wheat and corn harvest underway! We’ve had a good cut of silage, which we’ve baled up to make silage bales for the herd’s overwintering food supply. Here are a few pictures of the hay bales from being baled, brought back to fields closer to the farm, and then finally being put into the black silage wrapping
If you look carefully at the pic on the bottom left, you can see the top of two yurts! 
I’ll try and get ou t and get some pics of the straw bales later, too!
After a summer of busy yurting, our resident doves at the Dutch Barn have clearly not been disturbed by the comings and goings! I spotted these two fledglings sitting above the woodpile yesterday, watching me making up the yurts for our midweek yurters So sweet!
We are delighted to have been ‘reviewed and approved’ by Karen at fantastic family travel directory – Away with the Kids!
Have a look at our review here Away with the Kids – Somerset Yurts
Thanks to Karen for such a lovely review – we are really chuffed you loved your stay in one of our yurts
New to Somerset Yurts this week, are four lovely chickens! We plan to have these lovely girls available for you to hire during your stay at the yurts, so you can wake up to fresh eggs for breakfast
They are just settling in over the next couple of weeks, and as soon as they start laying eggs they can be your neighbours! In the meantime, we are enjoying getting to know them, they really are rather endearing.
From left - Silver Sussex, Light Sussex, Blue Maran, Cuckoo Maran.
We’ve stumbled upon a brilliant company that can deliver local Somerset produce!
If you would like to order some food in for your holiday at Somerset Yurts, you just need to order before 9am on the Tuesday before your stay, and they can deliver on the Thursday or Friday before your arrival. We are happy to receive the delivery and put it away for you – just let us know that you have ordered
Certainly beats having to face a busy Supermarket while on holiday!
Click here to visit Somerset Local Food
We received our lovely new Dutch Oven this weekend, and couldn’t wait to test it out!
Mark made a small campfire and we hooked it all up ready to brown off some sausages for a little stew. I must say it was lovely to be sitting al fresco listening to the oven sizzling away – more relaxing than a BBQ somehow. I love one pot cooking, and the Dutch oven seems the ultimate ‘one pot’! This is an 8 litre one, and can cook for up to 11 or 12 people, so plenty big enough for a good feast around the campfire
After about an hour of cooking, our stew was ready, and it was delicious. Can’t wait to try out more recipes, so we can share them with our yurt guests!
Campfire all set for the Dutch oven
Add ingredients!
Cooking on the campfire!
Time for a play while the stew cooks
The finished stew - yummy
Last weekend, Mark and I took baby Will for an afternoon out to the coast We thought we ought to start visiting some of the local things you can see and do near the farm. As we have tickets for the West Somerset Railway available to purchase at a discount from the farm, we thought that would be a good place to start!
We picked up the Steam train at Bishops Lydeard, a short 20/25 minute drive through lovely countryside from the farm. It all felt very Harry Potter-ish waiting on the platform for the train! Once on the train, we definitely felt like we were on our way to Hogwarts! The train is lovely and old fashioned, and much comfier than the horrible modern ones I used to take to London back in my corporate life! The journey takes you through some stunning countryside on the way to the North Somerset coast – plenty for children to spot, with sheep and cows dotting the landscape.
We decided to get off at Watchet as we were getting peckish and were hoping to find some fish and chips! You can go all the way to Minehead, which we will do next time, and I have heard that Dunster and Blue Anchor are also lovely! I think we’ll make a day of it next time to see a bit more
Definitely recommended for a family day out.
Will's first trip on a steam train!
The harbour at Watchet
All aboard for Hogwarts!
