Upcoming
Events
See Website for
full details!
June 10th & July
8th
Local
Lunches
§
June 17th, July 1st
Knit &
Stitch
§
June 19th - 21st
Intro to
Beekeeping
with Dave Wiscombe
§
June 20th
Bat
Night
with
Jan Freeborn
§
June 20th
Natural
Culinary Kitchen Retreat
with Theresa Webb
§
July 3rd - 5th
Yogadamba
Retreat
with Tori, Dory and
Debs
§
July 12th - 17th,
Sept 13 - 18th
Garden
Work Weeks
§
July 25th
Moth Night
with
Alan Kenard
§
Aug 10th - 15th
Wyld Theatre
Week
with Jacqui Kirkland
§
Sept 11th - 13th
Wild Food in
Autumn
with Clio Wondrausch
§
Sept 18th - 29th
Intro to
Permaculture
with George Sobol
§
|
Comings &
Goings
Please
join us in wishing sincerest
thanks and the best of all to
come out there to Amy, Sue, Ste
& Zoe, and Estibaliz,
who've moved on since our last
update.
And a
warm welcome's surely due to
Stephen, the volunteer we just
can't seem to shake.
Finally, we
welcome your suggestions for
names for the Indian runner
duck couple who moved into our
garden this
Spring.
|
Help Us Spread the
Word!
We're
always looking for like-minded
people, groups, businesses and
publications who might be
interested in a little
reciprocal info-
sharing.
Let us know
where you
would like to see Monkton
mentioned, or better yet, take
some brochures and fliers away
with you the next time you stop
by!
|
Sophie's
Recipes
Creamy Mushroom and Thyme
Tarts
When I
was a student we used to make
vegetable tarts all the time as a
quick cheap dinner. All you
needed was a pack of ready-made
puff pastry and a few roastable
vegetables (anything from peppers
& courgettes to parsnip and
carrots) and hey presto,
dinner! I made these
recently for a local lunch and
like I said above I made my own
flaky pastry, but you can use
ready-made puff pastry
instead. Though if you have
the time making the pastry too is
fun and gives a certain sense of
achievement.
I think
half a block of bought puff
pastry will be enough for 4
modest tarts, but let your
appetites be the judge. The
topping should be enough to go
round, but if not just slice up a
few extra mushrooms and stir
through the finished
thing.
Any
leftover mushroom topping is
lovely stirred through pasta or
added to a
risotto.
A glug
of oil, a knob of butter or a
mixture
1 onion,
finely chopped
2 cloves
of garlic crushed
450g
Chestnut or other tasty
Mushrooms, half chopped small and
half sliced thickly
A
handful of fresh thyme, leaves
picked and chopped
A few
porcini or other dried mushrooms,
rehydrated and
chopped
A glug
of double cream
Salt
& Pepper
Half a
block of ready-made puff
pastry
Beaten
egg or milk (for
glaze)
Preheat
the oven to 220°C. Heat
your oil or butter in a saucepan
and fry your onions gently until
they are soft and
transparent. Add your
garlic, stir well then add all
your mushrooms and continue to
cook gently until the mushrooms
are soft, you might want to put
the lid on to help them on their
way. Now add your thyme,
the porcini, the cream and a good
grinding of black pepper. Stir
well. If it looks a bit dry
add some more cream. Allow
to simmer for a few minutes until
it's nice and thick. Taste
and season as needed. Leave
to one side.
Now roll
out your pastry until it's about
the thickness of a pound
coin. Cut into 4 even
pieces. Place on a greased
baking sheet. Score a
square in the middle of each bit
of pastry leaving about an inch
border. Score a crosshatch
into this border bit. Brush
the top of each sheet with either
milk or egg and then using a
slotted spoon pile some of the
mushroom topping in the middle
square. You want to avoid
having too much liquid on the
pastry, you don't want mushroom
juice running everywhere as this
will just burn when it goes in
the oven and make your pastry
soggy. When they are all
ready bake in the oven for about
20 minutes until the pastry is
risen and golden. If you
have parmesan you could grate a
little of that over the top, or a
few nuts are nice.
Roast
Potato
& Pepper Salad
This is
a take on a potato salad recipe
in Barbara Kingsolver's book
about her family's year of living
off the land and eating locally,
Animal,
Vegetable, Miracle (a book
I highly recommend). I'm
not sure what makes a salad a
salad; I tend to serve this hot,
but warm or cold are also
options. Great for
barbecues, I also think that with
a green salad & some protein
of your choice you have a
complete meal.
As the
season goes on you can add other
things or make substitutions, new
potatoes work really well instead
of larger ones, and other veg
such as green beans or runner
beans, sweetcorn kernels or
courgette can be added as well as
or instead of the peppers and
tomatoes, and shallots or red
onion instead of the
onion.
4 good
sized potatoes, skins on &
cut into 1∏ inch
cubes
A good
glug of olive oil
1 onion,
thickly sliced
2
peppers (any colour but green),
deseeded & cut into 1∏ inch
pieces
A good
splash of balsamic
vinegar
A
handful of fresh thyme, leaves
picked and roughly
chopped
A
handful of cherry tomatoes,
halved - or - 3 tomatoes, cut
into 1∏ inch pieces
A
handful of fresh basil, leaves
torn up
Put your
potatoes into a baking dish and
pour over your olive oil.
Toss well to ensure they're all
well coated and put in the oven,
about 200°C. Give them a
turn over after about 30 mins and
when they're starting to go brown
and crisp add the onions and stir
well. After another 30 mins
add your peppers and a splash of
balsamic vinegar, the thyme and
the tomatoes. Stir well and
put back in the oven for 10-15
minutes. Take out the oven
taste and season if needed.
Stir through your basil and
serve.
Caldo
Verde
This is
a Portuguese recipe; it literally
means 'green stock'. It is
a hearty potato, bean and cabbage
stew that I found in Leith's
Vegetarian Bible (people
often ask me if I have a
favourite vegetarian recipe book
and this is probably the one;
it's organised in types of
vegetables and so makes it
incredibly useful when you have a
glut of courgettes, for
example). Because we've had
a lot more kale than cabbage I've
adapted it and found it works
beautifully with our super-food
friend, so where it says kale
feel free to use any kind of
green kale (you could use red,
but it will go a strange
purpley-grey) or you can
substitute any green cabbage for
kale, particularly varieties such
as Savoy or January
King.
Dried
cannellini beans, soaked for at
least 12 hours
A good
glug of olive oil
1 large
onion, sliced
thinly
3 cloves
of garlic, crushed
1 green
chilli, deseeded & finely
chopped (optional, or you can use
a red chilli)
4
medium-large potatoes, cut into ∏
inch cubes
560ml/1
pint of vegetable
stock
2 big
handfuls of kale, roughly
sliced
Salt
& pepper
A
handful of flat leaf parsley,
chopped
Drizzle
of olive oil, to
serve
Start by
draining your beans and rinsing
them. Put them in a good
sized pan and cover with plenty
of cold water. Bring this
pan to the boil and simmer for
about 40 minutes-1 hour, until
the beans are tender. You
need to reserve the cooking
liquid so drain over a bowl or
jug and set your beans
aside. Measure out 560ml/1
pint of this bean
stock.
Heat
your oil in a large pan and fry
your onions gently until they are
soft, translucent and just
beginning to brown at the
edges. Add your garlic and
chilli and continue to fry for a
few minutes. Now add your
potatoes, and stir frequently for
the next few minutes as the
potatoes like to stick.
Pour in your vegetable stock and
reserved bean stock, put a lid on
and bring to the boil. Cook
for about 15-20 minutes until the
potatoes are tender. Add
your beans, kale and a little
extra bean stock if it needs
it. Stir well and replace
the lid for the last 5 minutes
while the kale cooks. Taste
and add seasoning if
needed. Just before serving
stir through the parsley and then
drizzle the top with olive
oil. Great served with lots
of crusty bread.
Stir-fried
tamari kale with toasted
cashews
This is
a tasty side dish which goes well
with Thai curries and the like,
or with shepherd's pie. You can
use toasted seeds instead of the
cashews, or just leave them
out. As always you can
substitute soy sauce for
tamari.
2 good
handfuls of kale,
washed
Glug of
oil
A dash
of tamari/ soy
sauce
2
handfuls of raw cashews (pieces
or whole)
First
toast your cashews. I like
to do this in a heavy-based
frying pan because if I do them
in the oven I forget about them
and burn them! Put them in
a dry frying pan, no oil, and
heat until they are golden
stirring occasionally. To
do them in the oven place on a
dry baking sheet and put in a
180°C oven for a few
minutes. Shred your kale
fairly finely, removing any
large, tough bits of stalk.
Heat your oil in a wok and when
it's hot add your kale. It
may spit a bit if your kale is
still wet so be careful.
Stir and turn it well and then
add a couple of tablespoons of
water and a dash of tamari.
Stir well again, then put the lid
on and turn the heat down a
little. It should only take
about 5-10 minutes in total,
depending how fresh and young the
leaves are. Stir frequently
replacing the lid after each time
until cooked. Just before
serving add your toasted cashews
and stir through.
So
that's it for this time. I
hope the summer brings you lots
of sunshine and tasty fruit and
vegetables. Our
strawberries and broad beans are
almost ready which I am so
excited about. As always
any feedback about the recipes or
anything at all is really
welcome.
Looking
forward to seeing and feeding
many of you over the next few
months.
Best
Wishes, Sophie x
|
|
|
Message
Making
hay
Monkton
this early June is
graced with warmer
weather, brightening
moods, and
tantalizingly long
daylight hours: long
enough, surely, to
cover all the tasks
stretched out around
us!
In
short, we're feeling
positive. Our Family
Week events are
filling up nicely,
and we're thrilled
to have more and
more contact from
potential guests and
volunteers for this
busy gardening and
hosting season.
In the Dining Room right
now there's a whole long
list of exciting new
course ideas to follow
up. A residential
programme for youth
offering practical
experience in rural
crafts and agricultural
is in the works with
Fivepenny Farm. So many
exciting things to work
on while the sun
shines... who knows,
maybe some hay making
too! Stay tuned for these
and other exciting
developments as we
venture out into the
coming months, like our
April visitors Laura and
Freckles above, with
boundless energy,
courage, a soft outer
layer of natural warmth
and charm, and an
inherent faith in the
goodwill of those around
us (as well as in our own
ability to keep
standing)!
Laurie
|
Gardener's
Grove
Rachael Moss
Spring has exploded and
bloomed into the start of a
gloriously hot summer. The
swallows made their epic
journey back to make their
nests again in our bat roost
and cowsheds, whilst our
resident pair of troublesome
magpies are bothering the
local thrushes and
blackbirds, hoping to feast
on their newly hatched
youngsters. The drumming of
the Great Spotted Woodpecker
echoes and vibrates in
accompaniment to the rich
song of the blue and great
tits, song thrushes and
blackbirds. Our Lesser
Horseshoe bats have become
active again, swooping out of
their roost at dawn and dusk,
hunting for tasty morsels,
occasionally swerving to
avoid the swallows they are
again sharing their home
with. As many as eight
buzzards have been seen
soaring the sky together
above the grounds, their
distinctive calls announcing
their presence,
while
down below flocks of
Painted
Lady butterflies carpet
our chive flowers (below).
Close by, our patch of
poached egg flowers heave
with the enthusiastic pollen
gathering of bees, their
gentle humming contrasting
with the buzzing of the
bumble bees that float past
them determinedly, choosing
other flowers.
Vigour
and life are abundant in
the grounds and walled
garden of Monkton Wyld
Court. The vegetable crops
are displaying their
eagerness to grow, and it's
a continuous cycle of
sowing, pricking out,
potting up, and planting
out at this busy time of
year. Some of the tomato
plants are snug in their
places in the polytunnel
and the cucumbers are to
follow along with the
melons and chillies. The
aubergines will be rudely
whisked away from the
protection of the
polytunnel and planted
along the south facing wall
which will radiate some
heat for them, along with
some of the chillies and
peppers. Our onion seedling
are being planted out,
placed between rows of
carrots to help prevent
carrot fly, their scent
confusing the fly whose
larvae squirms inside their
roots. Next will be our
sweetcorn, a purple variety
called Martian Purple which
has almost become our own
variety since being grown
here for a few years and
cross-pollinated with other
varieties: I like to it
call it Wyld Martian. We
hope to grow some squashes
underneath the sweetcorn,
allowing them to sprawl and
creep, providing us with an
extra crop on the same bed,
and perhaps helping as as
ground cover to keep down
the weeds that are a
problem on that particular
patch. Here we placed a
cardboard mulch to prevent
weed growth and covered it
with compost, but
unfortunately the layer of
cardboard was too thin and
burdocks started pushing
their way through the
cardboard followed by
nettles and the determined
bindweed that aims to claim
the garden for itself. Some
of the weeds have been kept
at bay here,
though.
New beds have also been
created in other areas of
the garden. We now have
three new terraced beds
built in the top part of
the centre of our sloping
victorian walled garden, a
large bed planted up with
potaotoes, and a brassica
bed at the far end. This
year, we will be growing
quite a large number of
brassicas, perhaps
experimenting with
companion planting to help
keep the cabbage white
butterfly away, and using
nasturtiums as a
sacrificial plant. We have
already had a cabbage white
caterpillar infestation on
a calabrese. The poor
plant, reduced to just
stems, looks rather like a
tree in winter. The
chickens refused this snack
of juicy
pests.
So far, slugs and
snails haven't been too
much of a problem. A couple
of snails had found their
way into the greenhouse to
enjoy the extra warmth
during the colder weather
and snacked on the fresh
young newly pricked-out
seedlings, but these were
caught in the act and
disposed of during a
nighttime prowl. Our new
duck couple may also have
helped to devour the slimy
creatures, although the dry
weather has most likely
also had a part to play.
The lack of rain is a
concern. Our water butts
have emptied really quite
quickly and we've been
filling them with water
from our well. I'm
wondering about growing
edible cacti.
The hot weather has
meant that we have our very
own saunas here at Monkton
Wyld Court.
We have recently
re-skinned the tunnel that
had become a bit brittle
and ripped in the wind, and
now both
are great places to go
if you want to sit there
and sweat. They obviously
need to be well ventilated
at the moment, although a
frost is still
possible.
Unfortunately our
runner beans that we
covered with straw and
plastic over the winter
didn't survive the low
temperatures, although the
yacon (South American plant
related to dahlias that
produces edible tubers) is
sending up fresh green
growth, relieved to receive
some warmth after the cold
winter. The dahlias that
also received the same
treatment are putting forth
lush green growth
too.
Our cinnamon vine (also
known as Chinese Yam or
yamaimo, produces large
edible tubers) appears to
be thriving in various
places in the garden, its
glossy green leaves
climbing up towards the
sky. The vine in the
greenhouse produced monster
tubers, and a big ditch had
to be dug to harvest
them.
We have been turning
and sieving our compost
that was made during the
late autumn, creating more
from regular seaweed
collections from the beach,
freshly chopped comfrey
leaves, contents of the
chicken house, cow manure
from a local farmer, wool,
weeds, grass clippings,
kitchen waste, and the
occasional sprinkling of
wood ash. This has produced
a rich compost that the
crops should enjoy,
providing us with
mouthwatering food that we
will enjoy.
Our broad beans are
ready to be harvested, and
these are promising to
produce a good crop after
the initial devouring by
mice of the autumn-sown
beans. Radishes are
continuing to provide us
with a great crop of
crispiness, many different
varieties being sown at
regular intervals in
various places in the
garden, along with many
lettuce varieties. Lettuces
in the polytunnel provided
us with salad over the
winter period, along with
more mizuna and rocket than
we could eat. These were a
great complement to leek,
kale, and root vegetable
meals.
The strawberries are
about to ripen, ready to be
netted before the birds
gorge themselves on the
tasty fruits. The
blackcurrants will be
ripening soon too,
providing us with delicious
blackcurrant jam. It is
always wonderful to be
rewarded with the fruits of
labour, and this year we
should have much of the
garden producing an
abundance of fantastic
crops.
|
|
Event
Report:
A Pine Hall Jazz
Evening
 In
May, Monkton once again
played proud host to a superb
performance of summer-evening
jazz.
This year, acclaimed pianist
Philip Clouts was joined by
rising West country vocalist
star Julie Dunn and talented
bassist Ben Taylor.
A delicious
pre-performance meal, clear
evening sky and relaxed cafe
atmosphere all contributed to
making this a stellar
sold-out event. Look for more
on our Pine Hall performance
calendar to come (especially
now that Philip's donated
stage lights)!
|
The Kindy Corner
The Monkton
Wyld Kindergarten, a
small Steiner based
kindergarten located in the
grounds of Monkton Wyld
Court, currently has
vacancies for children aged
3 - 6.
We provide a
natural environment where
the children can play
freely and through their
own will. They learn
through activity and
movement and experience the
joy of their own being.
We have a
regular rhythm to the day -
we come together to sing
and play games and to eat
at snack time. Organic food
is provided and bread is
baked each week.
Our children
learn through imitation -
they see adults baking and
sewing in the kindergarten
and this supports them in
their play. We paint on
Wednesdays and bake on
Thursdays. We tell stories
and sing songs every
day.
We recognise
the festivals and seasons
of the year through
stories, songs and
traditional celebrations.
The children dance round
the Maypole in spring and
walk with lanterns at
Martinmas. They begin to
see a natural order and
rhythm to the universe of
which they are a part.
Through this,
children grow into
their physical being and
begin to experience
themselves as
individuals.
We meet on
Wednesday and Thursday
mornings from 10am til 1pm.
We have government-funded
places for children aged
three to five and meet the
requirements of the Early
Years Foundation Stage
Curriculum.
If you would
like to know more
about our kindergarten
please call Catherine
or Caroline at Monkton
Wyld on 01297
560342.
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|
Kitchen's
Cook-pot
Hello!
Welcome to the summer
installment. So, what's
been happening since the last
newsletter? Well I had
the pleasure of introducing
our Spanish interns, Bea
& Esti, to dumplings, a
somewhat surprising match
made in heaven. The
leeks have come, been
thoroughly enjoyed and gone,
as has the rainbow
chard. Wow! The rainbow
chard! There are
certain vegetables which are
just stunningly beautiful and
these, with their incredible,
flamboyant stems, are one of
them. Plus not only do
they look spectacular in the
garden, but when you cut up
the stems (which are also
edible before they get too
woody) you are left with a
pile of brightly coloured
shapes - reminiscent of
alphabetti spaghetti.
There's been a lot of fun
around the dinner table with
shouts of "woah, look I found
a little dog or is it a duck"
and "look I've got the UK".
We're in the middle of the
kale which has been totally
prolific and I heard has
recently been declared 'the
ultimate super food' so I'm
including a couple of kale
recipes this edition.
And our spicy salad leaves
are still seeing us through,
with the lettuces coming on
thick and fast now. As
I said last time we've been
trying to only eat British
veg, and bar two necessary
infractions the only thing
we've had a problem with is
onions. I can't do
without onions and so we've
had to buy organic onions
from the Netherlands. I
must admit that about six
weeks ago I was starting to
get really tired of all the
root veg, the staples which
saw us through the
winter. The list of UK
veg had been slowly shrinking
over the previous four weeks
and I was feeling very
constrained and very tempted
by the exotic foreign veg
(courgettes, broccoli and
kohlrabi from Spain, squashes
from Egypt, that kind of
thing). I desperately
wanted something new to
appear on the list, for it to
start expanding again rather
than shrinking. Then my
prayers were answered.
I opened my veg list email
and there it was:
'Cauliflowers'. Words cannot
convey the abounding joy I
felt at that moment.
You think I'm exaggerating,
huh? I bounced around
the house grinning from ear
to ear, regaling all in my
path with the news.
I wanted to tell you about
this not because I want you
to think I'm some weird loon
who has a vegetable obsession
(though I do!), but because
this year I have for the
first time really noticed the
advent of spring.
Living within the constraints
of the British winter has
made the wonder of spring
really mean something for
me. From venturing out
into the garden in February
and having to dig the herbs
out from under the snow and
that being about the extent
of produce available to
watching the garden erupt
with an explosion of green,
growth and blossom - I feel
totally blessed to be aware
of this change, to be
affected by it, to benefit
from it. Something that
didn't make any difference to
my food or my cooking when I
lived in 'the normal world'
and bought food from a
supermarket, has meant that
in the past few weeks I've
had to try to reach back into
the depths of my memory and
remember what I cooked last
summer: before the root
vegetable blanket of winter,
what did we eat? I
wouldn't say we're through
the hungry gap yet (as I
thought we would be), but
we're nearing the end.
Somerset Organic Link are
currently supplying us with
red, green and yellow peppers
and cucumbers from Somerset,
as well as tomatoes from the
Isle of Wight. And next
week we'll have sugar snap
peas from Fivepenny Farm just
down the road! So we've
left hearty casseroles behind
(and the dumplings, much to
the interns' dismay) and with
the injection of colour we're
having more salads,
Spanish-style paprika-y
stews, and lightning quick
pastas. I even made my
own flaky pastry which worked
well (and I am very proud
of!) to make tasty little
savoury tarts.
To the left I've included a
few of the things we're
making at the moment.
As always my recipes are a
little vague due to the way
that I cook, but as best I
can these are aimed to serve
four. I urge you to
tamper with them to your
hearts' content.
Happy
cooking and eating,
Sophie
x
|
'The
vision thing'
A column by Caroline Walker
One day
recently Mark, who works in
the garden, was walking his
dog in the field across the
stream from Monkton Wyld
Court. On his return, he
told us how wonderful it
was to look across at the
Court and see groups of
little children in the
gardens and down by the
stream, a large number of
people enjoying the sun on
the terraces, and
volunteers at work in the
vegetable garden. That
morning was a particularly
busy morning for us: a year
group from a local school,
(which despite its being in
the countryside, has only a
tarmac playground,) had
come to spend their whole
school day here doing art,
science, nature and maths
in our grounds; our
kindergarten was in session
and the children were
enjoying their outdoor
play; 30 local people had
come to hear a lecture on
'Dorset Farmhouses and
Cottages' - so popular we
had to put it on three
times!; and five
participants on one of our
Garden Work Weeks were
putting in long hours in
the garden.
This is a
good example of what we are
trying to achieve -
extending the use of our
buildings and grounds to as
wide a range of people as
possible and offering
learning opportunities to
people of all ages and
abilities. For the
past year we have made a
sustained effort to invite
local people in for events
of all kinds (some in
partnership with the church
next door). We offer
'local lunches' featuring
locally grown produce; we
hold 'Knit and Stitch'
afternoons; we are setting
up a regular garden
volunteer group. Many
people have said to us 'I
have lived nearby all my
life and this is the first
time I have come down your
drive!' This is
really gratifying to us as
we believe Monkton Wyld
Court has a lot to offer
our local community as well
as being a much loved
destination for people from
further away. We
particularly want to share
and help people learn about
our fantastic natural
environment.
In the next
couple of months we are
hosting a visit from
Charmouth Junior Watch
Group (the highlight of
whose visit last year was a
glimpse of a large grass
snake in the orchard) and
we are holding a Bat Night
in June and a Moth Night in
July to offer local people
the chance to get to know
our resident wild life. Our
neighbour Dave Wiscombe is
teaching a Bee Keeping
course here; and our
Wyldside Walk project has
been welcoming groups of
young volunteers to design
and create a circular trail
around the site that will
eventually be open to the
public.
In this way
we hope that we will become
a genuine resource for our
community and will benefit
from their support,
understanding and
goodwill.
We're
looking forward to a very
busy summer, with four out
of six of the holiday weeks
already booked up. I hope
that wherever you come
from, you can visit us
soon.
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Discovering Monkton Wyld
Court
by
Bea
Last month, the first
swallow was seen in the
fields of Monkton Wyld
Court, resting after the
long trip that it has made
just to visit and pass the
summer here in its second
residence. It's a pleasure
to receive each year these
beautiful birds who have
chosen Monkton as the place
to spend their holidays and
have their successors. They
are the signal of the
starting of the summer.
Suddenly Monkton Wyld Court
has an explosion of songs
and colours that the birds
bring. From the window of
the dining room, once in a
while you can see one or
two of many different
birds, such as the
chaffinch with his
characteristic song which
we all know, the blackbird,
the goldfinch and
bullfinch, the songthrush
fighting with the always
incomprehensible magpie.
You can hear the pheasant,
or the gulls going to Lyme
Regis to steal some food
from a poor tourist. You
can also hear or even see
(if you are lucky) the
woodpecker working very
hard, so hard that it seems
all the trees are going to
fall down. At night you can
enjoy the sound of the
little owl or the barn
owl.
Finally and most
important, you can find the
amazing cockerel and his
eighteen beautiful ladies.
They are with us all the
year to provide us stories
for each other, because
this cockerel is not the
same as others: he's
special. He has a strong
personality, one which
could make a person lose
sleep the day before her
turn to be in charge of
feeding him in the
morning.
What a character!
Though so young he has
already learned the
importance of being
respected by his ladies,
who are constantly taking
care of him, brushing his
hair, leaving the best
pieces of food for him...
They are always prepared to
drop everything in order to
deal with his necessities.
In return for that, the
cockerel gives them total
security when they need it.
And he is prepared to do
so!! Those beautiful legs
run quicker than any
professional
athlete's.
Oh what a cockerel!!
He's the best. Or how else
do you explain that
the
swallows from so far
away take their first rest
just on the wires
overlooking the chicken
run???
Spanish
intern and devoted
bird
watcher
Beatriz de la Puebla
Gutierrez has
consistently inspired
all
 with
her
enthusiasm and her
discoveries about the
birds of Monkton
sinceher arrival
in January, as well
as contributing a
bird-sighting log
book for the dining
room and hours of
recordings
from her dawn bird
chorus vigils outside
the strawbale hut.
She is currently
looking into the
possibility of an
exchange programme
for cockerels, who
she assures us have
much better
characters in Spain.
Bea is
pictured here
(l-r) with our
favourite local
celebrity chef and an
uncanny impersonation
of the big bird
himself at a Monkton
barbecue event just
last week.
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