The House19 July5 min
The plasterers signed the Long Gallery ceiling
Six men, eleven years, and a small inscription in the north-west corner that nobody found until 1961.
Journal
Written by whoever did the thing.
Published when there is something to say. Some of it is about failures, because those are the entries people actually write to us about.
The Meadow4 August8 min
Why we cut the meadow exactly once
A hay meadow is not a lawn that has been left alone. It is a crop with one harvest, and the date of that harvest decides what grows there for the next hundred years.
Read itThe Long Plan2 July6 min
What an endowment is actually for
Ours covers the roof, the yews and the oaks. It does not cover the café, and that is on purpose.
The Park11 June4 min
Counting the veteran oaks
Three hundred and forty, girthed and photographed. The oldest is somewhere around 640 and we will not say where it is.
Farm26 May7 min
We stopped ploughing the top ground
Four years of direct drilling, one bad harvest, and a soil carbon figure that finally started moving the right way.
Gardens8 May3 min
The glasshouse is older than the boiler that heats it
1871 and 1953 respectively, and the argument about replacing either of them is now in its fourth decade.