As usual the weather is as predictable as me burning tea every night- as soon as you hear the first combine you know that rain is in the air.As much as we need rain to help the grass grow we really could do with a little less of the stuff landing on the straw which is waiting to be baled.
While we wait for the sun to return to dry the straw ,we have Chagford Show to enjoy. We went down this evening to set up the stand,and hopefully will have a fun day there tomorrow. Okehampton Show was great success for us last week , but a very long week preparing for it!

We also had great results from the ‘Taste of the West Food and Drink Awards’this year . We entered 7 products and won 2 Golds, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze awards for our beef,pork and lamb.
We have started to sell the lambs born this spring, Blackspice one of our Dexter cows calved this morning and Iggy our pet piggy has 10 piglets.

The B&B has been really busy with guests from all over and a lovely couple have just arrived to stay for two weeks, so hopefully the sun will come out for them ,if not for us!!!

Glad to say we have made it to the New Year with running water from the taps and now all across the fields,as we have had so much rain. At least in the cold weather the fields were dry.

Summer must be on the way with the B&B bookings coming in. The weather is sure to be better for those arriving in June.Having had Ben last year we have plenty of baby equipment for those wishing to come and stay with a baby, ie baby bath/toys/ spare clothes!

The ewes are due to be scanned on the 10th February, at which point we will know how many lambs are due or not.This is when we discover if the rams were working or sleeping!
Anyhow, thats about it for now, as nothing much as happened apart from surviving the snow and frosts, and you all know about that!

Another Special Delivery

Buying free range meat by mail-order from Lovaton Farm has always been convenient, but now you can guarantee you order will be with you before noon. We try our hardest to get our meat to your doorstep as quickly as possible, and now there is less waiting around, and less time spent in transit, so your meat arrives in perfect condition.

We’d love to hear what you do with our meat, so please drop us an e-mail next time you’ve been busy in the kitchen.

In the mean time, here are those christmas reviews to whet your appetite:

Beef mince for hamburgers and chips- Really delicious beef- great flavour- some of the best burgers we’ve had and I’m American!

Sausage meat for Xmas stuffing (cranberry, cornbread and much else)- Very good and with a beautiful natural colour.

Roast shoulder of lamb coated in mustard- Sensational flavour and incredible succulence- one of the best roast lambs I can remember in many years. I noted that the neck fillet was still attached underneath the shoulder. Is this a West Country practice? In any case, it was handy to discover extra meat as my daughter produced an additional 3 people for dinner at the very last minute. As an aside, I feel that in the distant past, almost all British lamb was at least very good but this seems to me to no longer be the case. Is this because lambs are produced several times per year?

Marinated grilled rib of lamb chops- one version in spicy Indian style & another in Southeast Asian-style marinade. Both very good.

Pork chops with wild rice- Good flavour though we slightly overcooked the dish so it was a bit dry and probably not at its best.

Feather steak used in grilled Vietnamese beef with green mango salad with peanut, chilli and shallot dressing- This was OK but a little dry. I find it a bit hard to believe this is feather steak as I know it (though British butcher’s terminology can be strangely varied and I never quite understand it). Your beef had almost no marbling whereas feather steak is very marbled and although classed as braising steak, is very tender if cut across the grain, marinated and grilled or sauteed.

Chipolatas cut up and served on cocktail sticks as part of our joke Bridget Jones ‘turkey curry buffet’ (complete with bad jumpers wrapped as presents for all guests). Very good and with a natural pork flavour.

Hanger steak- Fantastic flavour and quality. This looked just like the cut we wanted (the French ‘onglet’) though it strangely did not taste of kidney as is usual since this cut is quite close to that organ. None the worse for that, however. A really terrific steak- leftovers made a great hot steak sandwich another day.

For more details please see http://bit.ly/6yUDB6 (Dartmoor Events Website) or http://bit.ly/6fmjoZ (National Trust Website – Search for ‘Castle Drogo’).