Cute Little Peachicks

I had the loveliest suprise last month. But first, a little preamble to set the scene. I had been invited to go to the opening of the new rose garden at Ragley Hall, a special English garden party, and a potential lovely day off. (And indeed it was!)

The weather was rather inclement but my husband and I were hopeful that it would be ok. As I was about to get ready to go I received a worried phone call from gardener Richard, who is also the Spetchley peacock keeper. He had gone into the pen to do his usual feed and check, and saw that the white peahen was being followed around by 4 small balls of fluff! I was thrilled, but worried as storms were forecast and I had to be elsewhere. A quick call to the gamekeeper gave us all the information we needed. The weather turned out to be not too bad, and when the gamekeeper came to check he was of the opinion that they are about 4 or 5 days old, and had not been spotted earlier, despite all our checking. The picture shows cute 5 day old peachicks.

Then at the end of the month we had a visit from 3 ladies connected to Tresserve, an estate in France that had been owned by Mr Berkeley’s Great Aunt Miss Willmott. The ladies visited Spetchley to see the archives, and to gain information for a book they are researching on the history of Tresserve. The book is due to be published in November. It was facinating to chat with the ladies and hear stories of when Miss Willmott was in France.

And finally, back to the gardens. All the rain has caused a serious potato blight problem so we have had to quickly lift and store as many potatoes as possible before they spoil. A busy, wet month, and very frustrating as rain has prevented all the weeding needed.