July – Fruit, butterflies & Things to do in North Devon

Butterfly-tortoiseshell

Butterfly Peacock

Butterfly Green Veined White

Butterfly Meadow Brown

Butterfly

Speckled wood Butterfly

The warm sunny weather this summer has been great for the butterflies

Shorn Jacob sheep

Fruit; Raspberries, Gooseberries and Logenberries

The ewes are pleased to have been shorn on the 2/7/18 and we now have Jacob fleeces available to purchase for spinning or felting. We also have some brown fleeces, a perfect natural material for when the weather gets colder and your plants e.g. Dalia’s need some protection from the frost.

Fruit picking is going well; the redcurrants are now Redcurrant Jelly, delicious with our Huxtable Farm Jacob Lamb. The gooseberries ‘Elderflower & Gooseberry Jam’ to have at the breakfast table with a warm croissant or some toasted homemade bread. The raspberries and loganberries as fresh fruit for breakfast.

RHS Rosemoor Rose Festival

Things to do/Events this July;

RHS Rosemoor Rose Festival has 2000 roses on display now 16th June – 22nd July – The largest rose gardens in the South West.

RHS Rosemoor Flower Show

17, 18 & 19th August RHS Rosemoor Flower Show

New valley view through trees on Huxtable Farm Devon Wildlife Trail, now that our neighbour has felled a woodland area

National Trust Arlington Court – What’s on in July

Things to do for free at Huxtable Farm B&B

Tiverton Mid Devon Show 28th July

North Devon Show 1st August

Visit & see beautiful North Devon places;

National Trust Baggy Point near Croyde beach

Exmoor ponies near Landacre Bridge Exmoor

Tarr Steps Exmoor

Fly catcher on nest

Or stay at Huxtable Farm and enjoy the wildlife, such as these two very different fly catchers!

Cobwebs

Huxtable Farm B&B, West Buckland, Barnstaple, North Devon EX32 0SR

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June – some wild flowers found around Huxtable Farm B&B

Some of the wild flowers you can find on the Devon wildlife farm trail at Huxtable Farm B&B, West Buckland, situated between Barnstaple & South Molton, near Exmoor, North Devon.

Thistle

Water Lily

Red dead nettle

Meadow saxifrage

Iris

Honeysuckle

Hop Trefoil

Groundsel

Elderflower

Cow parsley

Common hemp nettle

Clover

Birds foot trefoil

Charlock

Wild flower ?

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Rose Festival time

The ‘Rose’ is ‘Gardeners’ World Golden Jubilee Plant’ – An easy choice!

Not only is there a great variety, they are beautiful, many have delicious scents and are used to celebrate lots of occasions.

RHS Rosemoor Rose Festival has 2000 roses on display now 17th June – 30th July – The largest rose gardens in the South West. Pick up your free Rose Trail Garden Map when you get there.

Here are a few of the roses (two are not rose flowers can you spot them?) found at Huxtable Farm B&B, situated between Barnstaple & South Molton, near West Buckland, Devon, offering quality farmhouse B&B accommodation, within half an hours drive to RHS Rosemoor and a variety of beautiful North Devon Gardens.

Roses

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June – Elderflower & Gooseberry Jam, Roses & Cream Teas

Lupins and Roses at Huxtable Farm B&B, Devon, Barnstaple

June – With the longest day of the year approaching (21st June) with bright fresh morning and balmy evenings, we’re grateful for the long days as there is so much to do on the farm at this time of year, from making hay & silage for winter feed, cutting the lawns & weeding the garden to picking fruit.

The rhubarb, gooseberries & elderflowers are lovely this year giving us plenty of fresh produce for the breakfast table; honeyed rhubarb and homemade gooseberry & elderflower jam (a favourite with everyone).

– The Lupins and Roses are just coming into bloom, which reminds me to tell you to visit RHS Rosemoor to see their beautiful rose gardens during their Rose Festival June 17 – 30th July.

June is a great time to visit the beautiful gardens, National Trust properties, historic houses, harbours and market towns of North Devon & Exmoor or enjoy a stroll away from it all on Exmoor along the side of a river (We’ll share with you some special places to visit!).

Devon Cream Tea welcome

With National Cream Tea Day on the 30th June, in Devon we like to put the cream on the scone and the jam on top of the cream. You can enjoy a Devon Cream Tea welcome any time of year at Huxtable Farm B&B

There’s so much going on in North Devon during June here are a few thing taking place over the next few weeks: –
What’s on at RHS Rosemoor – Rose Festival June 17 – 30th July
National Trust Arlington Court – What’s on during June – Meet the gardener, garden Trail, garden talk
South Molton Vintage Rally 3rd – 4th June
South Molton Olde English Fayre 9th- 13th June
17th June 2017 – Point to Point at Umberleigh.
16th, 17th & 18th June 2017 – Gold Coast Ocean Festival, Woolacombe & Croyde
Getting active during your stay in North Devon
Beaches of North Devon

Point to point horse racing, North Devon

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New children’s play area

Enjoying the children’s play area

It lovely to see the smiles on children’s faces as they play in the new children’s play area, swings, sandpit and wendy house adding to the games room (table football, mini snooker table & table tennis table)

Children’s play area

Build a den in the woods

There’s so many FREE things to see and do around the farm, in addition paid things to do within the local area

Treasure Trail at Huxtable farm B&B, near South Molton

Bottle feeding orphan tame lambs

Bench with a panoramic view of North Devon

Enjoying the view South towards Dartmoor

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The March Hare

Leveret baby hare at Huxtable farm B&B, Barnstaple

I can’t believe it’s been six years since I hand reared this beautiful hare. I hope it’s him I see on the farm occasionally because we reared him and released him back into the wild once he was acclimatised to feeding himself.

He was found, as a leveret, under some branches Antony was about burn. Having researched how to rear a hare on the internet I read that they can be fed ewes milk. Our ewes were lambing at the time so an extra bit of ewes milk was warmed up when feeding the orphan tame lambs, he took to the bottle well!

Leveret drinking at Huxtable Farm B&B, Devon

Known as the fastest mammal in the UK, the Brown Hare is capable of reaching speeds up to 45mph (72kph), making them able to outrun a predator.

A hare can be distinguished from their close relative the rabbit, by their distinctive long ears with black tips, powerful long hind legs and orange iris in contrast to rabbits eyes which are almost black.

The boxing behaviour that can be seen during March is usually female hares fending off amorous males.

The brown hare used to be a common sight in the British countryside but the population has declined since 1960 , due sadly to various reason such as changes in agricultural practices & traffic deaths.