As well as hosting beautiful countryside weddings at our farm wedding venue this Spring we also have have some exciting Spring Watch updates from the farm and gardens!
Our Kestrels have now laid a total of five eggs. The projected hatch date is 6th June 2022 so we are watching the live feed closely and waiting with hopeful anticipation for some Kestrel Chicks soon! The Female Kestrel is spending time both in and outside of the next box. She has learned to carefully brood on the eggs and she is waiting just as we are!
Our Barn Owls have yet to lay eggs, we are watching and waiting. The food supply and body weight of the barn owl are time critical to their laying of eggs so hopefully they will continue to hunt and feed well and we will have more news soon!
Livestream for our Kestrel box
Live stream for our Barn Owl box
Our beautiful iconic Conker tree has been in full bloom this month. Dwarfing the Farmhouse it is one of only two trees that were on site when Philip and his family arrived at South Farm in 1975. We believe it was planted in 1916 by the Bath family. Below is an aerial photo from 1968 showing the conker tree in front of the farmhouse and the old yew tree in the garden. And in contrast a beautiful photo of the conker tree in the sunshine and in full bloom taken this month.
We have some new Manx lambs from the Isle of Man. At home in the meadow near the Old Dairy, they are enjoying grazing. The lambs are feeding well and growing by the day. They are friendly and getting used to our team. For our wedding guests it’s lovely to be able to see the young animals in our farm wedding venue!
We are really lucky to be able to make our own delicious apple blossom honey. Our apple trees in the orchard have blossomed abundantly this Spring and will give us a bumper fruit harvest in the autumn which our chefs will use to make delicious seasonal wedding desserts. South Farm’s bees have been hard at work pollinating the flowers to bring us a fresh honey supply. Our bee-keeper is managing director James! As written in Rupert Brooke’s famous poem, about the nearby Cambridge village of Grantchester… “Yes there will be honey still for tea”….at least at South Farm! You can see in our photos below the sequence from blossom, to hive, to delicious local honey!
Our beautiful last minute wedding venue is not only a wonderful habitat for wildlife but is also the perfect backdrop for your countryside wedding day. We’re proud of our eco-friendly initiatives. We’ll be sharing more from the farm and our sustainable wedding venue soon.
Check out our Instagram feed and Facebook page for more photos and updates!
