Harry's holidays...

 A grand old man, Harry is 14 and has spent every Whit week for nine years at Watermill Cottages.  



And although his back legs are not too steady these days, and though sleep is almost, not quite, but almost, more important than food - he is a Labrador after all - he always goes for his morning and evening amble down to the stream to cool his paws, sniff the air and catch the breeze.

 He loves scents and knows them well here, he's at home in Barleycorn Cottage where he's stayed every year for nine years.  It matters, as his eyes don't see too well now.  His nose tells him who we all are!



As you can't teach an old dog new tricks, Harry needs help getting out of the stream.  Out for him is always up on to the grass.  It most certainly is NOT up a plank of wood, onto a flat rock and then onto the lawn.  

'Honestly, who do they think I am!'  gruffed Harry, as he deftly removed a burnt sausage from beside the bbq.

The Times recommends Watermill Cottages 23 May 2015

The Times recommends Watermill Cottages

The Times, to our delighted surprise, recommended us in its Travel Doctor column on Saturday May 23 2015.  

Watermill Cottages' 20 acres of rural coastal retreat near Slapton Sands beach in South Devon's AONB is perfect for families of all ages and sizes with plenty of dogs!


It was in the Weekend Section, which luckily Andy at Strete General Stores held for us on Sunday morning.

The Times quoted prices for May half-term 2016 for Rose, Quack and Barleycorn Cottages - the same price as 2015 - prices and availability for 2015 are on this link.  

For 2016 prices and availability please call us on 01803 770219 or email christine@watermillcottages.co.uk

Word has got out! 

Bottte Feeding Matilda the Lamb

Matilda's mum only has half a working udder so we're bottle feeding Matilda twice a day at Watermill Cottages smallholding and teaching her to eat lamb food... She comes running and bouncing when you call her name... why does bottle feeding a lamb make everyone so happy!

Teaching Matilda to eat solids is not easy - she is easily distracted and likes to jump for joy... the Belted Galloways, last year's calves, are not impressed...  Matilda was born in mid-February, she's thriving we're happy to report.  She's in the sheep shed at the moment but shall soon be in the field next to the kitchen garden, behind Barleycorn Cottage, where there's plenty of fresh grass for a growing lamb and her mum.

   

 

      

Eel-friendly eelectricity!

We are delighted to say that the EA has approved the screen already in place at Watermill Cottages for the water turbine and declared we are eel friendly. So the electricity we generate for our house and for Barleycorn Cottage really is eel-ectricity!

 

Here in the Gara Valley we're lucky enough to have a thriving eel population, as this year's EA fish survey showed, as well as an equally thriving otter population for whom eels are a fast food.  The Slapton Ley Field Centre have told us that most female glass eels drift into the Severn Estuary whilst most male glass eels drift around the south coast. 

Our eels enter Slapton Ley through the overflow at Torcross before making their way as elvers upstream to mature, which takes several years. They then transform from yellow eels to silver eels to make their way back to the Sargasso Sea to mate.  if they fail to reach the sea then they transform back into yellow eels and wait for the next year.
There was much excitement in summer and early autumn as many eels were visible from the bridge and lawns at Watermill Cottages.

To help raise awareness of eels here's some information from The Environment Agency website - they are quite extraordinary creatures, long-lived and  at ease in salt and fresh water.

Eel facts from The Environment Agency
Eel numbers have dropped since the 1980s to very low levels across Europe. As a result European regulations are now in place requiring action by all European member states to reverse this decline. Legislation comes into force on January 1 2015 to protect eels and their diminishing habitats.  This includes having all weirs, turbines and abstraction areas checked by The Environment Agency (EA) for eel-friendliness, and installing expensive screens if required.

Why the eel decline?  The EA says it's not caused by one problem alone, but it's a complicated picture. Over-fishing in some parts of Europe, parasites, climate change, pollutants such as pesticides and heavy metals probably all have parts to play. One of the most likely causes is the huge decrease in available habitat for eels in our freshwater rivers, canals, lakes and tidal estuaries. Since the Second World War, we have drained lowland rivers, straightened channels and created modern flood defence barriers. This sort of water management reduces suitable habitat and makes it difficult for eel to move freely through our rivers.
The eel is a famous international marine traveller completing only part of its life cycle in freshwaters or coastal areas, where it is fished for by both rod and net. Spawning has not been observed, but it is believed to take place in the spring, deep in the Sargasso Sea, between Bermuda and the Bahamas.

Larvae and glass eel 
Maturing females, although their eggs have not been collected, are reported to contain up to 10 million eggs. The eggs develop into a 'leaf-like' larva called a ‘leptocephalus’ It was originally thought that these larvae took three years to migrate from the Sargasso Sea to the European coast but, recent studies suggest that the journey may take as little as 12 months.

When the larvae reach the continental shelf they change into what is called the 'glass eel' stage before continuing with their migration. In the British Isles, from around May, once temperatures have reached about ten degrees Celsius, the glass eel make their migration from the estuaries into freshwater.
 
Once the glass eel develop pigmentation they are referred to as 'elver' and are very similar in shape to the adult eel. To facilitate their passage through the estuary and into rivers they use the tidal currents, migrating upstream on the flood tide. During the ebb tide they move out of the current towards the bank side to prevent being washed out to sea.

In fresh water the eel lives on or near the bottom, often digging into the gravel, and migrates slowly upstream. During this period they are generally referred to as yellow eel. Moving further upstream eel become fewer and more dispersed. Eel in the upper reaches of river systems are generally fewer and  they tend to be much larger than in the lower reaches. In the lower reaches the populations have a higher proportion of males, which contrasts with the upper reaches where females predominate.

Silver eel  Male eel stay in freshwater for between 7 and 12 years, maturing at an average length of about 36cm. Females stay between 9 to 20 years and mature at a larger average size of about 50cm, though eel can grow larger reaching up to 1 metre in length and live as long as 40 years.

When the fish mature they change to a blue/silvery colour and migrate seaward during the autumn, usually during dark stormy nights.
 
Species - Eel, Anguilla anguilla (L.)
Weight - rarely 2.3kg (5lb), very few over 3.2kg (7lb)
Length - rarely exceed 100cm
Age - maximum recorded 40 years
Location - estuaries and freshwater
Behaviour - catadromous
Preferred habitat - slow-flowing, deep water, sand, silt and weed
Feeding - May-October, most active at night, forage in debris
Natural food - crustacea, worms, small fish.
Maturity - 8-15 years
Spawning - Sargasso Sea at depth
Migratory habits -  August-December, adults migrate to sea; February-May, glass eel arrive at coastal waters; May-September elvers migrate upstream 

Predators - pike, eel, fish-eating birds, otters

Watermill Cottages on Tripadvisor

And we've joined Tripadvisor (as well as facebook and twitter) ...

We're  listed as Watermill Cottages, Slapton, Devon if you'd like to have a look or write anything, and so far we have 11 reviews. 

Here's a couple of them...

Quack, quack, quack!”

Reviewed 2 September 2013

'Me, my Mum and dog stayed stayed in Quack cottage for 5 days and had the most wonderful time. The cottages are in such a rural setting but not too far away (driving distance) from lots of beautiful towns and beaches (some dog friendly all year).
We were welcomed by lovely Jade, gorgeous cake and dog treats and flowers from the garden too. We felt so welcome and what a great start to our holiday.
The cottage is equipped with everything we needed and more. The garden is massive with the lovely ducks saying hello everyday!
It was a welcome break from the internet, tele and mobile phones and we thoroughly enjoyed cooking, knitting and chatting the nights away! '

“Down the rabbit hole”

Reviewed 12 May 2013

'Remember how Alice goes down a rabbit hole in Wonderland and finds a magical place unlike any other? Well, when we go to Watermill Cottages (twice so far in one year and another in the planning), we feel it is a bit like that. No wifi, no TV, no traffic noise. Just the rush of the stream and the birdsong, the animals and silence. This is the kind of place that inspired WH Davies to write his poem, Leisure... "What is this world if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare..." Here, we slough off the dry skin of the 'real world' and bask in the bliss of how things used to be and should be. From the great fish and chips in Slapton, to the farm shop with real, hung, beef, the Pig's Nose pub where you can help yourself to knitting needles and wool after a bracing coastal walk. Beware. If you ever visit Watermill Cottages, you may get addicted....

“All cottages are great, but Crownwheel is closest to the water, Quack has the cutest name and garden, Rose has the highest terrace and Barleycorn is closest to the mill itself.” '

Thank you for your kind words everyone ...

We're generating our own electricity now the water turbine is live!

The Turbine Shed

Well, we've overcome floods, high water and manufacturing delays and at last our new replacement water turbine is generating power at Watermill Cottages.

We're generating enough power to run our house and Barleycorn Cottage which has an 'Everhot' Aga-style electric range designed to run on self-generated power.  Excess power is exported to the grid - a 'Wattson' meter shows us how much power we're generating and whether it's being used here or exported.  We're trying to use as much as we can on site as it's more economic.

The old mill leat which used to channel water to the long-gone waterwheel now channels water to the forbay from where it is fed by pipes to the turbine.  It is so lovely to see the water flowing along the leat and trout making the most of a new shady place to swim.  And to hear the conversation, it is a real chatter, as it runs over the old leat stones.

To stroll from Crownwheel Cottage over the plank bridge and along the short track between the leat and the stream through the woods is a delight to the senses - deciduous woods, water gurgling, wildflowers, and dappled sunlight.  The bench by the weir, made from a fallen tree pulled from the stream, offers a place to rest and nourish your spirit, it is so relaxing there.


So once again, the old mill is in production, not corn but electricity.  A few steps closer to being self-sufficient and living more sustainably, harvesting the power of what flows naturally. 

Power to the people, as John says!

Chick, chick, chick, chicken....

two day old chick, Tikka

Chicks...
Well, Watermill Cottages has a new arrival! A chick called Tikka. 

When we were away recently  Marigold chicken (so-called because she looks like she's got an inflated rubber glove on her head) laid a little white egg in the nest of a sitting Muscovy duck.  We watched to see what would happen, and ten days ago,  I heard a cheeping and pecking and saw a tiny beak through a hole in Marigold's egg.

hatching ...

Great excitement with everyone here, as we all had a go at holding it to keep it warm until I put in a punnet on the Aga where it hatched as I cheeped encouragement as cooked dinner.
As Muscovies take 35 days to hatch and chickens just 21 we wanted the duck to sit on her eggs to the end and not abandon them for one rogue hen.

John made a cage with a heat lamp and we were advised to find it some friends or it would grow up to be anti-social and with the wrong species-patterning.  It instantly recognised my voice for instance and still comes running when I call it - strange being a surrogate hen.

hatched ...

Eventually, last Sunday we found some 2-3 day old chicks, and brought four back where we spent an evening enjoying a live  'David Attenborough' experience in poultry behaviour - one side of their box is perspex so we can watch them, and oddly, they can watch us. They're currently in the sitting room so we can check their water and feed easily.

Our own chicken, a Rhode Island Red/ Leghorn cross, we've called Tikka as it's quite russety.  It now looks like a raptor beside the younger ones but they grow so quickly and already have wing feathers sprouting. 

Watch this space for more news - please let them be hens not cockerels!
 

Swallows....
The swallows have returned to Watermill Cottages! I was digging some worms in the kitchen garden yesterday to see how our few-day old chicks would react to real meat (as they've been hatched in an incubator or Aga I'm having to teach them certain basic life skills) and I heard a new bird call above the long-tailed tits, grey wagtails and blackbirds.

Yes! I looked up and swooping above me were swallows, forked tails printed on blue sky. They're back! It's really spring!

We'll be checking over the weekend to see for the return of the usual pair that nests in the porch at Barleycorn Cottage's front door.

Water Turbine Installation at Watermill Cottages

The turbine is here! 

And work began at the beginning of November to build the sluice gate at the end of the leat.

Not long now before Watermill Cottages will be generating and using its own electricity.

We have a special turbine tariff for Barleycorn and Mill Cottages in December and January for anyone interested in coming to watch!

John is writing a blog so for latest news and photos see
http://watermillcottages.wordpress.com/