A Week on the Estate: Piercing Snow, Seasonal Tours & Getting Buff

“I came face to face with a stoat on my scouting trip. He looked at me and moved on with his full, black-tipped tail and characteristic bounding gait. My dad had a corny way of telling stoats and weasels apart: one’s weasily recognised and the other is stoatally different. Sorry! There are lots of good fungal indicators of biodiversity out there too, including bracket fungi and Judas ears.

“It’ll be a two-mile circular walk from Wood Farm. We’ll pass several charming copses brimming with winter-flowering bulbs on the way to South Ormsby Hall’s parkland. We’ll skirt the Walled Garden and join Lime Tree Walk where great drifts of snowdrops pile up on both banks of the stream and roll into the wildlife-rich woodland beyond. We’ll pass the remains of a medieval village, scout out more blossoming wonders along Ormsby Ring, then visit St Leonard’s Churchyard.

“Mid-tour, we’ll stop off at the potting shed for a refreshing sip of Tristan’s award-winning, artisan gins, and a glimpse of Finn’s craftsmanship with Lincoln Red leather. We’ll round off proceedings with a brew and a complimentary hot beef roll at the Old School.  We always look after our guests!

“This is a limited series of walks. We’ll be running them at 10am on Sunday 12^th, Wednesday 15^th and Sunday 19^th February. If demand is high, we may be able to add another date or two, but please do book early when the page goes live. Also dress for a country walk in British winter weather.

“The idea of showing off this magnificent landscape season by season is very appealing. There may well be a follow-up in spring, focussing on crocuses, cyclamens and daffodils. Keep watching this space.”

Finally, if you enjoyed our fine produce over Christmas, you may be interested to know that our poultry is available all-year round, while stocks last. Our heritage-breed Lincolnshire Buff chickens are farm-reared to official organic standards right here at South Ormsby Estate. These fresh, succulent birds make a tasty, nutritious centrepiece for a Sunday lunch or midweek treat, whatever the time of year.

The Lincolnshire Buff is a variety of heavy, large fowl bred in large numbers in this county from the 1850s to the 1920s. Females weigh in at 3-4kg, and males at 4-5kg. Cockerels add a full copper-bronze tail to the breed’s natural buff colour. If you order your bird by click & collect, you’ll pick it up just a short walk from the garden, pastures and runs where it strutted its stuff.

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* The Buff photo was taken when official guidance on avian flu allowed free roaming.

* Stoat image by Andy Morffew via Flickr CC.