Happy Christmas from Ashfarm Campsite

Wishing you a Happy Christmas from Ashfarm Campsite.

I have been updating our blog pages and title today amidst christmas day activities. We will be open during Easter this year and the Summer Holidays and look forward to welcoming you to our site.

Hoping our campers have a festive holiday and wishing you all health, wealth and happiness in 2019.

Last of the campers and some family fun

August is our rainiest month, I say it every year and every year I am corrected by learned campers who, having checked annual rainfall statistics for august, assure me that my claim is quite simply not true. But every august I apologise profusely to our campers for the weather and cringe and feel guilty as the precipitation sets in.

However, this year I have to say has been different, I have not felt the same guilt when it rained, in fact I have been grateful for the rain and welcomed it with open arms - quite literally - It has helped the grassland rejuvenate and the crops grow.

One of the crops grown locally is wheat, our neighbours have grown it in the next door field and it has provided shelter for one or more deer who have been visiting Horsefield Wood and eating our saplings. I may already have said, that whilst I love the idea we have deer locally, I am not so happy they are eating our young trees.

So I am very glad that the wheat is harvested, the fields are open and exposed and not so condusive to giving the deer 'cover' and their visitations have been curtailed.

Wheat is not the only thing harvested in august. Field mushrooms start popping up in the pasture where the sheep have grazed and can be collected early in the morning, before they get kicked about by animals or eaten by slugs.

Blackberries are also now bountiful and blackberry crumble is a favourite, especially when the eldest son visits.
And august is the month when the family also visit. It has become an annual event and I LOVE IT......with big their big tents - flauting my regulations this year-

Family means food and campfires and lots of tomfoolery, silly stories and laughter and dreamy evenings watching stars.

 This year my brother and sister have their own family dogs,

So we had even more fun walking on the beach with a platoon of children, adults and dogs,

Beach art is always a plenty in cornwall and this rather spectacular Stonehenge was just asking for a photograph!

Our campsite is the perfect place for my niece and nephews to have fun........

 and only a short hop to the beach to have more family fun.........

.......watch out for small children with rounders bats!

Camping camping camping

July has gone in a blur with camping in full swing

Our Campsite only holds up to 13-14 individuals, which is usually made up of 4 pitches for couples or families, a pitch for a single person/tent plus the camping cabin, which can accomodate one or two persons.  So, although our camping paddock may not look "full" in the photos, it is!

Our Campsite philosophy is not about 'cramming as many as we can' into our camping paddock, instead, we hope to provide a happy and unique camping experience by not overstretching our off-grid facilities.

The Camping Cabin continues to be really popular as an alternative option.

When booking the cabin it is important to remember that only bottom sheets and pillows are provided and you need to bring duvets or sleeping bags. This keeps cleaning and washing minimal for me and the cost minimal for you!
A solar charged lamp is provided in the cabin but a torch is always a good idea on site and although I can provide you with hot water for tea/coffee when I am on-site, your own apparatus gives you more flexibility.

The hot weather may have turned the grass yellow and reduced grazing for the animals at Ashfarm but our neighbour's hedges have been shooting some amazing succulent flowers in response

and we have had to think alternatively for our sheep who have, as an experiment been grazing an agapanthus field. This has reduced the amount of strimming, weeding and mowing that needs to be done by the Bulb Growers and provided our Portland and Zwartble sheep with some much needed 'greenstuff'.

And the wonderful July sunshine was too much for me, the tack had to be assembled

and I just had to take the horses out for some lovely short rides in order to catch some super snapshot views of St Michael's Mount - always best viewed through the ears of a horse....

And there was an unusual use of a camping airbed from the campsite....co-opted as a raft for a race from St Michael's Mount to Marazion beach, for those who live and work on the Mount, for a bit of fun. I was convinced the airbed raft would sink because of the velour covering but I was mistaken. Not only did it not sink but it won!

And finally after the hottest July we have had for years the rain clouds came....

..bringing rain and greenness and grazing at last! Oh and some lovely campers brought me a gorgeous bunch of sunflowers to ensure the sun also came out, even when it was raining.

June Camping

June has been a fantastic month for sunshine.

True we have had some misty and mizzly (mixture of mist and drizzle) days but we have had some hot, sunshine filled ones too, allowing me to ride down on the beach and enjoy some local views.

Camping has commenced as a steady trickle of tents and camper vans.

And the Camping Cabin has been incredibly popular. Advertised through Airbnb, you can either book through them or direct with myself via the campsite.

The cabin is an excellent alternative to a tent, with bunkbeds, table, chairs, baskets and under bed storage boxes for clothes etc Bottom sheets and pillows and cases are provided and you bring your own duvets or sleeping bags. A solar charged lamp is in the cabin and a carbon monoxide detector, but we strongly recommend to use your gas stove outside for safety and fire reasons.

There are a couple of benches on the decking to provide seating and relaxation and you share the compost toilets and shower and changing-room with other camping guests.

On the small holding the sheep have had their woolly jackets removed!
The Portlands now look top heavy with their horns.

June also is the month of our county show The Royal Cornwall Show. It is an annual event for me and nowadays I often go for two out of the three days. One day is a girlie day, looking at crafts and horsey shopping as well as some main ring events. 

And the second is to facilitate the young farmer in the family, networking and looking at sheep, beef cattle, tractors and farm machinery, the steam fair and all the things that boys like to look at.

This year, it also meant that 'mum' was only the taxi, so I got a whole day to wallow in horse classes and main ring watching....wonderful! And I know it is a little controversial, but I do love watching the hunting pinks and hounds go around.

Campsite is Open

Campsite opened half-term week and some lovely families have enjoyed our green and pleasant land at Ludgvan. The camping paddock has been busy with bikes and surfboards and footballs, children, barbeques and campfires.

Great start to the season. A couple of guests even turned up the night before we opened and tested the Camping Cabin and campsite out as a fore-runner to the season.....cheeky!

Campers have arrived at night and disappeared off to the beach or biking during the day

and enjoyed the walk down to the pub in the evenings, which takes less than 5 minutes.

The changing-room has been restocked with a library of cornish books and cornish stories for campers to borrow. If you like books, cornish or otherwise, Penzance and St Ives have some great book shops, often with signed copies.

The sheep have moved back into the field adjacent to camping paddock

and the ewes and lambs and rams have been checked for fly-strike and clipped around their tails to reduce the risk. We await the shearer coming mid June - should have booked him earlier........

The grass is greening up a little and the fields looking more lush, so the horses have had a bit of extra grass to eat too.

Not to be left out, the 'team of boys' have been having fun in the sun, adapting the go-kart and turning it into a lawnmower trailer

All aboard the skylark!

 And the campers and I have enjoyed alfresco meals with a view

The campsite is open and it really feels like summer is here!