Thursday 9/7/26  Fred gave us two scaffold planks to make ramps for loading the mower into the trailer to take it to the mill. This will save petrol as we had to drive the mower two miles every time we use it, the top speed is only 5.5mph so it will also save time. We hooked up the trailer and took it to the mill with the scaffold planks. Last week we removed seats from the trailer to make room for the mower. 

At the mill we saw the two stock dove chicks in the nest box, they have really grown, we didn’t see the parents today but they must be feeding them or they wouldn’t have survived. The free Heritage Open Days materials arrived so I brought the package to the mill and opened it while we had tea, there are only flags, bunting and a carrier bag this time, as we have several banners left over from previous years.

It was very hot so we parked the trailer in the shade and tried the planks resting on top of the trailer floor, we fitted screws near the top to fit over the lip of the trailer to stop them falling out and loaded the mower, but the cutting deck scraped the ends of the planks and got stuck, so we put thick pieces of wood in the trailer against the planks which gave extra lift, the cutting deck then cleared the ramps. 

The planks bent under the weight of the mower and operator, so we cut wooden supports with my mitre saw and fitted them to the ramps with hinges. This restricted the bending, we loaded and unloaded the mower several times to test the ramps.

Eddie got buckets of river water for Anne Marie to water the gardens. Hollyhocks and Lobelia are flowering around the trees. We all had lunch outside and Anne Marie told us about her 34 mile walk along the Nar Valley Way with her friend. They had already walked from Pentney to Kings Lynn, then last Sunday they walked from Pentney to a B&B in Litcham where they stayed overnight, then on to Gressenhall, but after Castle Acre it doesn't follow the river and the source of the Nar at Mileham can't be seen.

After lunch Anne Marie walked back and Eddie took the push mower over to the Nar Valley Way and cut the grass on the footpath opposite the mill including around the bench seat, while I cut paths through our wildflower meadow again as well as the clearing for the picnic bench. Eddie also filled the bird food.

Last week I took the insect hotel home to repair as canes were missing again, this time I used much more glue, so I hope the birds won’t be able to pull canes out. I put it back on the stand in the meadow today.

We watered the gardens again as we had two buckets of river water left, then loaded the mower into the trailer with the ramps beside it, the supports were folded flat. We went back to The Maltings and unloaded the mower, we need to modify the ramps to ensure they don’t fall out of the trailer, which we’ll do another time.

Thursday 16/7/26  We planned to modify our mower ramps today, but Graeme and Fred have made us a new pair of ramps which lock securely into the back of the trailer and are painted with anti-slip paint. Debra was the ‘Test Pilot’ as she drove the mower up the new ramps into the trailer to check them. They are much safer than the scaffold boards. Eddie and I also tested them this morning but we didn’t take the mower today as the drought has stopped the grass growing.

At the mill we had tea and biscuits and noticed the wagon has been cleaned and tidied by Debra, new lights have also been fitted. We watered the gardens and trees using water from the river and our water butt. The garden in front of the visitor centre is looking particularly good with more cosmos in flower, the sunflower plant has almost reached the height of the dormer, so I wired it to the building to support it. 

A pair of swans appeared in the river while we were watering, but no cygnets. A duck spent most of the day on our river bank and the stock dove chicks are still in the nest box, we saw three birds on the nest camera, so one must be the parent.

There are lots of thistles in the wildflower meadow now and I noticed the insect hotel I repaired recently still has all the canes in place. Marigolds have started flowering and there are still a few poppies and cornflowers.

Eddie started cutting up the pile of wood we brought back from a fallen tree before the open days, he stacked them on a pallet as both logstores are full. I tried splitting the large diameter logs, but they need to season longer as they would not split very well.

My wife Jan is starting a birdwatching group and needs materials for a presentation, so I got the old notice boards from the visitor centre for her to borrow, as well as leaflet racks and picture stands which originally came from her book launch.

While having lunch outside I noticed brambles and tall weeds near the wildlife habitat, so after lunch I cut them down and took them to the incinerator ready to burn when its safe to have a fire. I noticed the large poppies had gone to seed and turned brown, so I cut off the seed heads and saved them ready to use next season.

Before we came back we watered the gardens again as the soil was completely dry. We then brought the notice boards back to The Maltings, on the way a green woodpecker flew across the track right in front of us.

Graham Bartlett  

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