Out for Brekkie!: Westlands Farm and Garden Beauty

What a busy morning we had on Saturday, so many things we wanted to fit in. First of all we went to The Garden Beauty plant sale which is held three times a year and is becoming more and more popular. It is at Lowaters Nursery in Hook lane. It gets very busy so it is worth going early. We arrived about 8.45 and it was already packed. All the plants look so healthy and the prices are excellent. The larger shrubs all seem to be £6 and the smaller ones £2.50.

This is a selection of the plants that Jan bought.

After we had finished going round the nursery we took off to Westlands Farm at Shedfield. The main reason was to visit the lambing week-end, but we thought we would eat breakfast first as it didn't open until ten. We have been to the farm shop before, last year in fact and to be honest at that visit we weren't all that impressed with the service, very slow. Anyway we thought we would give them another try and chose something which we thought would be a bit quicker. We decided to have eggs on toast and it was served very quickly by very friendly staff. A much better experience this time. Our brekkies cost £4.50 each plus coffee.

Now for the highlight of the day, the lambing. It costs £3 each for adults and £1.50 each for children and it was lovely to see. We were lucky enough to see twin lambs born, one of which was rushed off for an emergency operation but was back in about 15 minutes. The staff weren't very sure if it would survive or not we hope it did.

This is the stronger one just minutes old.

Just trying to stand.

This is the weaker one after it's op having been cleaned up.

We were lucky enough to be allowed to hold some of the lambs born the day before and they are so cuddly. I would like to have brought one home but not sure the dogs would have appreciated them.

We could have spent all day looking at the lambs.
Because this is a slightly smaller set up than when we visited Sparsholt, we found that you were able to get up close and personal. You could reach into the pens and and they would come up and suck your fingers.

The lambing is open for two week-ends, so there is still a chance to visit if it appeals to you next week.

We've managed to do a few walks this week without getting coated in mud. A couple of local walks to the boardwalk on the way to Chilling which can be very wet but wasn't too bad. We've also done Warsash Common and on Sunday we went with our friend Barbara to Manor Farm. First time this year because that can be very muddy but this week it was ok.

A few pictures.