Apley butcher pies in national competition

Neighbour ploughing field with 2016’s crops

Cow drinking from pond, Apley Estate

Apley’s butcher John Callinswood, who works alongside Craig Whitehouse on the butchery counter at Apley Farm Shop, has taken his pies to The Great Yorkshire Pork Pie & Sausage competition, which is the leading national pie competition which took place today, Sunday 11 October.

a competition in Yorkshire this weekend. I can’t wait to speak to him tomorrow or to hear the results. Just to enter & to be there is great, of course.

With our Autumn film in mind, I’ve been spotting good Autumnal shots wherever I go, whatever time of day. As I arrived back on Friday night at 7pm, tractors were working with flood lights in the fields nearby, ploughing, drilling & sowing 2016’s crops. I nipped out for a last minute ride this afternoon & saw flocks of birds following the shiny plough of our neighbour’s tractor. It was yet another glorious autumn day, 15 degrees & sunny, perfect for an hour with Venetia on her pony on the Estate. It’s always very hard to take photos from the saddle, let alone zoom in, before the pony wants to get going again.

As well as the usual weekly tasks, I’m trying to get estate & archive photos mounted on huge canvasses in the farm shop, complete my 2016 marketing strategies, 2016 harvest plan ideas for Apley Walled, Garden, update the walled garden website with our Illustrated Crop Report (ICR), a marketing presentation to staff, the labels for the Fourth Apley Archive Exhibition, & finish a talk on country estate food production (past & present). Half term starts on Friday, when the children will be home all week, so I’ve got 5 days to clear my desk ! It gets busy at Apley Farm Shop during our Spookley Pumpkin Festival which starts Sat 17 & Sun 18 Oct – ie 6 days to go ! Book your tickets HERE or click HERE for more details. After this weekend, the pumpking fun continues 24-31 Oct.