8th February 2024

Some you lose…

One day last month when I was checking that the chickens had food and water, I did a quick head count and discovered one missing from the middle flock. I worked out which one by process of elimination and when I opened up the hen house, found her cold and dead. It’s always sad, but I reassured myself that she’d had a long life, most dates seem to be classified as pre or post pandemic nowadays, and can’t have been very ill or in much pain as she’d been running around the garden just the day before. Click through for full post with brighter news!

Last month, we had our first Full Day Bee Keeping course and, as we went through each of the three colonies in the garden, I explained to our guests that it can take a while for them to build up after winter. Fortunately, this didn’t lead to complacency as within three days, another of our colonies was planning to swarm…

Sophie Farrah, editor of The Richmond Magazine, certainly does her research when she puts together the Food pages. She has previously been to Hen Corner for a course or two and we are delighted to have been featured in her seasonal piece on baking classes. 

It’s always lovely when a course guest wants to share their experience with others and we are thrilled that as Sophie Farrah has been promoted to Editor of The Richmond Magazine, she has featured Hen Corner in her seasonal piece on Christmas puddings.

Over the last year we’ve really enjoyed our online cooking courses! Guests have discovered so many benefits of joining in from their own kitchens based all over the world. This month, we are honoured that food writer Sophie Farrah has profiled our classes along with those offered by Marco Pierre White and other Michelin starred chefs…

Save your kissing under the mistletoe for Valentine’s Day and, whilst you are there, have a go at propagating your own! Read all about it in this month’s column, The Good Life in the City, in Country Living Magazine.

It was a pleasure to welcome Emily Bevan for lunch at Hen Corner recently, and an absolute delight to read her ‘Big Smallholder Interview’ in Country Smallholding Magazine… Though we’ve…

How lovely to read in ‘Let’s move to Brentford, west London’ that word on the street recommends river side walks and visiting Hen Corner…

Here we are, a New Year with loads of new opportunities ahead of us, just inviting us to grab hold of them as they come into reach.
I know I’m not alone in having good intentions for a new rhythm that brings balance to work and home.

‘Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.’* *Henry James This week I was delighted to join an enthusiastic…