September 2025

A busy start to the summer for the beekeeper Andrew but the dry consistent weather meant that lots of important pollen producing plants such as heather and ivy quickly burnt up as the summer progressed. Resulting in an unusually poorer harvest for this time in the year. The bees will continue to forage for pollen across our wildlife rich woodland and pastures which will be stored for winter.

Beekeepers are hesitant taking away too much honey once the first frost arrives as this is vital to the colony’s survival during winter months.

When planning around next year's lambs starts to take over conversations, we know the summer is starting to come to an end! By the middle of September these plans will be well in place. The rams will be getting a haircut, hooves trimmed, and teeth checked (all an important sign in a sheep’s health and wellbeing).

The dry spell continued throughout August, and now here we are in September with a forecast promising rain every day for the next week (fingers crossed!).

After weeks of parched fields and dusty tracks, the prospect of some much-needed rain is a welcome change. While the sunshine has been great for holidaymakers, our pastures and gardens could really use a good soak. Let’s hope the forecast holds true and brings a refreshing break from the dryness-both for the land and for those of us who enjoy the sound of rain on the roof!

The summer holidays are coming to an end shortly and farms up and down the country have been given a helping hand by family members. Here at Fordhall we were lucky to have Ben’s 12-year-old son Jamie, who lent a hand across various departments across the farm shop, butchery, catering team and farm this summer. He wasn’t the only youngster here on the farm as throughout the warm weather we’ve welcomed many families visited and went out across our free to access farm trails and witnessed the true meaning of field to fork.

Keep and eye out in the future as we are sure Jamie will be involved somewhere else down the line!