The huge snowfalls over the last few days have made most local roads impassable.

Our Landrovers have been pressed into service helping local residents to get out, collecting post and doing the shopping. The beauty of the heavy snow covering takes some beating but the inconvenience, freezing weather conditions and blocked roads tend to make things more interesting! 

Today saw the final commissioning of our biomass boiler. Fuelled by woodchip, sourced entirely from wood clearance on the farm, the boiler will provide heat for all of the buildings and developments on the farm.

This is an exciting project as it will not only reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, thereby benefiting the environment, but also allows cleared wood to be effectively used for heat purposes as opposed to being wasted. A real “win....win” and thanks must go to local installers Treco for their effective management of the project. 

Building works to the shootroom finished today. The old barn has been completely restored on both floors using original building materials and stone sourced both locally and from the estate.

Sadly, due to a scarcity of English Oak, much of that used in the rebuild came from France (but maybe it’s recompense for much of our Oak having been used to build ships to sink their fleets in various wars in years gone by!).

The shootroom will allow us the entertain ‘guns’ in some fairly sumptuous surroundings and also act as an essential lecture area for our partners’ game cookery demonstrations. 

The new office was ‘open for business’ today. Created adjoining the main house (and adjacent to the planned shootroom) the office provides independent access and a dedicated area from which to run the various operations at Mornacott.

Before building could begin the old 'shillet' from the bank to the rear of the main house had to be cleared and a nine foot retaining wall built to support the steep banks behind the house. This has also helped to alleviate the damp problems experienced through the bank having slipped down to cob walling.