Just a little over one year ago we had a rant in this section about the potholes that were causing havoc along the lane to Mornacott.  Finally, after years of patch repairs, we are delighted to say that the journey to and from Mornacott and the North Devon Link Road will now be a smooth one as the Council has blessed us with funding and is now undertaking proper resurfacing!  We're pretty sure that this will be greatly appreciated by all of our Mornacott guests.

The end of March sees the annual Exmoor Keeper's Challenge which was held this year at Milton's Estate just outside Dulverton.  Charles Owen, our Estate Manager, and Toby Penton, our Gamekeeper once again teamed up with the Portledge Estate to represent Mornacott for the fourth year running.

The competition was fierce, and the team were delighted, if somewhat suprised as they were announced as the winners with a 10 point lead over the other teams bringing their total wins in the last four years to three.

The Mornacott team would like to thank the hosts for a great day with great company and what was a great event.

This weekend saw the arrival of our newest batch of pigs names (from left to right) Guinevere, Galahad, Lancelot, Percival, Arthur and Merlin.  At only 8 weeks old they're all growing well and are looking forward to meeting the first of our new holiday guest arrivals this weekend.

The pigs are a Pietrain cross and it's anticipated that they'll all be fully grown by the end of the summer holiday season.

For such young weaners they're already pretty boisterous and full of character.

Despite Hurrican Doris, the occasional glorious sunny day reminds us that Spring is on its way. Here at Mornacott preparation is underway for our lambing and calving season and the Estate is beginning to come to life with new flora and fauna.

Another fantastic shooting season drew to an end with our traditional Beater's Day.  This year, more than usual, our beater's stoically battled against the odds enduring snow, storms and floods to deliver wonderful shooting days for our guests.  A well earned roast dinner was enjoyed by all.

Improving quality in farming takes time and lots of effort. Charlie, our stockman, joined us almost two years ago and immediately began a programme to improve the quality of the herd focussing on diet, nutrition and breeding. We were all absolutely delighted with the first external endorsement of his labours when our Ruby Red cattle took second and third places at the annual fat stock show in South Molton last week. Well done to Charlie and the rest of the team for their labours which are now starting to show some solid results.