Our 2 weeks of glorious sunshine ended today in a cool sea mist and a cherry blossom ‘snow fall’. The warmth has given us a great burst of growth and life. The anemones are still here (just), but they’ve been joined by successive waves of white blossom. First plum, then cherry and now apple, pear and blackthorn. In the woods a white carpet of wild garlic (ramsons or ramsløg) has begun, while cowslips and wild tulips turn our roadside verges yellow.
All this has been fantastic to watch and smell, but probably the most impressive of our Spring flower spectacles has been the dazzling display of dandelions in our meadows. The sheen of yellow buzzes with bees and as Katrin said, it feels like you’re living in an episode of Heidi!
Summer migrant birds have returned to fill our home with song. Nightingales (of the eastern thrush variety) arrived last night with an incredibly loud burst from our white bedecked blackthorn scrub, while delicate wood warblers trill and vibrate in the woods. We’re still hoping that a swallow pair will choose to nest with us this year, but there’s always groups swirling around the house now – welcome back you beauties, we must look a bit odd to them after months spent in southern Africa with antelope and elephants for company.
Stavehøl really does look and feels fantastic at the moment and luckily we’re sharing it with a good number of lovely guests too – nice to see so many people here enjoying the sunshine and our serenity after the lonely months of Winter.
There’s not really been much time to sit and contemplate though as we’ve started our new vegetable garden, renovated garden furniture, cut our grass (x4 or 5) and have now started the frankly scary task of building the big wooden platforms for our yurt and bell tents. The platform construction has involved lots of geometry (eek), the hauling of 96 lengths of douglas fir and larch from our very local and very friendly saw mill, and lots of splinters. We have to get them ready for folkmødet in 5 weeks time (when every last space at Stavehøl will be filled) – so no pressure!
For more regular updates of life at Stavehøl, we’re now on facebook (at facebook.com/stavehol) and we might even get around to tweeting if we remember – so please like or follow us, it’ll make us feel all warm and loved.
We’re filling up for the Summer but there’s still quite a lot of space in August if you’d like to sample the ‘glamping’ lifestyle – and remember booking directly with us saves paying any fees, which is nice.
