Tale of the Lonesome Willow

As the fine, dry weather and sunshine continued, we decided that the time was ideal to plant and seed the island of our new pond, before the water got too deep!

Jim and Colin spent a few days toiling in the spring sunshine digging, raking, planting seeds and bulbs, and of course the weeping willow.

Now its down to Mother Nature to do her bit, before we start to think about the fun part - FISH!

Almost Done!

Just a few finishing touches, and we're almost done! The diggers have almost finished here, but our hard work will continue! Whilst we will need to allow the new pond to settle for a while before we can actually fill it, there is plenty of sowing and planting to be done in the meantime!

Rallying the Troops!

So the digging continued in earnest despite the freezing weather (don't be fooled by the blue sky - it was cold!) but Gillian was on hand with jugs full of steaming hot soup to keep the wheels moving!

It was worth all of the effort in the end, and we could finally see how our new pond was going to look........

Fishing Hut on the Move

Sometimes, there are crucial decisions to be made, and luckily for us Gillian was on hand to make them! In this case, the tackle shed was in the way of our new pond and had to be moved!

Regular fishers here at Forda will be relieved to hear that the shed survived the move intact, and lives to store another day!

The Big Dig

Diggers arrived at the end of January, and watched over by Jim and Colin (like anxious fathers to be!) the new lake finally started to take shape.

Countless tons of earth were expertly moved around, transforming Forda's landscape!

Further pictures and updates to follow very soon!

A New Addition

Preparations for our new pond went ahead as planned in January, and many chilly days were spent clearing the scrub land, chopping down trees and lighting huge bonfires (which not only got rid of the waste, but went a fair way to ensuring that we didn't freeze!)

Eventually, we managed to transform the area from this........

to this.........!!!!!!!

The next step was for the diggers to arrive - more on this to follow very soon!

Let it Snow!

First of all we would like to wish all of our Forda friends, old and new, a very happy and prosperous New Year!

And talking of New Year (and Christmas too) the festive season here at Forda was the coldest in over a hundred years, and blanketed in snow!

It certainly looked pretty, but we did have a few concerns about whether or not our guests would manage to get in (and out again!)

Thanks to a friendly neighbour who cleared a pathway through the snow with his digger, crisis was averted!

Even the frozen lakes didn't deter our fishing guests, and we're pleased to report that one guest had a very productive session on Christmas Day.