It's been a long time since those snowy days in winter and we have been incredibly busy over the past weeks with family business, Mowbarton Estate and the sparkling wine, plus of course the Barn and the Shepherd's Hut. The Barn has got a brand new pergola leading from the car port through to the incredibly sunny and sheltered garden. The old vine hasn't yet established itself over the arch but I am confident it soon will. Plants grow like wildfire in that warm sheltered spot and I am forever having to trim branches back to prevent nature taking over entirely! Although the vines on the Estate aren't quite at that stage yet, you can see they aren't doing badly. I had planned to take a weekly picture to chart their progress. But, like New Year's resolutions and the best-laid plans, that worthy intention has disappeared.

The other thing that is disappearing rather fast is our 2016 vintage! We produced around 200 bottles from that first harvest - and it's going down very well indeed. Once we have the proper labels (the bottle in the picture is a mock-up) we will start selling properly. Some of our Barn and Hut guests have already enjoyed sampling the wine - as have friends and family! Our 2017 harvest yielded over 1500 bottles so, with that level of expansion year on year,  I am rather nervous about how the 2018 batch will fare. Remember all the sun of last summer? Mind you, judging by the performance of our rhododendrons this year, it looks as though 2019 will prove equally bountiful with long warm days ahead.

Why not come and stay?