Some photos...

Like the chickens. They remind me of my child years back home. Nature in its original form. Lovely.

I would love to keep chickens, but, far too many cats around here and even if they were in a chicken enclosure they'd be scared to death! Very nice blog Jennyfer, thanks for sharing your pictures!

Quite the reverse here! Did you know that cats are actually scared of chickens, rather than the other way around? Its quite entertaining :P We have to be careful when there are chicks, but the rest of the time the cats will stay well away!

There is one skinny little female lives two houses up from here, she does get fed as her owner asked if I would feed her and her brother for nearly three weeks! She is very adept at catching and dragging off wood pigeons which must weigh as much as her, I don't think a chicken would phase this girl! Poor thing has had a litter of kittens, every few months, since it was old enough to do so. I have spoken more than once to her owner about her and their male cat too, which sprays all over our garden and doors along with about four other males, I'm at the end of my tether with it all, the smell is dreadful!

lovely to see your pictures ~ looks like a woodland garden, very pretty.

Thanks :)
and urgh! that sounds very unpleasant Helenium :( Have you mentioned getting it neutered to the owner? That should stop the spraying at least... I did a quick google of cat deterrants and got distracted by a forum full of angry cat-abused people, among suggestions of using AK 47s, hot pepper flakes and chopped up oranges were mentioned, to varying degrees of success. Also there is a plant (Coleus canina) that cats are supposed to hate, might be worth a go? Right now I am feeling quite grateful that we don't live near enough to other people for our cats to bother them... saying that our nearest neighbour doesn't seem to feed his enough so they come down and terrorize ours. I have tried water pistols and even waterbombs. It doesn't seem to work for long, but that and running out and yelling at them can be quite satisfactorary :P

As far as chickens go, I think its a fairly general thing that cats don't like them... chickens can be quite nifty with their beaks I think, and after a while cats will give up. Ours are both quite big, and one was a very good hunter in her youth, and while they are perfectly capable of climbing up the fence, when the chickens are in their pen they stay firmly on the other side.

(I am not suggesting the shooting part though! I think there were some slightly sick (if understandably annoyed) people on that forum).

Get a dog lol, since we got Rocky none of the neighbours cats venture into the garden! Not practical i know must be awful for you Helenium.
Nice blog Jennyfer love the candlestick Primula pretty pink :o)

Thanks Sewingkilla :) although thats all mum's doing :P

And getting a dog or a (neutered) cat of your own would probably help :P

Very pretty flower photos :o)

helenium,steal the cat and have it speyed,i did this to an old neighbor,poor thing was always pregnant,my dad has a sonic gun which works very well,love the primula might get some pretty pink ones

l like your pictures nice flowers

Jenny...your property at home is lovely....so countryfied (is that a word??)...and the canal/stream nearby. I think you will find lots to occupy you in the gardening realm once you are home...hope there is a wealth of sunshine for the hours you will want to be out-of-doors :)

Nice, freshly laid eggs for brekkie too :) Oh the perks of going home, eh?

hehe, they come out very yellow! Especially the few we get from late autumn - early spring when they're allowed the run of the garden.... I remember when I was younger when we first got them (before these particular ones), being shocked by bright yellow cakes that were made with them :P

I really can't wait to get home (although I do love it up here in Newcastle), I think there will be plenty to occupy myself with... even if i should really be revising *sob* They always put exams right after the holidays... it makes you feel guilty all the time for not working :P

And if countryfied isn't a word, it should be :P How're things going in your patch?

Oh, and thanks Terra, Ladybug and Anndavies :) The pink primulas can be very pretty, we also have some magenta candelabra ones that are lovely :]

It's your home. Never compare it with another place. There will always be somewhere more tidy and somewhere less tidy, but that's not the point is it ... You have some lovely photos of it.

Lovely pic of the orchard corner ... and the canal is gorgeous. Well done, Jennyfer! : o )

Jenny....on the garden development front things are moving at a snail's pace :( A second quote in for the hard graft jobs (turf, rockery, shaping borders) is out of our budget.

I expect we will have to cut down my garden plans and get the essentials done and then carry on with smaller projects, letting them evolve as energy, time and money permits.

Once the turf is down and some extra topsoil we can sort flowerbeds...I've been to a plant fair today and bought several plants in anticipation so it needs doing pronto :)

So...it's a work in progress, Jenny.

Thanks everyone on the cat deterents! I didn't mean to hijack your blog Jennyfer! Sorry!

Teehee, don't worry about it Helenium :P

Thanks Hywel, I will try not to :P While I love it, I sometimes worry that other people will judge it for being scruffy and wild compared to most people's (saying that, you haven't seen it in the summer when the nettles are over my head :P), but I find it beautiful in its own right :) And It means we get a lot of wildlife in it :)

And thankyou Shirley, although I must say that its all the stuff that was there already, and the pictures were all taken by my mother, and emailed to me so I could see the flowers coming out :)

I'm sorry to hear that your quote wasn't good Whistonlass :( Hopefully you will be able to get the basics done, and then build on that as time goes by :) At least with flowers you know that they will multiply without much expense ;) I hope things work out soon and you can get all your lovely new plants settled in :)

Thanks Judy :)

and we lovwe looking jen................ love hens , i have 6 . there so funny arnt they

Yes, so daffy :P We have a cockerel at the moment that goes 'cock-a-doodle-croak' its sounds quite strange :P

Love the chooks Jennyfer, we used to keep chicken and had a maren chicken, believe it or not they all had names. Our huge cockerel had a heart attack one day when we had a very bad thunder storm, it was so sad....

oooooooo poor cockrel ........... but dont they send hens broody

Oh no :( Its so sad when you get attatched to them :/ Our cockerel at the moment is called 'Charlie 2', after his father, who was such a gent to all the hens... My mum is even able to tell apart all the buff ones, madness! They are such sweet daft things (except for when they claw up the flower borders!!)

And yes, I think they might Cristina... we certainly get more broodies now that we have a cockerel than when we used not to. Mum has to keep lifting them off the nest box, either that or they go off and make nests in the garden... one of them last time we were hunting for for ages, only to find out she was right outside the kitchen window all along! Chicks are very sweet, but you just end up with even more of a cockerel problem afterwards :(