The Arrival of Kerswell Maggie

December 2009: Osbaston Stud is pleased to welcome Kerswell Maggie to her new home! Maggie is a beautiful, ‘senior’, golden dun mare with some wonderful bloodlines; Maggie’s grandsire is Ron of North Wells, and her dam, Kerswell Morag and sire, Kerswell Morston are both striking dun ponies. Maggie is in foal to the palomino stallion, Kerswell Kingcup.

Farewell Feather Downers

November 2009: Well it’s time to say goodbye to Feather Down for another season. Thank you to everyone who visited us, and for your kind words and super photographs. We will be getting the tents ready for their winter rest and before you know it, March will be here. We are planning on establishing a viewing gallery in the milking parlour for guests as the goats are such an attraction! Bookings are already going very well for 2010, and we hope you can join us again. Meanwhile, we will enjoy a well deserved rest over the winter season.

Harvest Time!

October 2009: As autumn approaches work on the farm gets busy. The maize crops are in, and it’s been a bumper year which is great news for the goats, they do love their maize!

The fields have been ploughed ready for the drilling of next year’s crop. We need some rain to make everything settle in well and start growing. Here’s to another good crop in 2010.

An Indian Summer

September 2009: The weather has been fabulous for the Feather Down guests and the young stock alike!

Blossoming Bluebell, Peaches first foal is doing very well, playful, mischievous and drinking lots of milk from poor Mum!

Shetland Pony Foals!

August 2009: Two foals have arrived! Milly of Merilin, our beautiful strawberry roan mare foaled in the early hours of the morning on the 10th August. A strong colt, who experienced a day of constant rain on his arrival into the outside world!  He is suckling lots, running around & sleeping lots! Shoemaker Wind in the Willows, stable name, Peaches, gave birth to her first ever foal on Saturday morning, 15th August.  A tiny, pale roan filly foal, adorable, very lively.  The new ‘mums’ are spending  a few days on their own and then the foals, Josh, Milly & Peaches will all be put together.

Zoe's Birthday Party

July 2009: Zoe and her friends had a fabulous time with the ponies at the farm on Sunday 12th July.  A birthday celebration to remember....all the ponies were very well behaved and the girls did a fabulous job in making them look wonderful.

Find out more about our Pony Parties

Another Group Booking

June 2009: The group enjoyed a fantastic weekend, weather was glorious......the guests arrived from all over the country and met at the farm to enjoy a three day holiday together. 

Pony Updates!

May 2009: Peaches and Milly, the broodmares, are getting bigger and are both due to foal in August.  Josh will be having a visiting mare from Yorkshire arrive very shortly, and we are sure that he will be delighted with his new girlfriend; Shadow is a pretty Palomino Miniature Shetland.  And finally, Brucie is on his way, Brucie is a 33inch 9 year old strawberry roan stallion from Wales, he has some fantastic Tawna and Fairy bloodlines and will be arriving on lease from Tygwyn Miniature Shetlands.

Kellie Welcomes William!

April 2009: William is a gorgeous 14 year old Warmblood Gelding who has been re-homed from the Blue Cross Sanctuary. Kellie Pickles is the proud new ‘Mum’ of William and was smitten the moment he arrived on the yard. William will be living at Osbaston House Farm Stables.

A Pony Party for Elizabeth's 5th Birthday!

March 2009: Elizabeth and her friends enjoyed their Pony Party at the farm, they all became expert at pony grooming, making a fuss of the ponies and lead reining the ponies. The party highlight was an exciting series of on foot gymkhana field games with prize rosettes awarded for the ‘Best Dressed Pony’, ‘Best Pony Handler’ and ‘Best Gymkhana Pony’.

A Rolls Royce Arrives!

February 2009: Well the Rolls Royce of tractors….the farm has upgraded one of the very old John Dere tractors for a super second-hand Fendt tractor. Colin from Cately Engineering, Market Bosworth delivered the tractor to a very proud John. Fendt’s are made and manufactured in Bayern, Germany and are renowned for their reliability, durability and sturdiness.

Toy Ducks Arrive!

January 2009: A family of six Call ducks has joined the farm. The Call duck is the smallest breed of domestic duck, weighing only 1-1/2lbs often known as the ‘toy’ duck, this is definitely the comedian of the duck family - noisy, small, cute, and absolutely gorgeous. They are real chatterboxes and highly vocal. The male ducks, known as Drakes, can be spotted by their curly tail!

Joining the Call ducks are five new hens!

January 2009 :The cream Legbar hen is one of the older breeds of hen, the Legbar is a crested hen that lays eggs in beautiful pastel colours; eau-de-nil, olive, turquoise, pink and peach. The colours are perfectly natural and are akin to the eggs laid by many wild birds. She is a prolific layer, producing in excess of 230 eggs in the first year, and up to 430 over three years. Her eggs have a hard shell, a dense texture, with a large yolk and superb flavour.

Merry Xmas!

December 2008: Wishing all our guests a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  We hope that you have an enjoyable break and bring the New Year in with a cheer. We look forward to you visiting us again and welcoming you back to farm life.

Best wishes, John & Sharon.

And not forgetting…..the darling goats, Darcy (Clumber spaniel), Delia (Horse), the gorgeous Shetland ponies and of course your hens!

John and Sharon on Holiday!

November 2008: We jetted off to the Masai Mara in Kenya early one frosty November morning for our long awaited safari holiday. Our home was a wonderful tent at Little Governors Camp, in the heart of the Africa plains. We had a truly incredible holiday; travelling to the Tanzania border where the scenery was spectacular. The highlight was finally spotting the elusive leopard and a female cheetah with her very young cubs.

Tally Ho!

September 2008: A beautiful new horse has joined the farm; Delia is a gentle, inquisitive mare, she is 15.3h, 10 years old and a gorgeous dark grey roan. A few tears were shed at Walnut Farm, Hallaton, as Georgie, Jane and Tam kissed her goodbye to make way for Georgie’s new horse, Bruno. Delia has been getting out and about on the farm, saying hello to the goats and the guests, she is settling in well and is sharing her paddock with the Shetland youngsters, much to their disdain at the moment!

It's Official, It's a First!

August 2008: Osbaston House Farm successfully hosted the exclusive wedding celebrations of Featherdown guests, Craig & Annie Langman. Annie and Craig enjoyed glorious sunny weather for their unique wedding on the 2nd August at Osbaston House Farm, Leicestershire. They trundled their way down to waiting guests and oodles of applause on the farm’s rustic hay tractor. Both bride and groom looked stunning; Annie in a fitted ivory gown and Craig in a pale grey pinstripe suit & shades!

Guests flew in from far and wide; America, Ireland and France and the wellies theme was all the rage with plenty of colourful, trendy wellingtons on show accompanied by chic summer fashion.

Over 100 hundred guests enjoyed a delicious BBQ and mouth-watering hog roast accompanied by a live jazz band well into the early hours.

Annie and Craig Langman are now enjoying their honeymoon in the south of France.

Haymaking

July 2008: We waited five days for the conditions to be as near as perfect for haymaking.  On the 25th July it was ‘all hands to the deck’ as we rushed to make hay while the sun shined!  At the end of a long, long day we’d worked fifty acres of land and produced two hundred large square bales of hay out of the feather down spinney and surrounding fields.  Are you wondering how long it will take our charming goats to munch their way through that lot….well it will take just two hundred days!  In a year we use about five hundred large bales, and to make this much hay we need nearly 120 acres of grassland.  

Sharon's Jam

July 2008: The first few batches of Sharon’s homemade strawberry jam have been made and are appearing on the shelves in the Cow Shed. The jam is sweet and thick with lots of strawberries, perfect for the summer with cream and scones or freshly baked bread. As the summer fruits flourish around the farm throughout the summer months more jams flavours will be made!

Happy Campers!

May 2008: The featherdown season is proving as popular as ever with guests falling in love with the Leicestershire countryside, local attractions, and the farm! We've got our fingers crossed for a glorious late Indian summer which will encourage guests to enjoy the autumn months of September and October on the farm.

Here Eilidh and Emily Adams playing with the tractors and enjoying the warm spring weather on the farm.

And discovering the best mode of transport, especially if your big sister is willing to keep pushing!

Here Rachel, Oscar and Humphrey Cristofoli exploring the badgers' sets in the Spinney Wood, April 2008.

More about Farm Holidays...

Snow Greets our First Guests of 2008!

March 2008: Each year Easter sees the opening of our farm for Feather Down Farm Days guests. This year the holiday was uncommonly early, and our first guests were greeted with snow. Even luxury camping can be chilly in such weather, but fortunately the Dunkirk spirit prevailed and a jolly snowman was born.

Feather Down Farm Days website...

See Us In Tesco and Sainsbury's!

March 2008: You can see us and some charming goats featured on the side of the St Helen's milk carton sleeves on the shelves of Tesco and Sainsbury’s supermarkets. Here's John checking them out in the local Tesco store. Go on pick up a carton and try the delicious milk!

Miss Darcy Arrives!

January 2008: Darcy is a nine week old Clumber spaniel bitch. Clumbers are the gentle giants and the least known of the Spaniel family, known as the aristocrat of the Spaniels. The Clumber is a very large spaniel with a massive frame, active and agile, noticeable characteristics are its thoughtful, kindly, intelligent expression, with a large square and massive head.

The breed is listed on the Vulnerable British Breeds register, with less than 300 puppies born a year. The first Clumber Spaniels were brought to this country by the Duke of Newcastle, Clumber Park in Sherwood, Nottinghamshire. King Edward VII love for the Clumber is legendary, both he and King George V, used these lovely Spaniels on the rough terrain on the Royal Estate of Sandringham.

Darcy will be trained as a working gun dog.

Cattle

December 2007: We’ve also had a small family herd of 18 Simmental Cross steers. They are ten months old and will live in the barn until the weather becomes warmer and drier. At spring time they will be turned out on the lush spring grass. They will eventually be sold to market at approximately 24 months.

Foot Trimming

December 2007: We’ve just finished foot trimming. The goats are foot trimmed every three months, they are placed in the roll over crate and their feet are trimmed just the same as trimming your nails! It takes approximately three days to foot trim the whole heard.

We're Expecting More!

December 2007: Some are our adult goats were recently scanned and we are expecting 300 goats to kid in late February, early March. It will be all hands to the decks with so many little ones around to feed and care for.

Radio Leicester Visit

October 2007: Jo Bostock and Kat Sutton from Radio Leicester have stayed on the farm and gave a live interview for the breakfast show. We then went into the studio and appeared on Jo's show.

See pictures on Radio Leicester's website...

We're Expecting!

September 2007: Shoemaker Wind in the Willows is in foal to Plumtree Patrick. Patrick is an outstanding liver chestnut stallion - he was the 2007 1st stallion and overall champion at the Owston Ferry Show. May 2008 will be an exciting time!

All about our Shetland Ponies....