September 2026 Video Diary
03 September 2026
We take Ruby on a walk around Walton Colliery Country Park
Join us as we take Ruby for a walk around Walton Colliery Nature Park in West Yorkshire. Both of us grew up in mining villages, so places like Walton have a special interest for us.
It’s fascinating to walk through what is now a peaceful nature park and imagine the busy coal-mining landscape that once stood here.
We explore the lakes, woodland and footpaths, discover the remains of the Barnsley Canal, and take a look at some of the history of Walton Colliery. At its peak, the colliery employed more than 1,500 people and produced thousands of tons of coal every day.
Today, nature has reclaimed much of the former industrial site, creating a lovely place for a walk and plenty of opportunities to see wildlife. Come along with us and Ruby as we discover a little of Walton’s industrial past and enjoy its peaceful landscape today. #WaltonColliery
#WaltonCollieryNaturePark #BarnsleyCanal #WestYorkshire #CoalMining #MiningHistory #DogWalk #Ruby
06 September 2026
Autumn harvesting butternuts, carrots, onions and shallots
Autumn has arrived at the allotment but we have lots of harvesting to do.
08 September 2026
A Clarkson’s Farm moment at Temple Newsam
We’d taken Ruby for a walk and a run at Temple Newsam. Our aim was to head quickly to the garden centre to purchase some spring flowering bulbs for our newly planted borders.
What we didn’t expect was our route out of Temple Newsam to be blocked by tractors as a herd of cows were moved between fields.
15 September 2026
Lifting Romance carrots for winter storage
It’s time to start lifting our winter carrots ready for storage.
Although carrots can be left in the ground through the winter, there are a couple of good reasons for lifting them. If the soil becomes very wet, the carrots can start to rot, and the longer they’re left in the ground, the more vulnerable they become to slug damage.
We’ll be storing ours in paper potato bags in the garage, where they should stay cool but, importantly, frost-free. This should give us a good supply of homegrown carrots to enjoy over the coming months.
17 September 2026
Who eats the most hedgehog food?
A month or so ago, Sue decided to start putting some hedgehog food out in the garden each evening.
If you’ve watched some of our previous videos, you’ll know we were rather surprised to discover that a fox had also started paying us a visit during the night.
The food now goes out every evening, and we’re never quite sure who gets there first! There are usually several cats visiting during the night, and we don’t know how much of the food they manage to eat before our resident fox arrives.
Most mornings, though, we find that all the food in the dishes has disappeared. Even Ruby would love the opportunity to investigate the food herself — although we’re not sure she’d be quite as welcome as our nocturnal visitors!
This video shows us putting the food out before heading off for the night, followed by a couple of nights of footage from our trail camera. Our fox certainly seems to have made itself at home and, at times, looks remarkably relaxed as it settles down for a meal of hedgehog food.
Ironically, I had deleted all the hedgehog footage from the trail camera before deciding that it might actually make a good addition to a video! Luckily, we still had a couple of nights’ worth of footage to share.
So sit back and enjoy a glimpse into what goes on in our garden after dark. 🦊🌙🦔
18 September 2026
Calke Abbey – The Ice House
Where did the ice come from?
The evidence indicates that the ice was obtained from Calke’s own lake. The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record specifically notes that the ice house had its own road leading to the lake.
During sufficiently cold winters, the ice on the lake could be cut into blocks and transported to the ice house. This was an important reason for having the ice house close to the lake — rather than having to bring ice in from somewhere else.
The blocks would have been packed tightly into the chambers, with insulating material such as straw traditionally used around the ice. The large mass of ice, combined with the underground construction, allowed it to survive through much of the warmer months.
What was the ice used for?
The ice wasn’t simply there to make drinks cold. It provided a form of early refrigeration for the household.
- Ice could be used to:
- keep food and other perishables cool
- preserve meat and dairy products for longer chill drinks and desserts
- help prepare fashionable iced desserts and ice creams
- provide cold storage during the summer months.
For a large country house such as Calke, where there would have been a substantial household and considerable quantities of food to deal with, having a reliable supply of ice was a significant luxury.
How did they get it to the house?
The ice would have been taken from the lake and brought along the dedicated route to the ice house, probably by estate workers using carts or similar means. Once inside, it could be packed into the chambers through the openings provided for loading.
The ice house was conveniently positioned within the estate rather than immediately beside the main house, keeping this rather industrial operation away from the formal areas. The ice would then have been taken from the ice house as required, rather than transporting the entire supply to the house at once.
One fascinating point is that the National Trust’s heritage records describe the ice house as being disused by 1985, when the National Trust took over Calke.
22 September 2026
Lifting remaining carrots for winter, Sweet candle, Flakkee, Atomic Red, Autumn king
It’s that time of year again to start lifting our carrots for winter storage.
It’s always a bit of a balancing act deciding whether to leave carrots in the ground a little longer in the hope they’ll grow bigger, or lift them before the risk of pest damage increases. With the ground currently nice and dry, the carrots came out cleanly and were easy to harvest.
I decided it was time to get them lifted and stored in paper potato sacks in the garage, where they should remain frost-free and provide us with carrots throughout the winter.
This year we’ve grown several carrot varieties. Atomic Red is a new variety for us, while Sweet Candle and Flakkee are both tried and tested varieties that have performed well for us in previous years. We also had a short row of Autumn King 2.
While we were harvesting the carrots, we also had time to pick a few apples and harvest a cabbage.
Another job ticked off the list as we continue preparing our allotment harvest for winter.
🌱 In this video:
- Harvesting and lifting carrots
- Carrots for winter storage
- Atomic Red, Sweet Candle, Flakkee & Autumn King 2
- Storing carrots in the garage • Allotment harvesting
- Apples and cabbage harvest