http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog A blog about rural life in the UK, our countryside and my country life. It's all here, farming, gardening, wildlife, animals and rural dating. Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:41:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/burt-the-bat-and-the-blackcurrant-jelly-saga/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/burt-the-bat-and-the-blackcurrant-jelly-saga/#comments Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:19:09 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=767 This is the story of little Burt the Bat and a story I am ashamed to tell .. but here goes anyway. Let’s start at the beginning. At our farm we are lucky enough to have a colony of Pipistrelle bats and we are extremely fond of our bats. Unfortunately sickness in the colony drastically [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/burt-the-bat-and-the-blackcurrant-jelly-saga/feed/ 11 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/red-tape-forcing-farmers-to-quit/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/red-tape-forcing-farmers-to-quit/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:08:48 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=698 Have a read of this: “This means farmers will have to calculate the level of available nitrogen already in the soil, the N requirement of the crop, the available N from planned spreading of livestock manures and calculate the remaining level of manufactured nitrogen they can apply. Accurate record keeping is also a requirement.” Is [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/red-tape-forcing-farmers-to-quit/feed/ 4 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/eu-and-cap-robbing-peter-to-pay-paul/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/eu-and-cap-robbing-peter-to-pay-paul/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:55:30 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=634 Isn’t the EU and CAP just a way to rob Peter to pay Paul, leaving the UK billions poorer so we can have a badge saying we’re in the gang? Sorry but I was looking up a statistic regarding the common agricultural policy and came across an article about the UK and EU and felt [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/eu-and-cap-robbing-peter-to-pay-paul/feed/ 9 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/kicking-the-plastic-bag-habit-in-the-uk/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/kicking-the-plastic-bag-habit-in-the-uk/#comments Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:14:39 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=278 For any of us that live or just visit the countryside there are few things more depressing than seeing the amount of fly tipped rubbish and discarded plastic carrier bags clinging to trees, bushes and floating in streams and rivers. I think our addiction to the convenience of plastic carrier bags is well shown on [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/kicking-the-plastic-bag-habit-in-the-uk/feed/ 10 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/british-wildlife-advocates-that-go-too-far/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/british-wildlife-advocates-that-go-too-far/#comments Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:31:46 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=272 The further I read into Simon Barnes’ article Is killing birds just a part of another culture? in the Times Online a few days ago, the madder I got. The second paragraph sets the scene “It is a small part of English culture to sit under a tree on an afternoon in June, to close [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/british-wildlife-advocates-that-go-too-far/feed/ 4 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/how-to-get-your-children-outdoors/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/how-to-get-your-children-outdoors/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:56:46 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=265 When children are toddlers it is so easy to get them outside, the mere mention of “let’s collect leaves” and they have a fit of excitement and run for their wellies. When kids get a bit older any mention of moving 3 feet from the playstation or computer screen is met with ‘that’ face and [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/how-to-get-your-children-outdoors/feed/ 3 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/how-to-have-a-cheap-short-break-in-london/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/how-to-have-a-cheap-short-break-in-london/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:18:08 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=217 I was recently asked by a couple of countryside girls, off on their first trip to London to celebrate their 40th birthday, what to see and do in London without feeling like a fish out of water or spending a fortune. Not for them the dazzling night life or a day shopping for designer wear, [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/how-to-have-a-cheap-short-break-in-london/feed/ 2 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/countryside-culled-from-junior-dictionary/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/countryside-culled-from-junior-dictionary/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:19:13 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=206 The Oxford University Press has removed dozens of words relating to the British countryside from their junior dictionary. Ms Saunders, a mother that spotted words were being removed while helping her son with his homework, has compared the dicionaries from 1978, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 and found a vast list of words relating [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/countryside-culled-from-junior-dictionary/feed/ 2 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/confessions-of-a-bad-blogger/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/confessions-of-a-bad-blogger/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:34:17 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=201 It has been a month since my last blog post …. in that time I have been wrangling with a nasty divorce, moving home and eating chocolate like it is going out of fashion. Now all that is over I am back to give my views on the happenings in the rural countryside of the [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/confessions-of-a-bad-blogger/feed/ 1 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/uk-biofuels-fail-to-meet-minimal-environmental-standards/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/uk-biofuels-fail-to-meet-minimal-environmental-standards/#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:27:10 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=178 At a time when fuel prices are rocketing and consumers become more environmentally aware steps have been taken to try to introduce more biofuels into the UK transport system. In April 2008 the government, through the Renewable Fuels Agency, introduced the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) intended to phase in increased biofuel usage in the [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/uk-biofuels-fail-to-meet-minimal-environmental-standards/feed/ 0