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/get-away-to-the-country-farm-holidays-in-the-uk/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/get-away-to-the-country-farm-holidays-in-the-uk/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:15:08 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=371 Have you started planning your summer holiday yet or just fancy a relaxing weekend away? There are many reasons why you should consider a farm holiday in the UK rather than going abroad. We are all becoming more aware of the environmental impact of flying abroad for a relaxing break but at this time of [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/get-away-to-the-country-farm-holidays-in-the-uk/feed/ 26 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/can-organic-food-survive-the-uk-recession/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/can-organic-food-survive-the-uk-recession/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:30:05 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=368 The media reaction to the 2009 Organic Market Report by the Soil Association, which was released yesterday, has been quite dramatic. I read the report and felt quietly confident that the UK’s organic food market would survive the recession and yet the first headline to hit the internet, 15 hours ago as I type, was [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/can-organic-food-survive-the-uk-recession/feed/ 16 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/5-best-allotment-blogs-growing-vegetables/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/5-best-allotment-blogs-growing-vegetables/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:33:04 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=294 I’m always on the hunt for new blogs to read, tips to try out and photos to go ooo ahhhh at, so I thought I would share some of my best finds with you. Here are a collection of 5 British blogs about allotments and veggie’s, how to grow them (the vegetables, not the allotments) [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/5-best-allotment-blogs-growing-vegetables/feed/ 17 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/food-miles-and-carbon-footprints/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/food-miles-and-carbon-footprints/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:03:37 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=279 Have you ever tried to calculate how far your food has travelled, what the carbon footprint for your food is or thought about the effect of food miles on the environment? Food miles are simply the number of miles your food has to travel from the place of production to your kitchen. Remember many foods [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/food-miles-and-carbon-footprints/feed/ 5 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/household-cleaners-and-septic-tanks/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/household-cleaners-and-septic-tanks/#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:00:44 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=240 One of the issues of living on a remote Cumbrian farm is we have to use a septic tank, rather than a modern waste water system. It’s no big deal really, it just sits under one of the fields and the nice chap comes with his tanker every now and again to empty it. However, [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/household-cleaners-and-septic-tanks/feed/ 15 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/blogs-worth-reading-home-matters-most/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/blogs-worth-reading-home-matters-most/#comments Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:47:46 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=202 Found a great blog when looking for the Energy from Waste website and came across a blog post called websites worth knowing on the Home Matters Most blog. It would have been easy to simply click the link and move away from the site but the comment under the writers picture really struck me: “People [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/blogs-worth-reading-home-matters-most/feed/ 3 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/eco-town-protests-gain-momentum/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/eco-town-protests-gain-momentum/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:56:10 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=153 The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) have gone from supporters of the governments eco-town proposals to the loudest critics and not without good reason. Marina Pacheco, Head of Planning at CPRE, speaking to the Independent on the greenwash masquerading as an eco-town said “We were told Eco-towns would make good use of brownfield land [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/eco-town-protests-gain-momentum/feed/ 0 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/leeds-university-gm-potato-trial-vandalised/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/leeds-university-gm-potato-trial-vandalised/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:14:15 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=152 In early May 2008 Defra approved a GM potato trial at Leeds University, stating “It is satisfied that the proposed trial will not result in any adverse effect on human health or the environment.” The trial was to be carried out in North Yorkshire and last for three years. A similar trial last year had [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/leeds-university-gm-potato-trial-vandalised/feed/ 0 http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/saving-water-almost-waterless-washing-machine/ http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/saving-water-almost-waterless-washing-machine/#comments Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:50:46 +0000 Sally http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/?p=143 When I read about this this morning I had to check the date to see if it was April 1st but it seems there really has been a breakthrough in cleaning technology that could save billions of litres of water per year. Leeds University have invented a virtually waterless washing machine called the Xeros, which [...]]]> http://www.country-couples.co.uk/blog/saving-water-almost-waterless-washing-machine/feed/ 4