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In the Garden

In the last few years a big aim of the garden has been to create more flowering plants in winter, although there are some plants that emerge then such as heliborus or 'christmas rose'. Late winter also sees the red siberian dogwood drop its leaves and wintersweet emerge. Any major work that needs to be done in the 4 1/2 acres of the garden is done, including potting and propagation.

On the Property

Winter at Markdale lasts from June to August, comparatively short compared to European winters. Temperatures range between -6c at the coldest overnight and about 15c during the day.

Fires are lit in the house - but watch out for redback spiders lurking in the dried wood in the wood pile!

As with trees a really hard winter will stress the sheep causing weak spots in the wool and therefore lowering its price at auction.

Lambs are born in July/August after a gestation period of 5 months. Markdale goes into most winters with about 12,000 sheep and emerges out the other end with 15,000!

Infertile 'dry' ewes without lambs are weeded out and sold. There is comparatively little predatory activity associated with the lambs from foxes as they tend to be walking within 15 to 20 minutes after birth.

Surprisingly more pregnant ewes are probably killed by crows. This tends to happen when they are heavy with unborn lambs and get 'cast' after rain - their wool filling with water to the extent that they can't get up. In this situation the crows quickly spot them and peck out the eyes of the struggling animal. The animal then dies of blood poisoning providing a meal for the crows for some time.

| Accommodation details | Availability/Bookings | Email questions | Activities | Press/Guest reviews | Tariffs

|Garden | Farmstay diary | The property | The history | 1930's Polo | Directions | Special events | Food |