We're home

We had a nice quiet final day in Burford - it was quite cool so lovely for Murphy and me.  We left on Saturday, and were pleased to leave really as loads of people arrived on Friday night and they all seemed to have small, noisy children with them!

The garden looked pretty much as I had left it except the grass was really long and all the flowers were very thirsty.  Michael got the big  mower-thingy out to cut the grass and then decided he needed a new one (I think he said it was broken).  Now we have a very fancy looking bright yellow one and as I write it is doing its job.

Not sure what is on the agenda this week.  I think I have a 4 Paws lesson on Tuesday (haven't been for ages so I hope they haven't forgotten me) and my human cousins Hannah and Victoria may be coming to see me too.  I know I also have some training to do ready for a session with Charlotte at the weekend, so as usual busy busy busy!

Back at Blenheim

We went back to Blenheim Palace today and it was lovely - so much quieter than last weekend!  Sandra did the tour of the house and gardens and was away for ages, but we didn't mind as Michael took Murphy and I for a huge walk around the parkland and lake.

We are going home on Saturday so I guess will spend tomorrow getting ready to pack the mobile kennel and I think I heard we are going to visit Bibury which is where Sandra lived when she worked down here.  It's Sandra's birthday tomorrow - I wonder if Michael has some cake hidden away somewhere?

We've had a great two weeks away but I have to admit I'm  looking forward to going home to check on the garden to see if that rabbit has been in whilst we've been away.  I'll keep you posted.

Another day on holiday ..

Michael went to see a model railway called Pendon today.  Murphy says it's just like the one we have at home in the garage only there's much more of it.

While he was there Sandra took us for a walk at Wittenham Clumps - which are really a few hills with cows and a nice view.


I did some gundog training (hunting and stuff) whilst we were there and unfortunately for me I got covered in sticky bobbles - here I am partly cleaned off ... it took ages!

I need to get some practice in on the training thing as I have a group lesson booked for when I get home and don't want to be rubbish in front of a bunch of English Springers.

Burford

This week we are staying at a site just outside Burford which is a beautiful, small town in the Cotswolds.  Sandra worked in this area for a short time a long time ago, so I think we will be visiting some of her favourite places later in the week.

The site is very nice and, thankfully, really quiet as yesterday Murphy and I spent the day relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep after our very busy weekend at the game fair.

Today we went to visit a lot of animals we've never seen before - the Cotswolds must be a strange place if who we saw today is anything to go by ...

Strange stripey horses!

 The cat that lives next door to us isn't this big ..

Jaguardini

I think these guys must be native to the area because we saw some like them at the weekend ..

What are baby camels called?

CLA Game Fair

We’ve just had two very full and enjoyable days at the CLA Game Fair held at Blenheim Palace.  It has been very hot and very busy – I’ve never met so many Welshies in one place outside of a club event.

 

On Saturday we saw lots of other dogs doing ‘their thing’.  We spent some time watching the working Cocker Spaniels in the International Event – I’m not sure that you’d call that hunting though as all they seemed to do was run around in circles: I think they only sent birds up by thrashing about so much. 

Question: why don’t the team representing Wales run Welshies??

Later we watched some Irish Water Spaniels doing a demonstration – funny to look at and to watch as one of them rolled over for a tummy  tickle mid-retrieve.  Aunty Debbie would not be impressed if Fergus did that!  But I guess it must be hard with so many people watching you.

We also saw some birds of prey and a parade of lovely foxhounds.... 

 

.. we also saw one of these - not sure what it is or what it was doing at the game fair...  do people follow foxhounds on these??

On Sunday we went back for more, or to be precise what we had missed yesterday!    Michael had a go at archery and was very pleased that he hit the target every time.  It was easy for him because the deer he was shooting at wasn’t real and didn’t run away.  Isn’t that cheating a bit?

We spent more time today watching horses than dogs.  Firstly some dressage and jumping as part of the Express Eventing    

 

then some heavy horses completing an obstacle course.  Sandra does this with Dillan when she goes driving, but she said he is much smaller than these guys!

I was pleased on both days to be able to visit the WSSC stand in the Sporting Dog tent and met some old friends there and got loads of attention from Anne who is my breeder.   I hope the next time we see her she will bring Linnet and Berwick with her for some fun.

Got to go now as I am absolutely dog-tired and it’s nearly time for dinner.  We are staying in the area for a few days more and might go back to Blenheim for a walk around the grounds when there are no people around – looking forward to that!

Herefordshire

I have been doing some research on Herefordshire and apparently the area is known for three things:

1. Hereford cattle - we haven't seen any all week
2. Black and white cottages - we have seen loads of those today (pretty but a bit same-y after a while)
3. Cider - we have a few bottles of that now (Michael and Sandra seemed to be stopping in loads of places to buy it today, but as I am not allowed to taste it I can't say if it's any good or not.  We also have loads of cheese too - not sure what that's all about!)

We are moving tomorrow to another site near Burford for a week.  On Saturday and Sunday we are going to the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim, so I will blog again at the weekend to tell you all about that.  I do know we will see some Welshies at the game fair as the WSSC has a stand in Discover Gundogs, so that will definitely be on our list of places to go.

Eastnor Castle

Another day, another castle ... Eastnor this time.

It's a great place, dogs are allowed everywhere.  We had a nice walk around the big lake, saw loads of ducks, some really tall redwood trees and then explored the castle ramparts .. here's Murphy and me looking down on all the people in the gardens.  We were up really high.

Sandra went around the inside of the castle, but although Murphy and I could have gone with her we decided not to -  I think she was afraid that we might break something very old and very valuable as we are not used to castles!

Here we are waiting in the garden for Sandra to come out of the castle - we've got all the angles covered so she can't sneak up on us.

The Millpond

The Millpond is the name of the site that we are staying on this week and it is great.  Everyone is really friendly and there is a lovely walk for us to do around the outside of the site and the neighbouring fishing lake.

I have been out doing what Sandra calls 'steadiness' training every morning.  This involves walking around the dog walk and sitting quietly every time we see something chase-able ... rabbits, ducks, squirrels ... which is every few minutes as the site is teeming with wildlife!

There are two duck families with about seven ducklings each

Too cute to chase

There is also a moor hen family whose babies are really fluffy and fast - so fast we couldn't get a photo!

Apparently I am doing quite well with my steadiness, although this morning I was distracted slightly more than usual as we encountered a couple of swifts flying over an open part of the site - they were dive-bombing me and seemed close enough to catch, but NO I had to sit down and be quiet!

Croft Castle

We went to another National Trust castle today - Croft Castle.

We did a big walk up to the top of a very high hill which was meant to have a hill fort but all I saw was loads of grass and a few empty rabbit holes.  Good views though ..

Why do we always start our holiday with a big uphill walk? Off now to get a big drink.

We're off on holiday

We are going this morning!!!

I just have a few things left to do such as rounding up my toys to decide which is coming on holiday with me (not sure if I can take my quacking duck though as Michael says it's too noisy), have some breakfast and, most importantly, help with putting all our food into the car and then we can go.

Watch this space for reports of what Murphy and I get up to on our holiday.

Zzzzzz....

Just catching up on a few zzz's after our weekend and a pretty intense training session with Charlotte yesterday evening.  One of the fields we used was full of rabbits, but sadly I'm being trained not to chase after them, so I had to behave!

Weekend Away

We're home after a very busy (and hot) weekend at Conkers.

After Murphy and I had watched Michael and Sandra pitch our kennel and awning, we went for a walk around the Conkers Circuit.

On Sunday lunchtime Fergus, Duggie, Max and Dougal arrived along with Debbie and Dave.  It was great to see them all although Dougal was a bit shy to start with.  I can't blame him though the camp site is much bigger than his garden which is all he's been used to up until now and it was his first real day out!

After lunch we met up with Rosie, Poppy (1st in Special Beginner at the WSSC Working Test in March) and her sister Maisie.  We decided to show them all the Conkers Circuit and had a great time cooling off in the lake.

Fergus & Rosie

Poppy & Maisie

On Monday our friend Milly came to see us and we did some gundog training stuff with Debbie and Max.

Milly demonstrating a 'sit stay'

Max showing us how it's done!

Later in the morning Dougal's brother and sister, Berwick and Linnet, arrived to spend the day with us.

What a nice surprise for me as my sister Plover came too!

Welshie Weekend

We have arrived at Conkers!  It's Dougal's first day out tomorrow and we can't wait to meet him and see everyone else too.

Sleeps

Just three more sleeps before we go away for the weekend!!!!


This is me getting an extra snooze in while I wait for the rain to stop ...

Watching the Birdie .. or something

... hey Murph, did you see that??

Burghley House

Yesterday we went to Burghley and found a new friend.  Meet Rosie ....

Rosie is 2 and a half years old and lives in Northamptonshire with her humans John and Valerie.  She is really friendly and, in Sandra's words, very neat and dainty.  I think that means she is smaller than me, although she does have a much longer tail!

We had a nice walk around the park at Burghley and then posed for a few photos (Michael has a new camera, so 'a few' actually means loads).  Here is Rosie with Murphy and me.

Busy Week

I've been so busy this week, I've only just found time to blog.  I've been doing the usual stuff around the house and garden (you know ... barking at next door's cat, playing with my toys, eating) and having nice walks early in the morning to keep cool.

Sadly no 4 Paws training class this week, but I have been doing my homework on general training and the recalls I did with Charlotte on Monday.  A couple of weeks ago Bracken (he goes to 4 Paws too) gave me a plastic dumbbell to use on my retrieve and I love it.  Sandra only lets me play with it for a few minutes every day and although I'm good at bringing it back to her in the garden, she says the big test will be to do it in class!

Our club newsletter arrived today and it looks great and NO Murphy, I'm not just saying that because I have two photos in it or because Aunty Debbie is the editor.

Michael comes home tonight, so I wonder what we'll be doing at the weekend ....?