A broken gutter downpipe at the end stable has been removed and replaced so rainwater once again flows into the water butt there. By our other water butt beside the converted pigsty we reseeded a bare patch with grass seed. See photos below.
4-Star Gold Award holiday cottage
Rhydd Barn News
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Improvements
—in Barn NewsNew water butt by end stable Before grass seed – sept 2022 After grass seed – jan 2023 Tags: water butts
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Autumn flower planting
—in Barn NewsThe flower pots, tubs and baskets at Rhydd Barn have been attractively replanted for the autumn and winter. Our gardener took some photos:
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Ditch clearing
—in Barn NewsWorcester County Council Highways insisted that I had to clear the ditch along Hanley Swan Lane by the side of my field. Apparently I was the ‘Riparian owner’ of the ditch under the Land Drainage Act 1991. I was told that flooding issues were apparent though no flooding could be seen. I managed to get the ditch cleared by my cousin’s son, Richard, who rents our fields. He used a hedge cutter and digger with a shovel putting the excess soil into a trailer for removal. As the before and after pictures below, the ditch is now beautifully clear! My field is to the right of the hedge.
Ditch – May 2022 – before clearing 
Ditch – October 2022 – after clearing
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Repairs to stile and gate
—in Barn NewsThe stile across the fence to access the field by the barn has been replaced and all the timbers treated with wood preservative. Also, ‘godfathers’ have been added to the gate posts of the gate into the field to strengthen them and the gate latch adjusted. See photos below.
New stile 
‘Godfather’ to strengthen gatepost -01 
‘Godfather’ to strengthen gatepost -02
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More work on the Barn
—in Barn NewsThe back wall of Rhydd Barn has been repainted. This was a difficult project because of the height of the barn plus the steep slope behind it adding to the height. The photo shows the end result. Unfortunately, after this photograph was taken the beautiful Malvern stone below the main barn wall was also painted white—which was not my intention.
Also, the converted pigsty gates have been reinforced with new wood as they were starting to deteriorate.
Rhydd Barn – back wall repainted 
Pigsty gates repaired -02 
Pigsty gates repaired -01
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Wild life at Rhydd Barn
—in Barn NewsI am keen to encourage wild life in all its forms to visit and/or live in the surroundings of the Barn. On a recent visit I managed to take a photo (see below) of a beautiful pheasant that was strutting around our field immediately in front of the Barn. It visited us all week, morning and evening! I also photographed a host of white and purple fritillaries and bright yellow primroses which are currently flowering in our small wild flower meadow.
Pheasant at Rhydd Barn 
Wild flower meadow
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4-Star Gold Award for Rhydd Barn
—in Barn News
We are very pleased to announce that Rhyyd Barn has, yet again, been awarded a 4-Star Gold Award rating by VisitEngland. The inspection was carried out on 6 April 2022. The Gold Award is an additional accolade for those ‘offering exceptional quality within their star rating’. We are so grateful to our maintenance team at Rhydd Barn: Sharon our cleaner, Max our gardener/’handyman’, and Tom our builder for all their hard work. Here is the summary from the official report which we received a couple of days ago:
Rhydd Barn continues to offer a high standard of comfortable well maintained accommodation for its market. Mrs Boaz, the Proprietor clearly takes great pride in the barn and is very much to be commended on the continued investment and maintaining of these high standards helping ensure that market expectations continue to be maintained. It is therefore a pleasure to once again reconfirm the Four Star Self catering rating with Gold Award for another year reflecting the care and attention afforded by the Proprietor, and fully deserving. Congratulations to you all!! It is also understood that the Proprietors feel the current rating meets well with the market expectations and business levels catered for and we wish them all the very best for a successful coming season, despite the strange and unknown circumstances we all find ourselves in. Wishing all, all the very best for the future and stay safe and well. Walkers Accreditation also confirmed for another year.
—VisitEngland Assessment Services Self-Catering Visit Report for Rhydd Barn, April 2022.In addition we would like to add that our cleanliness score was 100%. From the more detailed pages of the report: “As on my previous visit, it was once again quite clear that extremely well practised and regimented cleaning and housekeeping procedures are in place. Exemplary levels of cleanliness were noted with surfaces dust free and obvious attention to upper and lower levels clearly evident for which Mrs Boaz and Sharon are to be congratulated.”
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Repairs to wall of converted pigsty
—in Barn News
Pigsty wall – before repair – 01 
Pigsty wall – before repair – 02 Before repairs Parts of the south wall of the converted pigsty have been gradually deteriorating as you can see from the above photos. So we had the damaged areas re-pointed including the replacement of a damaged or missing brick. The final result can be seen in the two photos below.
Pigsty wall – after repair – 01 
Pigsty wall – after repair – 02 After repairs An electrical socket on the inside of that wall needed to be replaced and our builder also added some ventilation. See photo below.
Pigsty interior – after repair Pigsty interior wall – new electrical socket installed
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In memory of Summer, 2007-2022
—in Barn NewsVisitors to Rhydd Barn will know Summer, the Labrador cross. She lived at Rhydd Farm next door to the Barn. The sad news is that Summer died on Sunday 30 January. Here is a recent photograph of her on the Barn patio and, below, a poem I have just written about her.
Summer – 12 January 2022 In Memory of Summer
(Who died Sunday January 30th 2022)
A frequent visitor to Rhydd Barn
Always a friendly face made one feel at home.
Door ajar, an entry made
Investigating areas inside
Crumbs of food an added temptation.A companion over the years
For fifteen years of our lives.
Incident recalled: aggressive attack
Met with bravery and retaliation.
No soft dog this
Though first impression may think so.A survivor despite many setbacks.
In youth high energy and strength.
In old age calmness and resilience.
Tolerant always of individual behaviour
Children’s over-exuberance
Retiring to her secret place to find peace.Her passing brings sadness
A constant link with my life
Through the many changes to overcome.Rosemary Boaz
February 5th 2022
