Welcome to Life on the Allotment

This afternoon I got a very exciting call from Cliff. I immediately dropped everything and, only stopping to grab my allotment key, ran out the door. When I arrived, I found Cliff was sitting outside his bench with two utterly adorable furry friends. The eight week old spaniel puppies are so friendly and happy to meet new people. Although Cliff will have his work cut out with both of them, they are delightful. We spent an hour playing with Molly and Dolly, laughing at their somewhat uncoordinated runs and Dolly’s obsession with a carrot dog toy.

• 

To my amazement, Dolly would happily chase after the carrot when thrown and even bring it back to me with a little encouragement. The retrieval instinct is so strong in these dogs! She is definitely confident and keen to explore – especially in places she shouldn’t really go!

• 

Molly is currently half the size of Dolly and is much more food orientated. She has such a beautiful little face, with such a happy personality. As the runt of the litter, she was quite poorly and the farmer kept her in an incubator to try and help her survive. Fortunately for Molly, Cliff has a wealth of experience with spaniels and has several tricks up his sleeve to help her thrive.

• 

We decided to test the puppies to see whether they would follow us on a walk around the site. They followed us everywhere. One complicating factor was that both puppies were so keen to follow us, they got right under our feet! Sometimes it seemed that everywhere I tried to put my feet, it almost squashed a puppy! My favourite moment was watching Dolly attach herself to Cliffs trousers as he walked across the back of the site.

• 

Tearing myself away, I went to feed the chickens who were very unimpressed with the lack of attention they had received. Rey was in the new nest box but clearly still wasn’t planning on laying in there as I found her egg from yesterday in the old nest box under the perches. Talk about stubborn! After all the chickens were fed, I went back to see Cliff and picked up Dolly for a cuddle. She fell asleep in my arms whilst Molly did the same in Cliffs arms. Clearly all that exploring was hard work!

• 

• 

Tomorrow will be another big day for Molly and Dolly as they will meet more of the Henry Street community. I have a sneaking suspicion that Cliff’s shed may just become the new centre of the site’s social life…