Whatever The Weather

March has arrived. Not really like a lion or a lamb. Somewhere in-between. Maybe a soggy squirrel or a damp dormouse. So who knows what the weather will do now, it’s all very well wanting to use old rhymes and country folklore to predict weather patterns but in the light of the recent unseasonably warm week it all seems worryingly redundant.

The warmth and sunshine was indeed glorious, and as someone who really struggles with the short grey days and and long cold nights of winter, I enjoyed it. But at the same time I knew it wasn’t a good thing. At Swallowtail Hill we’re always paying attention to the weather – not just because we’re farmers, and not just because we’re in the business of offering special places for people to take holidays, but also because we’re passionate environmentalists.

And this puts us in a predicament. On the one hand we know for our guests, warm and dry weather wins every time, but we know too that t-shirt weather in late winter is a sign of climate change and that it’s all too easy to ignore the warning. It seems to me that when we experience unseasonably ‘bad’ weather – the media are quick to talk about climate change. This time last year, faced with The Beast From The East, people were paying attention because the effects of the weather were challenging and making life difficult. By contrast, when the unseasonable weather is ‘good’, the media rather marvels at pictures of children paddling in the sea in the UK in February. So with ‘good’ weather we’re less inclined to let it worry us because, for now at least, the weirdly warm weather hasn’t inconvenienced us.

With wellies and waterproofs you can have as much fun on a glamping weekend in drizzly March as you can in flaming June. And we’ve spent the winter making lots of changes to our farm so that we can truly offer something for everyone – from our much loved Meadow Keeper’s Cottage, Wood and Penfold Cabins for those who want the full off-grid experience (although with some lovely improvements), through to our upgraded Woodcutter’s Cottage and our two new spaces (coming soon!) for those who are a little less wild-at-heart and want a few more creature comforts.

So get your glamping game on and take a chance on the weather. It’ll be the best short break you didn’t know you needed!