This is the first time since we took over Marlings Vineyard that I have seen it covered in snow!  And our red & white cow looks very cold.

We've been here nearly 5 years now and it's the first time that we have been here when the vineyard is covered in snow. It's not often that snow reaches The New Forest, but it certainly did today. I was supposed to be meeting up with Roger and Jeremy over at Beaulieu Vineyard but the snow put paid to that as we struggled to get out of our drive.

But, I am feeling fairly smug at the moment. We set ourselves a target to finish pruning Beaulieu Vineyard by the end of January, and we have!  Below is a picture of Roger, in the distance, pruning the last row but one . We still need to go back over part of the vineyard as the vines need to be tied in to the trellising, but the major effort is complete. We have also found that there are approx 35 posts that need replacing, due to them rotting in the ground. These will need to be done asap as we cannot tie the vines in until then.

I am also ahead of myself at Marlings Vineyard, thanks to James Bowerman. James contacted me, having worked for some vineyards on the Isle of Wight, to see if we had any pruning work. Well, yes we did. So while Jeremy, Roger and myself set about Beaulieu Vineyard, James got to it over here. He flew through the vineyard, and has finished pruning and most of the tying in as well. The vines are now looking as neat as they have ever done thanks to James. So with all that behind us we now have to get ready to plant the new Bacchus vines which are replacing some of the underperforming varieties.