Many thanks to the Westbury Mob who helped us clear the magic pond this past weekend. We cut back overhanging branches and dredged out dead leaves with cromes borrowed from the Devon Wildlife Trust. I suspect the dredging will be an on-going task, but at least not quite so many leaves should fall in now the trees are trimmed. And there will be lots more light, so hopefully wildlife will thrive. Everyone mucked in - even the kids came down.

We've kept some of the surrounding trees to retain that Tolkein feel. Everything is super-wet at the moment - the hardest part was getting down there past the dug out carp lake and through the mud - there's been plenty of rain despite sunny days.

We call this the magic pond because when we moved in it took us 2 weeks to find it and then another 2 to find it again. It was hidden in the trees but at the top of a slight hill - not where you'd expect a pond.

Interestingly, Ann Dickman, who farmed Wheatland in the 1980s, didn't recognise it when she came to visit, so it may be fairly recent. It's certainly man-made, with a horseshoe shape and a retaining bank.

I can't wait until next summer when things dry out again - it'll be such a lovely spot for a picnic. I think we'd better have the Westbury squash players back again for a thank-you BBQ!

Meanwhile, back at the old carp lake, the digger had almost finished, so we diverted Martin to pull out a rusting vehicle from the previous owners' manure pile. What makes people leave this much rubbish lying around? Looks like a transit van - we'll have to have the scrap metal guy back again.