The Horsington Blog

We finally have some clarity…

The (un) official Coronavirus guidelines:

1. You MUST NOT leave the house for any reason, but if you have a reason, you can leave the house

2. Masks are useless at protecting you against the virus, but you may have to wear one because it can save lives, but they may not work, but they may be mandatory, but maybe not

3. Shops are closed, except those shops that are open

4. You must not go to work but you can get another job and go to work

5. You should not go to the Doctors or to the hospital unless you have to go there, unless you are too poorly to go there

6. This virus can kill people, but don’t be scared of it. It can only kill those people who are vulnerable or those people who are not vulnerable people. It’s possible to contain and control it, sometimes, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster

7. Gloves won’t help, but they can still help so wear them sometimes or not

8. STAY HOME, but it’s important to go out

9. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarkets, but there are many things missing. Sometimes you won’t need loo rolls but you should buy some just in case you need some

10. The virus has no effect on children except those children it effects

11. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…

12. Stay 2 metres away from tigers (see point 11)

13. You will have many symptoms if your get the virus, but you can also get symptoms without getting the virus, get the virus without having any symptoms or be contagious without having symptoms, or be non contagious with symptoms…

14. To help protect yourself you should eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand as it’s better not to go out shopping

15. It’s important to get fresh air but don’t go to parks but go for a walk. But don’t sit down, except if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant or if you’re not old or pregnant but need to sit down. If you do sit down don’t eat your picnic

16. Don’t visit old people but you have to take care of the old people and bring them food and medication

17. If you are sick, you can go out when you are better but anyone else in your household can’t go out when you are better unless they need to go out

18. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house. These deliveries are safe. But groceries you bring back to your house have to be decontaminated outside for 3 hours including Pizza…

19. You can’t see your older mother or grandmother, but they can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver

20. You are safe if you maintain the safe social distance when out but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance

21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours … or four hours… six hours… I mean days, not hours… But it needs a damp environment. Or a cold environment that is warm and dry… in the air, as long as the air is not plastic

22. Schools are closed so you need to home educate your children, unless you can send them to school because you’re not at home. If you are at home you can home educate your children using various portals and virtual class rooms, unless you have poor internet, or more than one child and only one computer, or you are working from home. Baking cakes can be considered maths, science or art. If you are home educating you can include household chores to be education. If you are home educating you can start drinking at 10am

23. If you are not home educating children you can also start drinking at 10am

24. The number of corona related deaths will be announced daily but we don’t know how many people are infected as they are only testing those who are almost dead to find out if that’s what they will die of… the people who die of corona who aren’t counted won’t be counted

25. You should stay in locked down until the virus stops infecting people but it will only stop infecting people if we all get infected so it’s important we get infected and some don’t get infected

26. You can join your neighbours for a street party and turn your music up for an outside disco and your neighbours won’t call the police. People in another street are allowed to call the police about your music

27. No business will go down due to Coronavirus except those businesses that will go down due to Coronavirus

Sea Bass:Last weekend we dined on delicious sea bass, delivered to our home fresh from Weymouth quay.

So fresh, the fish was still stiff; 2 of its friends are resting in our freezer.

The fish came from Weymouth fisherman Ashley Stones.
He catches all his bass and pollock with rod and line; no nets.
The quantities he takes from the ocean are sustainable, he sticks to minimum fish-size limits (the smaller bass go back alive to fight another day); catch quotas are strict and he abides by the closed season (February and March) when the bass are spawning, preserving the next generation of fish for the next generation of humans.

When you buy wild bass, check that you are buying line-caught.
Trawler’s nets wreck the seabed, and catch entire shoals of fish indiscriminate of fish type. Ashley targets specific species so his by-catch is virtually nil. No waste.

Assume £10 per fish. Whole (gutted and scaled) and oven-ready. Jessie Stones (some of you may recognsie her as the stunning soprano leading lady from Milborne Port Opera) will deliver to Horsington and the Cheritons. Text your order 0774 098 1765 with your name and full address. Lobsters also available from time to time. Check.

www.facebook.com/fromshoretodoor/

Jon Thorner: Fed up with the queues in Morrisons? Worried about coming into close contact with others?

Jon Thorners will now deliver in this area. They have a range of delicious locally reared butchery, dairy, drinks, home made cakes, pies, quiches, stuff for the larder, delicious soups, ice cream, frozen meals, and even dog food! https://www.facebook.com/Jon-Thorners/

 Elliscombe Dairy Farm: Unpasteurised Jersey milk, fresh farm eggs, potatoes and apple juice can be had from Elliscombe Diary Farm, Higher Holton. Go and pick up, or ask for delivery on Mondays or Thursdays. It’s £1.20 for 2 pints of milk, delivered. Invoices emailed fortnightly and payable by BACS. Tel 07809 408815. Order by text message with full details. https://www.facebook.com/elliscombefarm/

We also highly  recommend Wincanton Fruit and Veg, who have fabulous fresh produce delivered to your door 07527 727947 or order on Faceboook https://www.facebook.com/Wincanton-Fruit-And-Veg-

The Blackmore Vale Magazine has ceased publication for the time being.

As part of its commitment to better local communication The Blog is delighted to bring you a summary of what’s happening.

Coronavirus. Over 500 people now have the lurgy in “Old” Somerset. Over half (266) are from the Bath area and North Somerset.  “Somerset Live” reports that 78 people have died across the county.

Incidentally, a heatmap of people’s movements shows that more people are ignoring the lockdown rules in the areas with the most infections.

Yeovil Hospital is reported to be quiet, but there are half a dozen patients with Corona virus. Closer to home, we hear there are a couple of cases in Foxcombe lane, and we wish them a speedy recovery.

Stay at home. The Daily Telegraph reported today that new police guidelines allow people to shop for tools and materials to mend a fence, but not for brushes and materials to decorate a kitchen.

If shops are open then it is ridiculous to expect people not to buy goods which are on display and available. But at least you have an excuse for not decorating the kitchen during lockdown.

Anyone got any spare teak oil? Contact the editor.

The answer to locked-in Easter Sunday lunch? The White Horse, South Cheriton!

The White Horse, South Cheriton may be closed due to the Coronavirus crisis, but you can still enjoy a delicious home-cooked Sunday Lunch.

The pub has launched a takeaway Sunday lunch service (with delivery to the elderly and vulnerable) starting this Easter Sunday, and continuing according to public demand.

There is a choice of
Beef
Pork
Chicken
Vegan nut roast
Mushroom brie and cranberry Wellington.

All served with Roast potatoes and parsnips, Yorkshire pud, Savoy cabbage, fresh green beans, carrots, maned swede and gravy.

All for £11.95 per person (including a £1.00 deposit on the container).

To order: phone 01963 370394 or email thewhitehorsesc@gmail.com by Saturday.

Collect between 12.30 and 2pm on Sunday. Bring your own bag.

Please support this noble effort by Justin and Andy Kemp, the White Horse’s landlords.

There’s simply too much fake news already

It’s April the First, all fools’ day. Welcome to the spring. Traditionally the Blog has led with a home-grown hoax, which has occasionally completely fooled readers, but also given them a good laugh.

This year there’s a problem. There are so many “You couldn’t make it up” stories around that our resident hoaxer is flummoxed.

President Trumps’s antics, the actions of the Derbyshire Constabulary in relation to the Coronavirus crisis, Brexit, The Labour leadership election, Boris Johnson et al, make traditional April Hoaxing impossible There is nothing we can fabricate which can compete with the real news for entertainment value.

So why not reminisce over some of our past triumphs, and look forward to happier times  when the unthinkable really will make a decent hoax story for April 1^st

Our April Fool Archive is HERE

The Fine Times Recorder is the Blog’s favourite blog. It gives up-to-the -minute information about what’s on, what to see, where to Eat in Somerset. Wiltshire and Dorset. And it’s FREE. Editor Fanny Charles (the ex-owner and editor of the Blackmore Vale Magazine) writes the occasional newsletter, and this is the latest. Bookmark their website www.theftr.co.uk

WE haven’t been in touch for so long that we are quite ashamed – we hope you have all continued to log on to FTR, read the previews and the reviews, the food news and more. Our only excuse is that 2019 was an amazingly busy year, with the launch of our second book “Deepest Wiltshire”, and then frantic months of getting the book out to bookshops and other outlets, doing talks and other promotional events. And then in the autumn, one of our dearest friends was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer; she died just before Christmas, and we and Pippin, the wire haired fox terrier, and Kate, the Birman cat, all miss her very much. She has left a massive hole – she never read the FTR or the newsletters, because she wasn’t online. Instead, she had Gay as her “social secretary” – booking theatres, concerts and more for her, and sharing events that we all enjoyed.

So here we are now in quarantine – we don’t like “self isolation” because it seems to all be part of the me-me-me self-centred society around us. Among the many changes that may come from this wretched Covid-19 crisis, perhaps some will be to make more people aware of their neighbours, and their local independent shops and the environment in which we live. We are lucky to live in Wincanton, a town with a great community and excellent independent shops. Our butcher, pet shop and greengrocer, and Kimbers farm shop up by the racecourse, are all doing deliveries. And we can still walk Pippin from home so he’s not missing out either.

Predictably, Gay has spent the last two weeks changing the Arts Diary, putting POSTPONED or CANCELLED against entries, and now as we enter April, there are no live performances at all. However, the indomitable spirit of the creative sector, like the local food businesses, means that people are finding new ways to reach audiences and customers. We have introduced a new section on the website, Isolational Ideas, where we are reporting on all the streaming and virtual events and activities, from Strode Theatre’s programme, which includes Exhibitions on Screen and NT Live events, to Messums Wiltshire and Hauser & Wirth Somerset offering online tours of current exhibitions and more.

The Guild of Fine Food, based at Gillingham, has been providing regular updates and excellent advice for independent food businesses – all worth reading.

So please stay in touch with us, and keep checking in as we do our best to bring you the latest news. And you can email us at info@theftr.co.uk

And best wishes from the Blog -Ed

Want something to do during the Coronavirus lockdown? Why not create your own, genuine, all-wood oak furniture from authentic Horsington Oak, grown on the historic estate of Horsington Manor? And it’s free!

Put some fuel in the chainsaw, download some plans and get cracking.

IIf you would like to own this magnificent piece of timber, contact Vicky Todd -vickytoddemail@gmail.com

Act now – otherwise it’s firewood!

If your MOT is due soon, don’t worry. Even though many local garages are no longer taking MOT bookings, the Government has announced that from April 1st, all MOT certificates will be extended for 6 months.

This does not exempt you from the obligations to ensure your vehicle is roadworthy – Brakes, Lights, Tyres all need regularly checking.

Not that you should be driving much anyway. But it’s worth filling up with cheap petrol, as many supermarkets have reduced prices. Just when you can’t use it.Typical!