Pound Farm's young piglets

Having prepared and fixed the new trellis for the morning glory plants to climb up, which will hopefully brighten the steps down to the garden, I thought I needed some more plants to achieve a bright show. Having checked in various other suppliers for other varieties of Morning Glory plants without any luck, I thought I would go back to Pound Farm near Gloucester which had a few more that I didn't buy from them last time.

The weather has been dull and damp but not as wet as expected. When I arrived at Pound Farm I found it very busy and colourful, so that after I had found the plants I wanted,I returned with my camera. I went into the Farm Shop again and approached the woman whom I'd met last time and was the owner of the farm and the shop. When I asked if I could take some pictures in the plant centre , with my camera hanging around my neck, she said it was a shame I hadn't come yesterday as the young swallows had fledged and were hanging about on the roof of the building outside which she took me to see. Sadly they had happily taken to the wing and were nowhere to be seen. A few mature swallows were swooping all around the yard's buildings but were too far for my lens capabilities.

So I went out to where the masses of colourful plants were offered for sale and spotted a beautiful water lily in a small pond with a large insect sitting on the petals much like a buddha might meditate. I took a few pictures of the yard and collections of terra cotta pots, sheds, roofs, and of course swathes of colourful plants. While doing so, I spotted some Nicotiana which will provide lovely evening perfume by the back door, and went back into the shop to pay for them. The owner came up to me and said that she might be able to let me go into the farm buildings to film their young piglets. She went to check as I paid for the plants, and soon returned to say yes! I found out that her name was Jenny and explained to both her, and her daughter Kate, about blipfoto and they said it would be fine to take some more pictures. So Kate escorted me to the pigsty, where their sow was with her piglets, and she gave them some feed outside the sty so that i could grab some pictures.

It was then that I found my battery was nearly dead so only managed to get a few pictures. It was quite dark, and I only had my long zoom so in the confined space I couldn't get too many good shots. The pigs were very well behaved but the sow did insist on standing with her back to me in the narrow space, so I couldn't get good group shots. I've chosen this picture of a cheeky chappie grabbing the food from under its mum. Kate then told me that they will be appearing in the shop as food in a few months time, which is what farms do. They are looked after well though and I must admit that I might be tempted to buy some bacon here in a few months time.

I will post a few other pictures on their Facebook site in a day or so, which you can view here:
Pound Farm Shop, Stroud Road, Gloucester.