Home of the Best Beach Huts in England

Some of the fabulous award winning beach huts at Sandilands, Sutton-on-Sea, Trusthorpe and Mablethorpe. 

for two. 

ring helen on 07894292641

Treat yourself to a short break at Poplar Farm, Self Catering Holiday Cottages,

Sutton-on-Sea, Sandilands, Lincolnshire

                         e-mail helen.matthews9@btopenworld.com or ring 07894292641  

Telephone: 07894292641

Email: helen.matthews9@btopenworld.com or

Poplar Farms Flock of Lincoln Long Wool Sheep

Interested in starting you own flock to secure the future of this wonderful unique breed, we do sometimes have pedigree stock for sale contact Helen On 07894292641

Longwool Lambs 2011

'Sandiland Kate Royal' was born on Bank Holiday Monday at 8.30am followed on Tuesday by twins 'Sandilands KupCake' and ' Sandilands Kinder Surprise'

Poplar Fare Rare Breed Easter Event 2011

Thank you for all the wonderful name suggestions begriming with 'K' for our newborn lambs.  Kymm, Krusty, Kristal, Kirsty, Kola, Kermit, Kian, Kif, King Kong, Kinky, Kipper, Kisfit, KusKas, Killer, Kathryn , Kool, Kay, K-o-K, Krafty, Kelly, Kcha-Kcha, Kit Kat, Kinder Surprise, Kitty, Kandy, Kurly, Karen, Konnor, kameron, KupCake, Kolonel, Kidder-minster, Kurly- Wurley, Koo-Koo, Keely, Keswick, Kendal Mint Cake,  Knight, Kloster, Kent, Kirk, Kemp, Kitty, Kisha, Knacker, Knicknack.

First Lamb of 2010 born 29th March at 11am - 'Poplar Farm Jolly Imogen' followed by twins ' Jolly Ida & Jolly Irene', then twin boys  ' Jolly Isaac & Jolly Ismail' and finally lovely ' Jolly Iridessa'.

Lincolnshire Coast Nature Blog

2011 seemed to have flown by!  We have just had one of the busiest holiday seasons here at the farm ever, maybe that is why it went so fast.  It was lovely to see so many of our regular visitors back and great to have the extra help with lambing and the sheep.  We had an excellent growing season with bumper fruit and vegetable crops, my pumkin crop was amazing and pumpkin and coriander soup was our starter on Christmas Day( recipe on the shop page).  It is a family tradition to have our home grown vegetables for Christmas dinner as a bit of a celebration of our growing successes, this year we had butter sauted cabbage and brussel sprouts with parmesan shavings,  honey roasted beetroot, red onion, carrots and pumpkin,  leeks in a cheese sauce,  roast caramalised parsnips, broad beans in parsley sauce, runner beans and french beans,  there is nothing quite like cooking and enjoying your own produce.  I had a little extra help last year in the polytunnel with George the grass snake taking up residence under the compost bags, I wondered where my frogs had disappeared to.  Colin did really well at the Uppingham Fatstock show with our British Lop pig Rosie coming second in the rare breed section and we are now the proud recipiants of a splendid blue rossette.   Ed ( Hallmark) the Lincoln Longwool ram went back in with the girls in November so we are looking forward to our lambs, the first of which should be born around the 18th March.  Bella the shetland pony didn't deliver us a foal this year much to all our disappointment.  In a complete contrast to last winter we have just had our warmest winter.  I can't believe we still had borage, cosmos and roses flowering in November and when we fertilised the asparagus bed just recently with some fabulous rotted horse manure we could have picked a bunch of asparagus spears.  Over the summer we rescued a wild duck that was caught in some wire, she has happily settled in with our two aylesbury ducks on the pond and they have recently been joined by a young moor hen all of whom come up the garden in the morning for a feed, watch out for this wonderful little group when you come to the farm, they are delightful.  The biggest pest we had last year was a really bold sparrowhawk I had to evict it from the art barn, out of my polytunnel, my dads workshop and also out of my bedroom as it had got in through the open sash window chasing the sparrows that were nesting under the eves.  Despite the fact it is a predator there is a place for all at Poplar Farm and I just picked it up a and set it free.  I am looking forward to February as we sometimes get a rare glimpse of the young badgers, this is the month the young are born and the adults occasionally let them come out of the sets and let them play near the set entrance.

16/1/2012 

Where do the months go! I don't seemed to have stopped since April and we are busy now in the meadows making hay.

  Lambing went really well with only one ewe suffering complications and that all ended well with a large healthy female lamb being born, we named her ' Sandiland Kate Royal' in honour of Prince Williams new bride and the Royal Wedding Celebrations. 

We had a really successful walk as part of the ' Lincolnshire Walking Festival' with fifty walkers taking part and to add to the day we had a sighting of the Hen Harrier by Crossing Cottage at Huttoft although butterflies were in short supply as it was so windy. 

Poplar Farm bees are doing really well and we had had a bumper harvest of rape honey.  Colin has also split two of the hives so we should increase our colony stock. 

The really bad news is that our house martins were late returning and although a few pairs flitted around the house eves quite a lot of the nests had been damaged by the strong winds and harsh weather this winter and they did not stop, at one point a pair looked like they might be nesting in a damaged nest on the southwest gable but it was not to be.   It is really quiet under our eves now apart from the sparrows and I shall really miss my chattering acrobatic feathered friends this year.  I just hope my lovely house martins will come back next year.

  The Swallows have returned in force and have been causing havoc wanting to nest everywhere!  They have been in the shop, the closed barn, popping into any open door way exploring places to nest.  They have now finally settled and three of the nests are quite low giving our visitors first hand views of the hatched fledglings who are all now flying, so just watch out for low flying swallows if you come for a visit.

We have had a bumper crop of asparagus from the kitchen garden and have just started eating our cherry tomatoes from the poly tunnel along with runner beans, french beans, courgette's, baby cucumbers and peas.   We have planted masses of borage for the bees and they have been really busy around that, the sky blue borage flowers also look really pretty in a salad adding a bit of colour and cheer to a salad dish.

With this brilliant weather all the fruit has come together so we are frantically jamming  gooseberries, strawberries and blackcurrant's.  I have to say my favorite jam this time of year is gooseberry, as a jam it really is underrated but it makes a delicate lightly scent blush coloured jam which is absolutely delicious on a croissant or a slice of toast if you get a chance pop into the shop and ask to try some.

Bella the shetland pony is due to foal in the next few weeks so look out for photos.

I have been busy painting a new series of paintings based on the Swallowtail Butterfly and recently has a small exhibition at Anderby Village Hall.   It is interesting that before the marshes were drained here and ploughed this area would have been an ideal habitat for the Swallowtail Butterfly its a shame they can only now be found on the Norfolk Broads.

Waiting patiently for the return of our beautiful house martins I don't think it will be long as the season is slightly ahead of its self.  I have heard reports of swallows already been sighted.  The earliest our house martins previously returned was on the 22nd April. 

I think it will be a good year for butterflies I have already seen my flightily Brindles, Orange Tips, Peacocks and Coppers.

The blossom is amazing this year which is usually the case after a harsh winter, whitethorn, plum and cherry is already in full blossom with my japonica also giving its best display ever.

Baby Bel ( Bella) our pregnant shetland pony is looking swell with her foal due in July and the Lincoln Longwool ewes look fit to pop with our first lambs due about the 14th April.

 10th April 2011

It is the 17th of February 2011 and I have heard my first skylark, spring is definitely around the corner. 

A bit of information for you about two of my favorite subjects, Lincolnshire and Butterflies! did you know that the Glanville Fritillary was first discovered in Lincolnshire in 1702 by Eleanor Glanville a wealthy Yorkshire widow, although it quickly became extinct and since being re-introduced has been sighted in Hampshire , Weston Supermare the Wirral and now has established itself on the Isle of Wight.  Maybe they are still here, hiding in the Lincolnshire meadows waiting to be spotted!

  Having been inspired by Patrick Barkham book 'The Butterfly Isles' and seeing there is a huge gap in information on our stretch of coast about our butterflies I shall be roping in many of our regular and new visitors to the farm into a butterfly count this summer to look at the number and range of butterflies within a certain radius of the farm.  I think just by my own experience of what I see on my walks we will be pleasantly surprised by what we record.

What is the first butterfly of the season you usually see?  Mine always tends to be a flighty Brimstone, a yellow streak  of spring with wings!

( updated 17/2/2011)

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The season of good will is nearly over!  Colin's pigs Danny and Petunia went to Uppingham Fatstock Show early December and Colin nearly got a third with Petunia and he is already planning his strategy for success at next years show.  

The ewes have had company since mid November when we picked up 'Hallmark' ( nickname Blue)  a fine Lincoln Longwool ram from North Sea Camp Prison, it's his first time with the girls and never mind Corrie or Eastenders he has provided us with some great entertainment rounding the girls up in the field at the side of the house.  Their lambs are due at Easter.  

It has been the coldest winters we have ever had here at the farm, we had snow for over six weeks which made it harder work feeding the animals but gave us some great photo opportunities as everything looked so pretty also some comical moments as Colin couldn't seem to stay upright and spent most of his time sliding or falling over, keeping me amused for hours.  It has been a good birthing season for the seals up at Donna Nook, we popped over to have a look at them when we picked our Christmas tree up from Grainthorpe. 

Woodcocks are abundant in the hedgerows and ditches and we quite often disturb half a dozen or so on our morning walk.  What is interesting to see with the snow on the ground is just how close the deer come to the farm in the cold weather, as we are able to track them with their hoof prints in the snow.  Jess our springer is taking full advantage of the cold snap and has already brought us rabbits, woodcock and a moorhen that have been sitting tight in the cold weather, despite our best efforts to dissuade her.  

We had a jar of our sloe gin jelly on Christmas day with our dinner and it was lovely, definitely an new line for the shop, it was great with the main dish of turkey and pork and also really tasty with a piece of runny brie, brilliant also with the gammon on boxing day too.

Happy New Year to you all and I hope it is one blessed with good health and happiness.

( updated 3/1/2011)

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Our house martins left early this year but the swallows stayed on to hatch out their last brood, it has been a record breeding year for both our house martins and swallows with the last swallows leaving on the 2nd October.   I really miss them when they go and so look forward to their return in the spring, needless to say the eaves are quiet and the skies less interesting without the graceful acrobatics of these lovely birds. 

It was a disappointing year for our butterflies I did not see one painted lady and the usual flutter of the Admirals,Peacocks and Tortoiseshells were in short supply.  Really looking forward to 'The Butterfly Isles' book by Patrick Barkham which I have put on my Christmas list this year, I just love to curl up and enjoy reading about one of my most favorite subjects on those long cold winter days, it is my idea of heaven.

Danny and Petunia are gaining weight nicely and piling on the pounds with lovely scraps of quince and crabapple pulp which we are cooking at the moment for our autumn and Christmas jellies to sell though the shop.  Has anyone noticed the amazing show of Sloes this year?  they are hanging off their branches heavy like bunches of grapes, needless to say it will be a good year for sloe gin might even try a sloe vodka and we will certainly be doing a sloe gin jelly for the shop which is fabulous with a slice of brie and goats cheese.

One of my other greatest pleasures this time of year is the sight of the spindle berry trees in their full pink berried glory, a lovely beacon of prettiness as the foliage of everything else is dying back.

Bella our shetland pony should be in foal now, we have mated her with a lovely skewbald ( brown and white) stallion called 'Hugo', who apparently is not the boss, so we will have a bundle of equine fun arriving in July 2011. 

( updated 19th October 2010)

Images from World Community Art day 2009

There is something for everyone at Poplar Farm

Visit the Farm Shop

Order your Beach Picnic Hamper of Lincolnshire Produce

The shop will be open selling honey, jams, chutneys and marmalades along with some fine Lincolnshire cheeses.  Enjoy your tea and coffee with a delicious slice of our Lincolnshire fruit cake or one of our specialty cupcakes.

Afternoon Tea in the Farm Shop                  Poplar Farm Shop                                     Hamper for the Beach

Poplar Farm, Crabtree Lane, Sutton-on-Sea

helen.matthews9@btopenworld.com – www.poplar-farm.org.uk

Tel:- 07894292641 - 01507 443112