Just a short note to apologise for not being able to post any snaps of Songkran on the farm.
Most of the village came to celebrate with us on the first day and, there by the river, it was cool and with a breeze which was so refreshing...the temperature was hovering around 38 degrees!
We had a big BBQ and the beer was in crates in the river to chill! We all had a wonderful time and I took so many photographs until one of the kids got carried away and pushed me into the dam together with the camera! It kind of smouldered for a while and then shut down and died! I couldn't even retrieve any snaps from the memory chip but I will take it to a specialist to see if he can extract anything at all...so sorry about that but the folks from the village and especially the kids had a wonderful Songkran all the same!!

This year, after spending the first day of the holiday ‘playing water’ amongst the chaos in town, we will all (including the village!) celebrate Songkran, the Thai New Year 2557 and Water Festival on the farm….and so last weekend, in preparation, we built a miniature dam on the river by the ford so as to create a small lake where the kids can safely play and where we can all get wet!
We’ll set-up a BBQ, put on some traditional Thai music and in true Thai-style party throughout the holiday! In all of this our animals are never forgotten and special treats for all of them are bought for the occasion.

May we take this opportunity to wish all our families and friends, past and present, a very Happy Holiday and very best wishes for the New Year!

The pure, unadulterated honey that we collect from the jungle is the best that I have ever tasted and many of our Farm Stay guests agree. The flavour sways with the seasons and dependent on which blossom is in flower so the honey is mildly flavoured and the aroma is the fragrance of the jungle. Savor the taste and it will not be forgotten for a long while!

Well here is one of the two tables that I also found in the old wood shop. They cost a pittance! They were in really bad shape but with a bit of t.l.c, sanding, repairing, staining and fitting thick clear glass tops they have turned out quite stunning. There is so much detail in the carving and they are so heavy that it must have taken someone, a long time ago, an age to make.

We will put one in the new Kennel Sala and the other in The Farm House on the Chinese Day Bed verandah….quite something don’t you think?!

One of the things that I like to do if I have to go into Chiang Mai and if I have time to spare, is to rummage around in antique markets and junk shops!

Last week I found a small, dilapidated wooden shed that seemed, at first glance, to be selling aged wood from traditional Thai houses. On closer inspection, once I had parked the truck, I noticed with surprise that much of this old wood was, in fact, ornamental and that there were even some from Temples! What a find! So much interesting wood in furniture, carvings, beams and so on but after much deliberation I settled on part of a battered and broken carved wooden fascia.  I was told it probably came from a Temple outbuilding. It was faded gold, broken and twisted…what a challenge! So with much painstaking work repairing, sanding and supplementing the wood and then bringing it back to its’ former golden glory it is finished! We have all decided that it will look fantastic in the new Sunset Room and we have the ideal place to hang it! I also found two stunning carved wooden tables…but that’s another story!