While the sun has been shining Fenland Dog Park and the surrounding fields have been full of activity.
The weather rules us all again! Since April we have had warmer and dryer weather than average, and in particular July and August have been especially warm and sunny. With the local council earlier in the year extending our opening hours (when daylight allows) to allow the first booking to start at 7am and the last booking being at 7pm, with the booking slot ending at 7.50pm, then many of you have been booking these cooler earlier and later slots away from the midday heat. To help with the heat we are more frequently re-filling the water container near the gate, and have put an additional picnic table near the boundary with the school, which gets midday shade from the tree line.
With Fenland Dog Park now entering its 3rd year, customer and dogs visiting numbers are still growing. Thank you all for your custom and loyalty, we do not take it for granted. This spring and summer we have averaged about 70 bookings per week, a 30% increase on last year. To keep up with this we have been doing more site checks, topping up poo bag dispensers and also keep politely reminding customers to be vigilant and pick up after their dogs. Many of you have shared lots of great photos of your dogs having fun in sunshine on Facebook and Instagram – thank you and keep them coming – we love to see them!
In May we were asked by local artist Jo Goodberry if she could advertise her dog portrait work at Fenland Dog Park, and as we are always keen to support local businesses and interests, so we said yes! We hope you have spotted the two signs up in the dog park, and if you are looking for a lovely pet portrait for yourself or a as a gift please do get in touch with Jo.
In July, our mighty mowing machine, the Kubota, had a brush with fame having been featured in Ireland Farm Machinery magazine! A lovely article ‘Cutting time not corners’ was written by Phae from Irelands and we shared it on our socials at the time. The dry weather has meant that the grass is not growing as much as usual, but the Kubota mower makes the job speedy and enjoyable!
Next door to the dog park you will have noticed that the olive trees have been growing well, and are very much enjoying this warm summer. Some of the trees have now got olives on, and the first harvest for olive oil will hopefully take place this autumn / winter. Progress of the olive trees can be followed on social media @TheEnglishOliveCo and the online shop has produce from the grove available to buy now, and other olive related merchandise at www.englisolive.co.uk. Harvest is also progressing in the other local fields, with the peas and cereal harvests completed in good weather and good time, and the potato harvest will start in September.
We wish you and your dogs a great end to the summer holidays, and thank you once again for your continued support for Fenland Dog Park.
