Where does time go? Since I last wrote, Christmas has been and gone and so has all our SNOW! We can now see green again and the snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils are beginning to show - a sure sign that spring must be on its way, we hope! Jenny and Alistair have been very busy over the last few months, lifting and riddling tonnes of potatoes - not a nice job as you can imagine, particularly in the icy weather. After we watched in envy whilst many places on the mainland had snow, we finally got our wish and had a good helping! Alistair bought a snow blower (a machine that attaches to the tractor and 'blows' the snow out of the way) twenty years ago and this was the first time he has had cause to use it! The island was a beautiful sight to behold from where we went toboganning up on the Downs - absolutely breathtaking and we all had lots of fun, throwing ourselves down steep slopes on bags and bodyboards! Although all the schools and a lot of shops and roads were shut, I believe I know what people spent their time at home doing - booking their holidays and dreaming of the summer ahead! We have had so many positive responses from people regarding our website - thank you! With regard to improvements in the cottages, Jenny and Alistair have invested in flat screen TV's for Rose and Honeysuckle, and Ross (my husband) has been busy installing satellite dishes to try and get a bigger selection of channels for our clients. Just as a boring piece of information, the tv's came with freeview but owing to our isolated position and closeness to France, we are not receiving enough signal to enable us to access it - the powers that be are concerned that it would interfere with French television if they increased power!! Heaven forbid should that happen! We are also able to provide wireless internet access, albeit that at present, this can only be used in Jenny and Alistair's conservatory - work in progress! Other news is that Auntie Kate is having a whale of a time in South Africa at the moment. She is there for three months, experiencing conservation projects, horse riding and working with children. We keep getting texts from her telling us how hot and wonderful it is over there - we can but dream!

I will sign off now, I do hope everyone has survived the cold spell and I have enclosed a snow picture to show the Island in a different light!  This is a view looking towards the sea from the Downs behind Brighstone - Atherfield is away to the left, out of shot.