Cherry flavoured snails?

For a few short weeks this day tent provided shelter from the sun, wind and rain - though we didn't get much rain. Then one night a strong gust of wind blew it away.

But the Cherry Festival was fun. Lots of people crowded in to meet the snails who were feasting on waste cherries from the packhouse. The snails haven't turned noticeably pink yet. In between showing everyone round I did a cookery demonstration and sold hot snails as well as bottled: both flew of the shelves.

We made our presence felt at the Kent County Show the following weekend. I put together some snail rearing kits for people to buy with half a dozen baby snails and all they need. Hot and bottled snails sold well and I made lots of good contacts to take the snails on visits and give talks.

The next big event will be the Smallholding Fair at Sissinghurst 21 and 22 August. This is a first for me and I'm really looking forward to showing the snails in such wonderful surroundings.

In the meantime, I have a shrew to re-home. It has somehow got through the defences and taken up residence in the snail enclosure. On the whole I like small furry animals, but if they eat snails they have to go! Catching it alive is proving difficult so if anyone has any suggestions I would be pleased to hear from you.

Visit Faversham

June was very busy and I can hardly believe it is already July. Lots of things have happened:

This lovely picture was taken at Sandwich when I took the snails along for Le Weekend - their twinning event.

We've made it onto the visitor attraction websites: http://www.canterbury.co.uk/things-to-see-and-do/Faversham-Slow-@-Grow,-Slow-Summer-Snail-Farm/details/?dms=13&feature=1&venue=3037860&easi=true
In June we also featured in an article in Speciality Food Magazine with a picture of me with the Natalia and the snails.

We've applied to register with the Children's University as a Learning Destination and now have worksheets for children to do alongside drawing and handling the snails. I also hope to become registered in the Autumn as an external provider to schools but I have to do some training first.

The website brings in some fascinating enquiries: one was from a school in Tenby where the children are studying Applied Science. As part of that curriculum they have to look after animals and we are discussing the idea that they could have some baby snails for a term and then return them to me. This fits well with the snail rearing mini-kits I am currently building for sale at the County Show. Look out for more details on the website.