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Thank you all for your patience!  Our first newsletter is long overdue, but here we are at last putting fingers to keyboard.

It is amazing to think, that little over a year ago we were still dealing with estate agents, solicitors etc. whilst we tried to complete the purchase of Jacklands Fishing Lakes.  We finally became the proud owners on Friday 13th February and so began the huge task of restoration.

As those of you living locally will have seen, the trout lake had to be drained and 3ft of silt dug out, before we could restock.  Meanwhile, the buildings were literally falling down and required hours of elbow grease and gallons of paint to get them back into a useable condition.  North Somerset Council was so impressed we were awarded 4 stars for food hygiene!   Finally, in July, after 5 months of incredibly hard work we welcomed back our first fishermen.

Our trout are now being supplied by Exmoor Fisheries and are famous for their fighting qualities, having been reared in the fast flowing streams coming off the moor.  They also taste delicious. The lake fish weigh from 2 – 2.5lbs and we usually have  2-4  larger fish weighing around 6lbs ‘in residence’ for an extra challenge.  Recently we have also been keeping 2 large (6lbs) blue trout and running a sweepstake at £1 a time.  The person who catches the ‘Big Blue’ keeps the ‘pot’ and we have had 2 happy winners so far.  You will be pleased to hear that we are holding our fishing prices for 2010 (see web site for full information)

As well as selling table trout direct to our customers from our farm shop, we have recently started to sell them through our local Country and Farmers markets.  At Christmas we also prepared some cured trout (gravad lax) which quickly sold out.  We are planning more for Easter and also to order and by the summer we also hope to have installed a smoker to add even more flavour!

The recent spell of extremely cold weather closed us for 10 days as the lakes were completely frozen.   However a recent weekend was our best ever and the fishing was excellent.  Please note that we currently close on Mondays, except for bank and school holidays.  If you plan to fish on a Monday it’s a good idea to phone and check.

Our customers have been very complimentary about what we have done so far, not least they are delighted to be able to get a hot cup of tea and a piece of homemade cake.  Yes, for those of you who haven’t yet visited us we now have a small tea room and farm shop.  We have our own free range eggs for sale, along with local Tickenham honey, apple juice, preserves and cakes and of course our trout!

Our website will be updated shortly to include more photos, so have a look and perhaps send us your fisherman’s tale.  Most importantly, if you have yet to visit us in person please do so soon, we look forward to welcoming you!

Chris, Andy, Caroline and Penny