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It is now a whole year since we re-opened Jacklands following refurbishment and we are certainly much busier, with good numbers of fishermen on the trout lake each day.  The coarse lake, although generally quieter, is slowly picking up regular enthusiasts.

The trout were hard to come by in the hot, bright, weather we had in June and in early August when they were busy feeding on snails amongst the weed.  But following intensive ‘weeding’ with a weighted rope, the last few weeks have seen excellent conditions with most fishermen going home with a good catch.  Re-stocking takes place fortnightly. 

The coarse lake is now fishing well for tench and the carp are coming on with the set up of two new swims.  An experienced fisherman who has been fishing the lake regularly during the past few weeks has reported having his 8lb line broken on two occasions and another fisherman reported a similar experience only this week.  Their ‘Fishermans’ Tales’ will be on our website shortly.

Fishermen can now put their name and phone number on the back of their ticket and place it in a pot on the shop counter.  At the end of each month we draw one out and the winner gets a free day ticket.

We have now installed a smoker and our hot smoked trout fillets and pate are proving very popular in our Farm Shop and at the local markets.  We now attend monthly Farmers Markets in Portishead and Clevedon, in addition to our local Country Market every Friday morning, 10am-11.15am in Nailsea Methodist Church. A visit to one or all of them is highly recommended.

In our Farm Shop you will also find a range of jams, chutneys and marmalades, elderflower cordial, fudge, honey, apple juice, home made cakes and seasonal fruit and veg.  But pride of place belongs to our popular Jacklands Free range, multi-coloured eggs!

We recently welcomed a group of 20 beavers from Clevedon who had a great time on the Coarse Lake.  In under an hour they all managed to catch a fish and then enjoyed squash and cakes in the tea room. They were followed by students from Gordano School who spent 2 days with us and local tutor Dave Green.  They fished both the coarse and trout lake as part of their curriculum enrichment week.  (School wasn’t like this in my day!!)

Our duck population have had a difficult breeding season with many broods disappearing, victims, we think, of the local crows.  Butterflies have been abundant at times with plenty of Orange Tips in June followed by sightings of Holly Blues and a Gatekeeper, as you would expect, by the gate!

Keep an eye on the website as we hope to update the gallery shortly.  You are welcome to send us your photos for the website or our noticeboard.

Happy Fishing!

Chris, Andy, Caroline and Penny