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Over the years, we have held a number of courses at Pool Cottage, including our Smoking and Curing Course and the Sausage Making Course. We have also hosted a number of local events such as the Poolhead Sausage Fest, Pie Fest and Showstopper Challenge. The main location for these events and courses has been our garage, which whilst okay isn't ideal, so we have long considered how we could improve the experience of both the courses and the events. Phase 1 of the improvements w

For many years there has been a 15m deep well at Pool Cottage, which is shared with our neighbour. Directly above the well is an old fashioned hand pump which was restored to working order nearly 20 years ago and still works when primed. However, next door, for many years, used an electrically powered pump, which fell into disrepair in the early 1980's when the smallholding went onto mains water and has stood idle and unused since. The pump was "re-discovered" during the reno

On Saturday 18th March Pool Cottage Smallholding hosted another smoking and curing course. We had 2 couples attending; Tracy & Colin and Ceri & Jon, all of whom are smallholders with a range of animals. Their aim was to learn how they could cure and smoke their pigs in particular. They had come to the right place. After a welcome brew and freshly baked ginger cookies, we jumped straight into Nelly to do a practical session on curing a pig loin to make custom bacon. Along the