Where there’s water, there’s a duck, and it’s no surprise that the pond that can be seen from the restaurant, is home to a small local skein. When the weather hots up we often see cute lil’ ducklings finding their feet and wings, and they even like to pop up to the restaurant to say hi!

However our location is also a great home for predators, and our ducky friends are up against it with Mr. Fox on the prowl. To stop our ducklings being snacks to other wildlife, we’re launching mission ‘Save the Ducklings’ - making them a floating home from scratch. Plus, we’re recycling old materials with the design evolving after each step we complete.

Originally we wanted a three story house, with a double garage and a tennis court. Okay I made that up... But we do want our house to serve its purpose. Mallards lay their eggs between March and July, so we have to make sure the ducks don’t turn their noses (beaks?) up at our house within a short amount of time.

The house will be floating so that the ducks have an area where land animals can’t reach them and a covered shelter from swooping buzzards. This will also give them somewhere to roost overnight, when nocturnal foes come out to play. Hopefully this will all come together to let the ducklings grow big and strong by the end of summer.

You can follow the making of the duck house here with commentary, and also on our Instagram page- where there’ll be stories featuring regular updates. When it’s complete we’ll sum up our adventure and see how the duckies do.

Update #1 (22/2/23)
Our duck house has legs! (well, pipes)

Update #2
It floats!

Update #3 
Derek has been busy cutting up all the pieces of wood and has started building the frame of the house.

Update #4
Derek's hard work is paying off. It's looking much more like a house now 🏡


Update #5
Here's the (almost) final product! We're going to have to adjust the base as the house is heavier than originally planned.