Sports fans slow me up in the snow
THE north wind doth blow and we shall have snow...
It wasn’t a whiteout but there was enough to get the children up at dawn dragging sledges, skis and snowboards out of the woodshed.
Everything takes so much longer to do when there’s a carpet of snow.
Not only is it difficult to travel around the farm between the flocks but I am accompanied by a number of winter sports enthusiasts.
After I have filled the quad bike trailer with hay and fodder beets for the sheep I have to load up all the kids’ equipment too.
Ski poles, crash helmets and baler twine! Yes, lots of it – for when the children tire of walking back up the slopes they attempt to get one of the sheepdogs to pull them.
They try it every time but despite the dogs’ limitless energy it never works!
Last year they tried Little Joe the Shetland pony but he either stood rooted to the ground or set off so quickly that they had to let go of the makeshift reins.
The doors to the barns are wide open for the sheep to take shelter in but they rarely do.
One of my favourite barns on the farm used to be a house. The fireplace remains and the walls are still partially plastered.
Diaries describe a raucous all-night party there 200 years ago.
Unimaginable now that this remote, inhospitable place should have such a colourful history.