Reviving memories

The article on shepherd’s huts (Spring 2016 issue) brought back memories of an old railway hut used by the shepherd on our farm in East Anglia 70 years ago. One of the treats of my childhood was to visit the shepherd during the lambing season. I recall thinking how cosy and warm the hut was out of the bitter east winds blowing in from the North Sea. There was a tiny stove and a box by it for the weakly lambs which I used to bottle feed. A bunk bed was covered with a rather scruffy old quilt and there was a little stool. The most vivid memory was of the strong stench of Stockholm Tar, which in those days was an all-purpose remedy for cuts and bruises suffered by farm stock. In the lambing season it was used to disinfect the lamb’s umbilical cords. The ewes and lambs were kept warm and cosy in shelters made from bales of straw supported by hurdles in the field by the hut.