OUR LAST (EXCITING) DAY

After a good breakfast, we set off for Kirkby Lonsdale where Nora, our lovely hostess for the week, said that there were some very nice shops, but that they weren't cheap.  

We wandered around for a while, and I especially loved the churchyard where there must have been thousands of daffodils.  I stopped and spoke to a couple about them and the man said he thought they must be wild ones that seeded themselves, as there were so many.

We came back quite early because I had been promised a trip to the lambing shed and was really excited because Nora said that I would probably see some lambs born, something I have never seen before, except on television.  She explained to me about hogs, tups and mule ewes and then Derek, her husband, said the reason this particular ewe, a Charollais Cross, was in the lambing shed, was because she was only a year old but was due to have twins.  Nora's grandson just got on with the job and before we knew it, there were two lovely little lambs, which you can see in the bottom middle photograph of the collage, and also in the top left.  After about five minutes they were up on their feet, bleating and were soon looking for food.

The lambs on the top right, where you can see the white teats are older, but ones that Nora has fed and brought on, but now they feed themselves from the teats.

Bottom left are some of the other lambs Nora has been looking after and on the bottom right is a Swaledale sheep, a hardy breed that is suitable for high lying areas.  

I was so grateful for all the information they gave me and for sparing the time to explain so many different things - they only have about another 450 ewes to lamb - it's a shame we are going home tomorrow, or we could have helped!

Thank you, Nora and Derek for making us so welcome in your home and we hope as you "wind down" for retirement, you will be truly blessed.  We have enjoyed our stay so much - we might even come back before you retire!  

"We have neglected the truth
that a good farmer is
a craftsman
of the highest order -
a kind of artist."
Wendell Berry

P.S. It's now snowing quite heavily so we may have to stay a while longer - but as long as there's enough logs for the fire we don't mind!