Old shepherds huts

Very murky wet day. C and I drove to Winterborne Whitechurch (Dorset) in the afternoon in her old Landrover to a fabric barn to choose materials for covers etc at a discount. Just as well we were high off the road as we had to tackle a flood.

Near the barn were these old dilapidated shepherds huts. They were the living accommodation of shepherds on the southern downlands who tended their sheep. The sheep were kept in enclosures both eating and fertilising the land at the same time. As the days went by the enclosures were for ever changing until the hillside was evenly covered with their droppings and so the shepherd needed somewhere to live and keep his tools and medication for the animals. The huts were on wheels in order to move with the flock and provided a bed, kitchen and a stove to cook and keep dry and warm. These two have lost their chimneys and are in need of a lot of attention. Now it is all the rage to restore the huts and use them for holidays and leisure, a cross between a tiny gypsy caravan and a mobile home I suppose!