The Milk Girl

On arriving in the Isle of Man in 2002 to live for three years, we rented a house a mile from school and I walked the kids there every day. We walked through the next door farm, Shenharra, owned by two lovely 90-somethings Charlie and Molly, through their fields and onto a disused railway line which took us straight to school. You couldn't ask for a more perfect start to the day.

The photo shows my daughter carrying two cartons of milk down to the farm, which were always left at the gate. This saved Molly a walk to the end of the lane to get the milk and she was always so appreciative. They would give us freshly-pulled carrots and swedes, and, in the springtime, feed the lambs that were not cared for well enough by their mother. There will be more of that in later blips I'm sure.

I love the way the early morning sun shines across the photograph.

Still looking for a higher resolution version of this image, which was taken on my first digital camera.