Much-needed Holiday, School Visit

A cold but sunny Sunday morning, blue skies and nodding daffodils with blackbirds trilling and the occasional clarion of Canada geese travelling overhead to the river.

The Farmer & I have just come back from a much-needed few days away in Dorset. An invitation to a party in Lymington combined with visits to family & friends near the New Forest & a niece at university in Winchester made for a busy holiday but it was time away from the farm and a change of scene in a lovely part of the country.
We went to see the renowned Badbury Rings near Dorchester. An extraordinary place which when it was built must have been a truly impressive sight when it was constructed in about 800BC using the white chalky flint of the area,and would have gleamed & shone out of the landscape, visible for many miles.
Spring was no further on in the south of England than it is here and we had lovely sunny days and no rain though the drive down was wet all the way with really awful driving conditions on the motorway which was ghastly.
Our time away was certainly well-filled and we ate too much in some very good pubs, but catching up with old friends was great and the Dorset/Hampshire borders are beautiful and very different to West Wales...but the traffic!!! It made us realise how very lucky we are to live where we do, away from constant streams of cars & lorries and ceaseless noise. When all one can hear each day is the sound of birdsong and the distant rumble of tractors it is quite a shock to come across the intense busy-ness of the outside world!

The day after our return we hosted a visit by a primary school from Gorseinon near Swansea. A group of 30 or so 4-6 yr olds arrived clad in wellies and warm coats for a walk around the farm and a chance to see cows at close quarters. The first thing we do when they get off the bus is take them into the fields and let them just run & run...it is lovely sight and the joyous shouts of small children expending energy in a vast green field is one of the reasons we have such groups come to the farm. Urban children have so few opportunities to enjoy large open spaces & the teachers who accomapny the children are always thrilled by them being able to run freely to say nothing of splashing through mud and seeing a real working farm.