There's a lamb in my bucket Eliza!

As I walked into my friend's farmhouse the other day I did a double take as I noticed a small lamb sitting in a yellow trug in the corner of the room under a heat light to keep it warm. To her it was the norm at this time of year and she didn't give it a backward glance as she bustled round the kitchen whilst I resisted the urge to pick it up and take it home as a pet!

We live in an area where farmers make a living mainly off their animals. ( the fields are generally too small and hilly for arable farming) so diversifying means having Farmhouse B and B's, holiday lets ,quad bike treks or paint balling in the woods - what a wonderful natural geography lesson  on the economy!

My friend sells Christmas trees and wreaths during December and many a cold wintry morning my daughter has stood in the country lane,like the little match girl, selling wreaths or binding up Christmas trees.

She rang me this morning to say that they had packed their tents away and were just cooking breakfast on the campfire before setting off back through Woodland to Broughton. It's a bit like Five go off to camp by Enid Blyton, how many youngsters are lucky enough, at the age of fourteen, to roam free, with very little danger,knowing that if they get into difficulties they can approach a local farmer and know they will be helped. Explorer scouts has offered so much !

When I went to pick her up she told me they had been supplied with army rations . meatballs and pasta and sticky toffee pudding with bacon and beans for breakfast.They hadn't starved!

She had even bought me a present - a jar of my favourite blackberry jam from Rosthwaite as she walked past the end of the farm track! What better present could I have asked for! As she said, there was nothing I would have wanted from Covent garden on her trip to London last week and she is probably right!