Land Girls (and boys)

Well it's been a busy weekend. According to my daughter she has been hurtling round the fields on a quad ,or in the trailer attached to a quad , feeding sheep and cattle. On one foray she came across the local gentry and said she would have doffed her cap if she had one. I know I have a country girl when she tells me that he drove across to them in his 'Landy'. A couple of weeks back on a Scout Activity day at Windermere she found it hilarious that some of the city children were in awe of a tractor. I'm sure she would be like a fish out of water in the city - her only gripe about rural living - we could do with a Primark!

Despite it only being the beginning of February they have a few lambs already. My daughter came back with a bag full of smelly wellies and waterproof trousers."Sorry mum, I smell of cow pats", she shouted cheerfully as she dumped them at my back door and swiftly departed for a shower!

My eldest meanwhile,has embarked on a nationwide Apprenticeship challenge. called the Brathay Trust Apprenticeship Challenge . He's about to start work on a garden for adults with learning difficulties and mental health issues so off he went to a meeting of the members of a local permaculture garden. At seventeen I expected him to come grumpily home to tell me he had wasted an evening with old fuddy duddies who were into allotments. Not a bit of it, he was full of ideas, right plant for the situation, selling produce to local residents, plants to attract bees and insects- he was hooked! What better lesson in biology that one full of enthusiastic teachers of all ages and experiences!

On top of all that it has been the school's Expressive arts performance this week. My daughter's been practicing since September and it's a relief that it all cumulated in two fantastic shows. It's lovely when a small rural secondary school can boast that over half its pupils were involved in one way of another. My daughter and three friends choreographed their own 'Fred Astaire' type dance in addition to the lyrical dances created for them by ex school students and her acting debut was 'Thing 2' from Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat and a leather jacketed youth in Grease. Well now it's all over for another year.Tomorrow she starts practicing for her Dance class Christmas performance (it never stops does it?)