December snow and ice have given way to frost followed by rain and our all too familiar Devon mud. An east wind cuts through the valley as we wait for lambing to begin. Stout ewes come into the yard for tea every evening now, supplementing sparse grass with malt shreds, oats and sweet smelling hayledge.…

Snow, ice, sleet, fog, gale force winds, rain, more heavy snow; only once in the mid 1980’s do I remember anything like this in South Devon. Thick snow, huge drifts and frozen pipes, and here we are again, a second year running, early frost followed by ice and snow and it’s only December. For nearly…

Nothing but sunset from Scilly to the USA….! The autumn sun is setting as we sit quietly outside Hillside Farm looking east to the islands of Tresco and St Mary’s and west across a flat Atlantic peppered with the crocodile teeth of the Norrard Rocks. In the distance the Bishop Rock Lighthouse sits like a…

Exeter Livesock Market from Paul Vincent on Vimeo. The Annual Show & Sale of Whiteface Dartmoor Sheep

The vegetable garden enters autumn Buzzards circle overhead calling to their young; autumn flying lessons have begun. As geese arrive, so house martins and swallows leave. The trees are looking tired; the whole valley resembles a great fruit salad. It’s been a funny year. A winter of relentless rain, ice and snow, was followed by…

Tom, Noriko, I-Chan, Suzumi were here. And Katy and Merlin, Bee, Harry and Flo We went down to the river and kayaked and crabbed. We played in the mud, and were cleaned with the hose We ate at Claire’s cafe; we talked and we laughed We were caught in the thunder, we raced paper boats.…