Rope Yarn Lane is a grass track, about a mile from our house. Nestled in the corner, between it and a single track road, is a 10 acre field. This field had been sown with arable crops annually until being grassed for brood mares about three years before we found it, in November 2006. Initially, it was our intention to graze my son's ponies on it, giving us security and freedom after renting grazing for some years. I also imagined that it would ease the burden on my time, because our rented grazing was not local.
But time passes, and things change, as they say. And between November and the following July, when we finally took possession of the field, things did indeed change. Tidying an very over-burdened garage one day, we found an ancient heavy wooden packing box - a relic from my husband's family's air force travelling days - that took two people to lift when empty. It nearly hit the bonfire - but instead, my son, Simon, fitted it with a nesting box and perches, and together with a run made from offcuts from the same source, the box became home to a free bantam cockerel, Floyd, pictured above, and a couple of Black Rock hybrid chicken, near point of lay. Little did the three birds realise, but they bought with them a new life for our family!
