Little Forest field in the snow

On The Farm in January

21 Comments

Yesterday the meteorologists forecast snow and wind. The media got over excited and our local news was filled with photos of gritting lorries and dire warnings of ice and tidal surges.

 

Slamseys Farm drive

 

In the evening we had a light covering of snow.

 

snow on Slamseys Christmas trees

frozen puddles

 

Not enough to cause disruption but enough to make the farm look pretty this morning with snow dusted fields and patterned ice filling the puddles.

 

dovecote in the snow

 

Today is grey and overcast with flurries of snow and everyone wants to find a job inside to escape the icy north west wind. I may just be able to keep them employed for a while.

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.

21 thoughts on “On The Farm in January”

  1. Christina

    Yes, the snow has been main focus of all coffee break chats this week. After all the build-up, I was a bit disappointed. There wasn’t enough of it to even make a snow angel. Your photos are beautiful, winter is very photogenic. Have a good weekend.

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  3. The Big Garden, Isle of South Uist

    [J] Wow, the farm is quite grand! Fancy having a driveway like that! The key to productive country life: always keep a wee ‘order book’ for each of Indoor Work, and Outdoor Work. And for each, something that can be picked up and put down again at short notice. That’s the ideal. Unfortunately that ideal implies a back-log of work. Or a very understanding boss. Thankfully she is. ;~)

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    • Anne Wheaton

      In 2000 the council built a dual carriageway across our farm entrance and replaced our well worn driveway with a smart concrete road complete with millennium avenue of oak trees. We have an outdoors list of jobs, in the barn list and last of all a house list.

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      • The Big Garden, Isle of South Uist

        [J] Ah yes, ‘accommodation works’! Strictly speaking, the cost of these should be deducted from compensation/payment for land taken, and any overall betterment paid for by the landowner. In practice, that never happens, it’s politically impossible. What happens in practice is you get paid for the loss of land and any ‘improvements’ on it (including fences, drainage, buildings if any etc) and then get free replacements. It’s a sweetener. I’ve known potentially hostile landowners ‘neutralized’ by small technically ‘necessary’ changes to the road alignment which – alas! – necessitate that an old rickety barn would have to be demolished, and a nice shiny new built to replace it. It’s called creative highway design. ;~)

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        • The Big Garden, Isle of South Uist

          Ah, context is everything. The fancy drive is the least they could have done for you. An acoustic barrier fence is very effective – but extremely expensive and needs maintenance. 5m deep dense planting with evergreens will help. I am very sorry about the major road works next to you. The sort of project that leaves me feeling – what is this all for? When I started work in Cumbria in the mid 1970s, the benefits of bypasses of market towns like Appleby or Kendal were obvious, and there was little negative impact. My last projects were a few years ago in Hertfordshire and Essex, and a lot of that was development-driven, rather than environmentally/socially justified as years ago. I was glad to be out of it, as I really believe we’ve reached saturation point.

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  5. anna warren portfolio

    Just looking at your photos makes me feel cooler – it is 30 today and very humid, but was hotter earlier in the week and will continue for some time … like the above commenters I think your dovecote is just lovely, and the wonderful patterns in the puddles offer so many little stories.

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    • Anne Wheaton

      I like to look at photos from Australia to wallow in the hot sunshine while it’s cold here (though you can keep the humidity). I hadn’t thought beyond the puddles looking pretty – you look at it with an artist’s eye and see potential.

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  7. Sam

    We had enough snow and ice to make the early morning drive to the station slightly nerve-wracking but the roads were clear a few hours later. It is extremely chilly, though! Your photos are beautiful, Anne.

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