Photo of lambs at West Ilkerton by Kay Taylor
It's great that people read this farm news; I've had several e-mails recently asking whether we're all OK because there's been no farm news for ages! Thanks for your concern, but the answer is we're just forgetful and inefficient.
The main news has been the awful weather. Thank goodness, we managed to bale Ranscombe Field to big bale hay in July, but we still haven't managed to make hay or silage from most of the laid up fields (about 30 acres in all). It's turning mushy and slug-infested now. Yum! Yum!
Our poor visitors are in danger of becoming mushy too. All of them have been wonderfully good-natured, with comments like,'Thank goodness we're not camping,' and 'At least we're not on a flood plain!'
I managed to make good use of the one good day of the whole summer with a Lundy Collectors' Club day trip to Lundy. As usual, there were lots of new things to see and take photos of. Here's an inevitable pony grazing on the West Side, near Quarter Wall, looking north.

Sarah has made great progress with training Winaway this summer (with some initial help from Vanessa Bee). She and Winaway now go for long walks every day, in preparation for riding out. Although she's just turned three, Winaway is still growing, so we don't want to ride her quite yet.

The Taylor family stayed with us in July. Katya Taylor is very keen on ponies, and she often went for walks over the farm in the evening with her father. Here she is on the field we call Opposite.

For those of you who've been following the progress of the Beduki (Bedford truck crossed with a Suzuki jeep), it went to the Riphay Scuffle, and was driven around and much admired, but Sarah and Chris decided they loved it too much to subject it to the Scuffle.

The following photos show why the Scuffle is the ultimate punishment for a car that's been naughty and failed its MOT!

So, in case you were wondering, that's what farmers do when it's too wet to farm!

Sarah's friend, Luke, came to pick up the caravan today. They're going to live in it during Dorset Steam Fair. Luke has a pet raccoon (have I spelt that right, Marcia?!) called Vince. Here are some pictures of Vince having a lovely time in the stream outside the house, eating snails. The Hagger family are staying in the cottage this week. Shannon Hagger is crouching to take a photo.