Snow and Sheep

Friday felt a lot colder with a biting wind.  For the first time the snow felt more icy.  One cleaner up and after coffee we went to Buxton to check on the house and pick up our new glasses.  We were back mid afternoon as I wanted to be back before the snow arrived.  It was supposed to be here any time from 3pm but in the end the first flurries didn’t arrive until 5pm.  In the meantime we had to go out twice to the guest garden and round up sheep who have found a breach in the wall from the back field into the copse at the back of the garden.   A few found a way onto the lawn where they were scraping the ground to find grass.  The farmer had brought up hay again for them today but as the saying goes the grass is greener… This didn’t help the saplings in the copse or my Scots Pine I planted  a number of years ago but has now been more or less denuded. The snow took its time to arrive but when it did it came down relentlessly and in the morning there was another four inches of snow.  Confused the dogs by both of us taking them for their morning walk.  Tried to do a bit of sledging but just too much snow!  The road was clear so we thought we would try the Farmers Market so after coffee we took some guests down with us to Bakewell for the market.  There was snow down in Bakewell but on the whole it had been cleared.  Got to the Agricultural Centre only to find the market had been cancelled earlier that morning.  There were still a few stall holders selling outside as they decided having got there they were going to sell what they could as there was a steady stream of cars arriving in the car park.  We then went round to the Chatsworth Farm Shop as our guests hadn’t been there before so at least they could buy some food even if it was more expensive than the Farmers Market.  Back and had lunch and just happened to look out the front and realised the sheep seemed to be crossing the cattle grid into the car park.  Chris and I went outside and got them back into the field and found a barrier to discourage them from coming back again.  My poor plants and shrubs have really been decimated by the sheep over the last couple of days as we found that they had got into the area behind Bluebell and nibbled away at the bottom of the conifers too.  Later in the afternoon the farmer came to feed them and I had to shoo some out of the copse again so at least they could get some hay.  Chris popped down to Andrews and found himself helping out with a sick cow.  Lots of fun with the animals and they’re not even ours!  Later in the evening as the temperature rose there was a rumble and a swathe of snow fell off the roof at the back of the house, luckily no damage done. Then it started to rain and we even had some lightening and thunder at our peak district cottages. Enjoy the photos.