Sue Woodcock: How’s about that then? Jim fixes a visit and makes my week

More lambs have arrived and the weather has been superb. I took the dogs out for a long walk up on the moor and they came back and happily slept for hours. I saw a plover on my field checking out the lay of the land. They are handsome birds.

I also seem to have acquired quite a few young jackdaws and there are hedgehogs wandering around and even a tawny owl making the occasional visit to my barn.

I have one elderly and wily old ewe called Beauty. She always has twins and is a good mother. I know she was preparing to lamb because she kept apart from the flock. Night came and went and in the morning I searched for her for some time until, after several laps of the fields, I went down to the mire and found her on the grassy knoll under my solitary sycamore tree. It is well-sheltered and quiet there so I left her to it with her brand new set of twins. I have checked them several times and they are doing fine and will join the main flock when they are ready.

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I have had exalted company this week. I got a call from an acquaintance asking if he could bring his friend up to visit me as he had expressed a desire to meet me. An hour later, Sir Jimmy Savile MBE was sat in my front room and chatting happily.

I have met some famous folk in my time but I found him charming, interesting and gracious. He was entranced by the lambs and the nanny kid and was interested in me and my lifestyle.

The first film he ever made was with Diana Dors and Anthony Newley and was filmed in Grassington. He explained that he had passed my gate many times since long before I was born. He left with some fresh eggs and a couple of my books which he insisted I sign for him. He promised to return when he is next in the area.

Quite what I have done to deserve such a visit I do not know but it made my week. He is quite a chap and has done a great deal of good in his time, most of which the public have never been aware of.

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I drove over to Bingley to give a talk at the United Reform Church. They asked me to take one of my dogs, so I took Brillo. She politely greeted everyone and then sat in the car while they treated me to a delicious lunch and the audience assembled for the talk.

Brillo took turns on various people’s laps and I turned to see that she had jumped up onto the pastor’s chair and was fast asleep.

The talk raised £215 for their church and, very generously, everyone had brought some dog or cat food for my animals and put it into a big box.

Brillo was watching this and obviously knew what was in the box. She almost counted the items in and when someone passed the box without putting something in it (because they already had) she glowered at them and pointedly looked into the box and back up at them.

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I hurriedly took her out to the car before she embarrassed me any further. I think she enjoyed the outing, I know I did.

On the way back, I called in at a pet food store and purchased some treats and a couple of toys that are currently amusing McWoof – and driving me crackers. They wail and groan at him when he plays with them.

I took three of my dogs to the vet on Monday. All needed to be neutered. The evening was exceptionally quiet. There are so many unwanted dogs already I cannot risk adding more puppies to the list. I was on edge all day but know I have done the responsible thing.

Fair firmly removed her plastic collar at the first opportunity and Brillo is out to get the maximum sympathy. Boo doesn’t seem to have noticed and is carrying on just as normal.

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The roads approaching Ilkley are lined with daffodils in a vibrant display of yellows. At home the hedgehogs are out of hibernation and the bats have been flitting round again at dusk.

The pied wagtails dart around the farmyard and I hear the racket the young wrens are making in their nests in the walls of the barn.

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