Snow on the Moor

Following my last blog the winter here on the Moor has gone from cold to colder, the wet days have become snowy and therefore far more interesting. The forecast was snow and our neighbours warned us that if it was heavy we would struggle to get around and access up to our smallholding would be difficult. Steve decided to hibernate on the advice of his boss who suggested that if he went into work and the weather turned he would need a tooth brush, so not wanting to take up residence at work he didn't go to work on Monday morning. I went in but left early following a phone call from Steve at about 15.45hrs saying that it had been snowing at home for about and hour and a half and was settling. I had no idea as it wasn't even snowing in Liskeard but heeded his warning and got home just in time; although the granite gatepost at the bottom of our drive suddenly loomed towards me as I slid into the drive - fortunately it stopped moving before it hit me!



The next morning we woke to several inches of snow and it was soon clear that work was off the agenda for the day. The locals that tried it (even those with 4x4's) soon became stranded at the bottom of the hill and had to abandon their cars as they couldn't make it back home or up onto the A30 - which was closed for about 40 miles. I cancelled all my work, made lots of phone calls and then went out onto the moor and took lots of photographs of our new white world. I met lots of the locals out walking that day, many I hadn't seen since last summer, all enjoying an impromptu day off.

The day went from heavy snow to beautiful sun and then back to heavy snow several times. Our dog Saffy had experienced snow several times over the years and generally behaved like a puppy rather than a mature dog. At first the chickens didn't really know what to make of it and avoided it but as the day went on they became more confident but I think due to the cold generally stood on one leg rather than two. Egg production fell slightly for a couple of days but it is now generally quite good with 3 or 4 per day - even our injured hen is now laying again - although her limp hasn't really improved.

The next day it was snowing again when I got up but by about 08.30 this turned to rain and by 11.00 it was possible to get out and I went into work. The rest of the week and into the following week we had a mixture of wintry weather with several inches again on the Friday night. The snowy weather didn't last and life on the Moor resumed as normal but it did make me think how hard life would have been in the past with harsher winters and little transport, people then would have had to plan ahead and help each other.