Mrs Down's Diary

Over the entire week only two salmon and one sea trout were caught by 11 fishermen. All the old excuses. No water. Too hot. No rain. I've heard them all.

The most obvious outcome of my week of being in charge, John says, is the speed with which the ducks and geese zoom into their huts at night.

I had to admit eventually to the bribe of a large bowl of rolled barley in the hut as an incentive for them to go to bed when I wanted them to. This has now been authorised as official policy.

The heifer which was bagging up prior to John going away, waited until the afternoon he came home to give birth to her calf.

As it turned out she needed a pull so it was fortuitous that John was around. The calf is a beautiful soft grey colour, quite unusual and must be a throw back somewhere as the bull is a brown Limousin and she is a black Aberdeen Angus.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette July 30