Animals Everywhere

When I was two, we moved to a wonderful house in an Essex village. We had gardens and paddocks extending to two acres, with trees, shrubs, old farm buildings and plenty of secret places for a child to play in. Although my father was brought up in East London, I think he was really a frustrated farmer, because bit by bit the menagerie grew. Over the years we had the usual cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, fish, then hens, bantams, ducks, geese, ferrets and Soay Sheep. One winter we borrowed a Soay ram from Colchester Zoo, and before we knew it two ewes had become a flock of fourteen. The ram knew no fear and would have a go at anyone. My father used to fend him off with a bucket when he charged, and you could hear the crash from indoors. One day my mother was one side of a wire fence and the ram charged from the other. She laughed thinking he would be stopped by the fence, but the ram knew better, the netting fence stretched and he got her. We used to loan grazing for local ponies in exchange for rides. My long-suffering mother finally drew the line when my father arrived home with a car-load of pig-rearing equipment he had bought at Chelmsford Livestock market. Perhaps luckily, it was never used.

We lived near enough to London for visits as a treat. In those days the drive up was on single carriageway A roads, parking was no problem, and you were allowed to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.