House Garden Designs: Cow's Muck.

Today I worked all day, reception in the morning and year 1 in the afternoon. Lots of the staff have really bad colds and the children are starting to go down with tummy bugs. Pretty standard for this time of year. I would not be surprised to get a phone call in the morning asking me to work. Hope not because I suspect I may have caught a tummy bug from the children. Don't worry , there'll be no further details.

Birthday has just arrived back home with rather a whiff of cow slurry about him. That's because the farmers have been at their favourite dry weather occupation - muck flinging. I like the smell of cows but whole fields of it gets rather pungent. One of Romas' friends remarked that you know you are a true North Devon person when the smell of cows' muck through the car window reminds you of home.

Note the dark brown area where the muck spreader has been. I assume the seagulls, which only flew off when I got out of the car to take a photo, were feeding on the small creatures that live in the muck - nice! The buzzard that was feeding only 10 ft from the car also flew away but that is part of the buzzard saga which hasn't yet reached its conclusion. Watch this space.

Some views of hills.

I've tried to analyse why hills fascinate me and I think it is because of the flowing lines creating such strong shapes. My favourite views are when the sun is low and casting shadows that highlight all the contours of the hillsides. It shouldn't be too long before the best conditions coincide with my journeys to and from work and I may be able to get some decent shots. That is of course if it isn't raining .

I was standing with my back to a fairly new housing development on the edge of Barnstaple , looking north. The planning regulations are so stringent here that there is very little chance of any further building on these lovely hills.