National Park, the area is a dark skies
reserve, so on a clear evening a canopy of
stars hangs over the farm. The noise as you
approach is impressive. It’s the sound of
really hard graft – they do say it’s not called
labour for nothing. Inside, row upon row of
rotund ewes are doggedly (or maybe
sheepily) pushing their lambs into the
world. Apart from the chorus of loud, low,
insistent baas, what stays with you most
is the smell. Lambing just got real. It
certainly is something else. Something
very farmy for sure, but not altogether
unpleasant: the warm, bodily, almost
cloyingly savoury smell of new life. They
just ‘get on with it’, do sheep: the ewes,
lying panting in the straw, pushing their
lambs out with the sort of industrial
efficiency that brings a lump to your
throat; and then the tiny, sticky lambs,
expelled head and feet first onto straw like
a bundle of twigs in a threadbare jumper.
But within minutes, they’re licked into life
by the ewes and are on their unsteady feet.
“It’s magical,” says Pam Peacock, who
runs Late Night Lambing at Coombes. “It’s
totally peaceful and quiet. We have small
groups so it’s just a few of you and the
sheep in the dark, lit only by torchlight.”
You can visit in the daytime, too, during
lambing season. This year it’s intending to
open from 16 March to 23 April. But late
night lambing (8pm to 10pm) is for adultsCelebrating
Spring Equinox
The Spring (or vernal) Equinox
(20 March this year) is celebrated by
many belief systems in different ways
and many spring festivals such as
Easter have their roots in the
Equinox. To mark the day in a small
way, you could:
Bring some spring flowers into
the house.
Have a bonfireor a small firebowl
to celebrate the light returning and
the days becoming longer than the
nights once more.
Get out in the gardenand plant
something to bloom later in the year.
Tell a story. In recent years the Pagan
tradition of storytelling has again
become popular at equinox. Spring
Equinox is now World Storytelling
Day (see page 16) and this year’s
theme is myths, legends and epic.
Gather a few friends to join in or
co-opt a willing child into an
Equinox bedtime story.
only and just a few visitors per night.
And yes, you do get to cuddle them. Not
the ‘just born’ ones, but there are almost
always a few rejected ‘pet lambs’ who are
hand-reared. Pam suggests you bring a
blanket so you can sit and cuddle them.
“The lambs are really interested in the
blankets and love to sit quietly with you.”
At most petting farms, adults have to
make way for children, which is a shame in
some ways as the benefits for adults are
just as great. “We started late night
lambing because I’d heard that spending
time close to the sheep is good for people
with anxiety,” says Pam. “It’s relaxing and
calming, and there’s no phone signal here,
so it’s a proper escape from the world.” And
I can tell you there is nothing that brings
the joy of spring so close like sitting on a
pile of hay in the dark, under the stars,
hugging a lamb to your chest in a blanket.ESCAPE (^) | OUTING
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