Get this thing out of the nettles and ride, ride, ride.

Yes, it’s that time again. The time for surfing the mole hills and battling the bracken before it takes over our field. We have to mow to prevent it from reverting to dereliction and general grottiness. If we fail in this challenge, the dogs’ tennis balls get lost and they get mardy.

I’m away on Sunday so I need to persuade the man to fire up the beast and mow for his life…er well perhaps not his life exactly, but certainly a mowing for a quiet life seems like a good plan. Actually, the dogs love being in the field while he potters around on this thing mowing. They bimble around behind him with big smiles on their faces – it’s fabulous to watch.

When we arrived here, this field was basically a wasteland and now it has trees and proper grass but it’s a constant battle against bracken, nettles, docks and brambles – they are relentless in their bid to dominate our space so we have to treat them with a healthy respect, then mow them to oblivion!