Four!

The lambs have started arriving, these two first,

.....then these two,....

... with Mum keeping a close eye on them.

The lambs look fragile, but they are tough little beings.

I can remember the first lambs born here and how panicky we were about keeping them warm.

I can remember the look on the French builders faces as we carried the lambs across the courtyard in from of them, taking them in to the Half Barn, where we made a pen for them and their mum.

I think they thought we were off our heads!

This was in December 2010:

We were still living in the caravans then, so the ewe and lambs were actually warmer than we were!

Eventually we let this little family out onto the paddock because by then other lambs had started arriving and we realised that we could not house all of them in the Half Barn!

A year later, and we were able to start unpacking the caravans:

... and move in to the Half Barn:

....which was now clear of all clutter, including straw, sheep, and builder's things.

A year further on, and the Half Barn had become a cosy space for us to live in while the rest of the house was sorted out. The caravans had gone, and no more sheep came and visited us indoors!

Meanwhile, we had become more experienced with raising sheep,

and did not fuss any more if a ewe decided to have her lambs in the middle of inclement weather.

Orphan lambs, which are lambs rejected by their mums for one reason or another, well this was another steep learning curve, because there is always the urge to pick them up and give them a cuddle because they are so damn cute, but we resist this urge now because it can confuse the lambs as to what species of animal they belong to, human or sheep, because they will bond to whoever is feeding them and looking after them.

So we do not bring young lambs in to the house anymore, but keep them with the flock, bottle feeding them amongst the other sheep and lambs so they do not attach too much to human beings, which they still do a little bit, but this soon goes once the lamb starts growing up.

As I say, lambs are much tougher than what they look!

..... and the only orphan lamb of 2015, after having had his bottle of milk,