Your childhood and the countryside

[pikey boy 25]

great write up cookie still hoping to go out ferreting with you and meeting up for a cuper

[paulus 26]

great write up cookie still hoping to go out ferreting with you and meeting up for a cuper

dont park your combine and leave the keys in it and remember to hide the satnav

[skycat 6,174]

I remember watching my dad go off lamping with the farmer from next door: he had an old blue Greyhound, and lamped with a car battery strapped to his back. Later I remember my dad creeping up the hill behind our house with his rifle and Lab. Both he and the dog were crawling on their bellies through the bracken. This was on the edge of the Cornish moors, down near the coast between St Ives and Lands End. Brilliant childhood there, me and my sister were outside all the time: roaming around the moors: we had a Welsh Mountain pony, no saddle, and spent all our time hunting for caterpillars, lizards and snakes.

Watching the sea mist creep in over the land, coming down like a blanket with that very fine drizzle: hiding out in stone age huts made of huge granite plinths waiting for real rain to stop. 'Taming' the heifers and the farmer's Shire colts that had free run of the moor with their dams until they were needed for ploughing.

Never forget running miles after a Death's Head Hawk Moth: the only one I've ever seen in the UK.

First started with the hunt down there: the pony could climb the big banks like a cat, hanging on with his front hooves and scrambling up and over where the bigger horses were fumbling about all clumsy and uncertain.

So many more memories: I still act like a big kid if I find some unusual wildlife around me now.

[baw 4,360]

Last winter when we had the heavy winds and all the schools closed as a precaution. It took me right back to when I used to walk to school in similar weather. No day off for us, we used to unzip our jackets, hold the bottom of them and lift them up over our heads creating a sail you'd stand against the wind at a 30 degree angle lol

[vixen 528]

I had a lovely childhood,i do feel very lucky with such happy memories, we lived on the outskirts of town just into the countryside, i was kinda left to my own devices as my mum and dad had busy careers, so i spent every spare minute outwith school in the company of my dogs,bantam chickens and pony (like your pony skycat he could go anywhere lol). i would always be away for hours on end in the woods mooching or over fields. Then i spoke to some local terrier lads and they used to let me tag along to the digs with my border collie in tow lol. As i got older around 13yr old i would usually have my collie and a few border terriers out mooching for mice/rats and the odd time my wee collie would get a rabbit lol . If i wasn't off in the woods or over the fields i could always be found sat way down the back of our house at the big badger sett watching the badgers and their cubs. All the local farmers knew me and my dogs and never bothered with us, but the world seemed such a safe place then,Tis a shame but i wouldn't want my granddaughters going off now like i did then ...........

Edited June 22, 2012 by vixen