oybbk we are lucky that we have a neighbour who works from home and he has trained his cctv onto the yard. The problem we have is that there is about 100 acres of old land refill at the side of us that has been turned into grassland with a methane outlet and station at the bottom of the hill. So anyone can access the 100 or so acres, be pretty hidden from sight and do what they want.
The houses that back onto our land are pretty good and we have told them and shown them where to move the ponies to in an emergency and they obviously have our numbers to call us.
But it's still a worry. 2 weeks ago it took the fire service about 4 hours to put it out. There were 4 fire engines and they shut roads and all sorts.
And then the impact of the weather on agriculture is a big worry. Hay and straw will go up massively for the winter.
Am hoping and praying that September is wetter but still not cold so we get some grass coming through. Hay was already a bit short coming out of winter.
And then there is the impact on human food production. Even on a tiny scale I have noticed a difference on our allotment. Runner beans have gone beany as soon as they form, pea moth in my peas, potatoes small, french beans took 3 sowings to get going and they don't seem to be producing as much. And that's with us watering every other day.
We are lucky that we can afford to pay extra for stuff but many families are already struggling. And not convinced that Gove is the best person to be in charge of another crisis situation.
But on the plus side the kids are enjoying the ponies in the nice weather.