Doris and the Deer
24th February 2017
It sure was windy up in my little office at the top of the mill yesterday. There were times I thought the roof would come off, but I should have remembered that the mill has stood for a thousand years, so we’d probably be OK. At lunchtime I decided I’d brave the weather and see how the grounds staff were faring.
Well, the front gate had been blown off it’s post and was now lashed to a tree. 2 big willow limbs had come down on the island, one which is hanging by a splinter with most of it lying in the river and part of an oak had fallen into the top mill pond. The guys were clearing out a ditch in a fairly sheltered spot, but it was under the trees, so I said I thought they should find jobs inside to do today.
Phil Collins, not the drummer, our can-do-anything groundsman/maintenance engineer type bloke decided that maybe it would be a good idea to get the deer out from under the trees too. Luckily we had this option as we just had planning permission to extend our deer enclosure, which was built a few weeks ago.
So they herded them into the new grassy enclosure and shut the gate and hunkered down in their cosy bloke-shed.
Bloomin good idea chaps! Because, look what came down in the deer enclosure shortly afterwards!!!! And apart from the risk of being being crushed to death, the tree also brought the fence down, so the startled deer would have been bounding down the A60 headlong into a bus or something. Disaster well and truly averted!
You couldn’t imagine the man power that goes into looking after a few hundred yards of river and all the trees that fall into it or get washed up in a flood.
On the plus side we’ll have loads of logs for our wood burners and Lance gets to play with his chainsaw for Doris days.
Well, Doris has had her Day, the deer are safe and I’m happy to say that the guys who look after this beautiful place and all of the animals deserve a proper pat on the back. So well done Phil, Mark, Paul and Lance, the nicest bunch of chaps you will ever meet; and pretty damn sharp too. Que sera sera!
