Meet one of the Neighbours

I did say I'd blip the neighbours!

Unfortunately, I took this one shot of one of the unruly children, who turned his back on me to make the image more interesting, just as a friend came to visit. I honestly forgot to go back for more until it was too dark and they'd all gone to bed.
I'm sure the rest of the family will make an emergency blip one day!

This cottage was originally, I'm led to believe, a milking byre, but that was a long time ago.
The pro's are that I live in a lovely spot in the countryside, in a house which is spacious and, now, particularly cosy. Yes, the fire works like a dream come true!
My landlord, the Duke of Northumberland, is very unlikely to kick me out because one of his daughters wants to get married, as he has a slightly better selection of houses to choose from elsewhere. This estate is particularly beautiful and run a by a team of really great people.

Apart from the speed of the traffic, that seems to think the A25 is a race track, the cons are really only the few pigs that are housed on the other side of my kitchen wall. In all honesty they are kept very well. Cleaned, fed and watered and as I've been here so long I'm sort of immune and it's only rarely, when the wind blows in in the wrong direction, that I get a whiff of them.
There have been times when they've taken to throwing around their dinner dish, which is a 40kg lump of iron, which can be quite annoying at 3am, but generally they are quite well behaved.

I've always liked pigs. They're intelligent animals, each with it's own character. I can just about tell you when the sow is about to give birth from the grunts that emanate through the walls. Although the spare bedroom is right on their wall, my guests get disturbed more by the poultry than the neighbours.

It's not the same as being back in Scotland, I know, but my work is here and there's that strange man who's been hanging out with me for the past 15 years!