A belted Galloway cow and its companion

I did a variety of odd jobs before setting off to buy some Christmas cake ingredients that Woodpeckers has asked for. She is baking tomorrow. I could have bought them locally but felt like going to a shop in Gloucester and then hunting down a ruined barn in the country nearby. On my wanderings down to the River Severn recently I had spotted this barn next to the road from the River Severn at Epney back towards Stroud.

As I left the outskirts of Gloucester I drove slowly along the roads winding through the farmland that extends from the Cotswold escarpment across the clay vales down to the river estuary. There are a few isolated houses, mostly cottages, and a lot of small farms with only one or two large estates. I spotted a few ponies standing together in a field, which prompted me to stop in a field entrance and walk back to photograph them.

The adjacent field had a gate which allowed entry to to a farm a few hundred yards back from the road and I saw that the open farm gate was an old elaborate and rather beautiful wrought iron structure still in full working order. I have a bit if a thing for old gates and have thought of trying to record an archive of all the various wooden gates before they all rot away. Too many are now replaced with the same old stock gates bought at cheap prices and the heritage of design are being lost very rapidly.

A pair of sheep were enclosed in a small pen beside the gate, so I had to photograph them as they looked through the fence and the gate at me bleating repeatedly and probably hopeful of being fed. I then walked to the gate into the next field which was made of an unknown type of grey metal. Most of the ponies came to greet me, but without any vocal encouragement, and six of the seven all came very close to me and allowed me to rub their faces. One small and rather shy pony held back and avoided trampling in the mud. They were quite frisky with each other, vying for space and nipping each other if they pressed too hard against the other. I took lots more pictures and particularly focused on their rather lovely eyes.

Then I drove on to find the barn, as I knew I had to be home quite soon to greet the chimney sweep who was due at 2-30pm. When I found it I was rather disappointed because when I got up close to it on foot, I found that although it was derelict it wasn't of great age, beauty, style or quality. It had just become obsolete for modern farming needs in that locality.

I walked back to the car again, which was yet again parked in a field entrance with another metal gate set in the hedged field boundary. But I was surprised to find two cows had come to see what was happening and they stood looking at me through the gate, the third species within half an hour. They let me walk slowly towards them and I was enchanted by the way they looked on at me with what I interpreted as plaintive expressions. So despite it being a 'Derelict Thursday' challenge day, I prefer this view of the belted Galloway and his companion, who were in an old orchard.