MOST of the week the weather has been quite dull and sometimes damp, but no appreciable amount of rain has fallen. As the week has progressed there has been a chilly, more autumnal feel to the morning air, reminding us, with the passing of the autumn equinox, that winter is rapidly approaching.

I have walked around parts of Manor Farm during the week. Blackberries are still abundant, as are a variety of brightly coloured berries that adorn the hedgerows. Windfalls from our Bramley apple tree make a number of tasty desserts when mixed with blackberries and the blue/black sloe berries are looking for some gin!

The best of the wild flowers are now dying back with bird and animal wildlife activity a little less obvious. I did, however, startle a deer, hiding in a copse, saw several buzzards circling on some thermals during a sunnier time and, as I walked across a cultivated field, I disturbed quite a number of dragonflies sunning themselves on the bare ground.

I have also seen flocks of swallows, gathering on telephone and electric wires, preparing for migration to warmer countries.

Early one morning I helped move the dry cows and in-calf heifers along the road to some fresh pasture, where they joined our Angus bull. It was sunny that morning and his face was covered with flies, which he seemed to tolerate passively whilst chewing his cud.

Cultivating ground due to be planted still dominates the work on Manor and Stowell Farms, although the seeds have been sown in some of the fields.

Kevin has planted some fields of lucerne, also known as alfalfa. This time he is growing it on its own, not with a mixture of grass seeds, as it did not like the competition.

Lucerne, a leguminous plant, is slow to establish and needs careful management. It does not particularly tolerate grazing, but makes good silage for cattle and sheep, also hay for the equine industry.

Three cuts can be taken in a year, once established, producing 14 tonnes per hectare of dry matter with no added nitrogen and is usually sown as a four or five-year ley. Surprisingly, at the end of the week, Kevin was able to harvest his last field of cereals, saying it was probably the last field to be harvested in Wiltshire.

I say cereals, plural, as this field has a history. As the season progressed it looked as though it would not produce a crop, but then it became a field of wheat and 'volunteer' oats. Volunteers are plants that grow from seed shed by the previous crop, and fortunately the field was free of unwanted weeds. Kevin made the decision to let it grow, hoping it would produce a good yield of mixed grain, which it did. It will now be used as part of the ration fed to the sheep during the winter.

Mid-week Richard and I went on a visit to Styles Ice Cream Dairy situated in a small village called Rodhuish, near Minehead on Exmoor, which was organised for members by The Royal Bath and West Society. David and Sue Baker have farmed there for five generations, diversifying into ice-cream making in 1988, starting with one ice-cream trike. They use the milk from a local herd of Jersey cows, and also sheep's milk. They supply ice-cream at about 350 events each year, such as fetes, fairs, agricultural shows and regattas.

Whilst there we were impressed by the family's passion for producing a high-quality ice-cream using the best possible natural ingredients. At the end of the tour we were treated to a large waffle cone filled with a flavour of our choice. It was delicious!