A vital job with the fun factor
In recent years, July has baked the south-east of the country. England’s green and pleasant land has more closely resembled the parched and rocky landscapes of the Middle East in drought. Instead of the healthy golden hues of ripening corn, fields have been closer in colour to the tired beige of a dry and hardened pasty.
But this year the rains have held and the fields are bursting with green growth. The energy of spring has persisted in high summer.
A huge John Deere combine was being escorted through country lanes as my son William and I threaded our way across the north Essex peninsula in the Ranger. Decoys, hide, guns and cartridges bounced in the back with Scout, our two-year-old yellow labrador. The first of the barley was ripe to be gathered in and the
