Country diary: Water is scarce, and getting scarcer, on the farm

Tebay, Cumbria: We are increasingly struggling to get enough water for ourselves and the animals, so drastic action is neededAs I work with my sheep in the pens, getting them ready for the autumn sheep sales, there is an unfamiliar sound on the farm - drilling. A huge rig is drilling a borehole looking for water. This is the second contractor that we have asked to try to find us a supply of water for the farm. The first one dug to 50 metres and could not find any; the second one with a larger rig is currently at 70 metres and the vibrations echo around the farmstead.When the Romans built their fort here, they built an aqueduct down the fellside to bring water to the fort. This functioned well until the building of the motorway in the late 1960s, when a new supply was put in. The supply is a spring on Grayrigg Forest (a nearby peak). Continue reading...