WE JOINED my sister and her family (including her latest grandchild, Ivy, left) at their holiday cottage, a barn conversion, at Applethwaite near Keswick. The barn is built into the hillside so Amelia, one of two sows that live in the adjoining field, can poke her snout into the sitting room window, at ground level on her side, windowsill level on ours.
Seeing her from this angle, I immediately guessed that she was a Pot-bellied pig, which she isn’t, then seeing her lying down in the field Gloucester Old Spot came to mind but looking at a book on pig breeds which the owners of the cottage have helpfully left for the use of guests I realised that wasn’t likely to be her breed either. And she could be a cross-breed.
It might have helped if I could have drawn Amelia’s porcine companion, Wilma. Don’t tell Amelia that I said this but Wilma is actually better looking, however she’s also less sociable. She won’t come over for a chat and instead she sat herself down out of view behind a water-tank in the field.