Day 76. Normal service resumed and a recipe of sorts.

Vegetarians look away.

Sundays are all about family, so after yesterday's craziness slow roasted lamb seemed the perfect antidote. A quick trip to Dents, snapping photos of Egyptian Geese and the deer in the woods set me up perfectly for catching up with work later in the day.

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe and it never fails. Here it is for those who have yet to discover its heavenly delights.

Slow roasted shoulder of lamb

Preheat your oven to full whack. Slash the fat side of the lamb all over with a sharp knife. Lay sprigs of rosemary and garlic cloves on the bottom of a high-sided roasting tray, rub the lamb all over with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place it in the tray on top of the rosemary and garlic, and put some more rosemary and garlic on top of the lamb. Tightly cover the tray with tinfoil and place in the oven. Turn the oven down immediately to 170°C/325°F/gas 3 and cook for 4 hours – it's done if you can pull the meat apart easily with two forks. 

Day 48. We're lambing.

We started our day at the Ryston Cross Country event in Shouldham Warren. Now I know I'm competitive and although I do try to rein it in when it comes to Bea, I'm not always successful, but at the Ryston races I look like an Earth Mother next to some of the other parents. One Dad was actually running alongside his kids SCREAMING at them to run faster. Scary stuff when you're under 9. Bea managed a sprint finish and as always she did it with a beaming smile, which is enough for me. Just. Like I said, I'm trying to rein it in.

The highlight of the day though was heading on our bikes to our neighbour's farm to see the lambs. I'm in awe of them; my neighbours, not the sheep. Each year they save all their leave for lambing and it was great to hear that this year they had only lost 2 out of 85 lambs with just 2 ewes yet to lamb and that looks all set to happen over the next few days.

Phil had saved this lamb for when Bea visited. She helped to dock its tail (to prevent fly strike) and then she marked it and its mother with a letter 'B' so we'll be able to recognise it as 'Bea's lamb'. It's a texel sheep and soon they'll all move up to the top field where we'll see them each day until they're sold in May. After that Phil and Jo will head up to Skipton to buy some more ewes ready for next year's breeding season.

Such a treat for us to be able to get up close to the lambs; I wonder if we'll still enjoy our dinner tonight? Yep, slow roasted shoulder of lamb. It's Colomendy all over again.