Pastures new

The pigs on their arrival last year

The pigs left the field today.
They have been adopted by an animal park over in Cambridgeshire (http://www.hamertonzoopark.com/), as breeding mates for a rare breed boar, who has been alone for quite some time.
The park looks lovely and finally I am sort of glad that they have a large new home and a chance to experience piglets.
Just over a week ago, I was suddenly made aware that the Glebe field's lease prohibits the presence of pigs, and the very future of the allotment had been put into jeopardy by this fact as well as a series of oversights (on my part)
I won't go into too many details, there is no real need to do so now as, after much wringing of hands, anxiety and angst (it was awful!), most things have now been sorted out to a satisfactory level, however I thought it appropriate for the girls to be re-homed, so that my existence here is above board and legal and more importantly safe.
And so, Gladys and Nora have gone. They came to me over a year ago after a chance meeting with their owner at the animal feed shop. She needed a home for them immediately as she was unexpectedly moving to the US....and I was a sucker for a sob story.
The girls became minor celebrities here in the field. Over the past year, they have been visited by a whole string of villagers clutching loaves of bread and bags of veg clippings.and subsequently they turned from small,.slight sows who lived in a small concrete sty, into fat old girls who have charmed half the village and who have lived a comfortable life in a field with a lovely view.
I shall miss them.