Improvisation and adaptability are two words that get used on a very regular basis in agriculture as, when you hit a difficulty, there is no battalion of lackeys to solve your problem for you; you are on your own.

Being resourceful is also a prime requirement of life on the farm, and last Sunday was one of those days when all three words came into play in rapid succession.

It was Wood Farm’s turn to host the Annual Deanery Rogation Sunday Farm Walk, and when the draft service sheet came through, I noticed that the walk began with a visit to the sheep.

Under normal circumstances, that would not have been a problem as, each year, we have a flock of sheep that spend the summer with us, and we fully expected them to have arrived by the time we returned from a couple of days away.

What we had not appreciated was that whilst we were in another part of the country, this area had been experiencing torrential downpours, and the poor farmer who owns the sheep was desperately trying to salvage his grass silage before it rotted.

Delivering sheep for their annual holiday was probably the last thing on his mind, and certainly not a priority.

Problems are there to be overcome, and a novel solution presented itself which caused a lot of amusement amongst our visitors that afternoon.

Rather than finding a flock of sheep in the paddock, a solitary, life-sized model sheep called Betty was waiting to greet everyone.

She was given to me many years ago, and normally lives on our landing upstairs when not attending harvest festivals, school visits or other rural events.

For some inexplicable reason, she always seems to provoke very odd behaviour from dogs, who simply cannot work her out.

They either refuse to go near her, or bark furiously in the hopes of getting her to move.

With several dogs joining their owners on the walk on Sunday, I wondered what would happen this time, and was slightly disappointed to learn that most of them were sublimely indifferent.

The whole afternoon proved to be hugely enjoyable, with over 40 people taking part.

The sun came out, the crops and livestock were duly blessed for another year, and the walk concluded with tea and cake on the back lawn – a perfect afternoon.