When Maria and I wake up, we say good morning to one another and ask each other about the day – what’s planned, what do we want to do?

Out in the pasture, just a few yards away, the donkeys – with their big, radar scanning ears,  hear us and come out to the gate to bray for food and rush us along.

The sheep follow the donkeys, and when I get up to look out the window, as I do every morning, they are all at the gate, baaaahing and braying.

They are calling us to get up and feed them, and we do. We have an iron rule on the farm; nobody eats breakfast until all the animals – dogs, cats, sheep donkeys – have been fed.

We are well and thoroughly trained. But I love looking out my bedroom window and seeing them all there waiting loudly but patiently. When I looked out the bedroom window for much of my life, I saw cars or the sides of houses.

This is so much better.