Happy New Year to everyone, well 2026 has started as being rather cold across the UK and that certainly has been the case here in South Derbyshire. While the North and the coast of the UK have had the worst of the weather and the snow, we have initially just had very cold winds and very hard frosts. what this has done is harden and freeze the ground.

The other key part of us is that our water pipes around the yard have been frozen and as such we have needed to get water carried around to all of the animals.

A few days ago we then had a very light dusting of snow and then this was followed by a deeper snow fall – about 3-4 inches.

Is this unusual – no not really. The thing to bear in mind is that when we mention that we are in Derbyshire, there is an assumption that we are up in the Peak District, but that isn’t the case, we are in the lower area to the south of Derby and as such we don’t get the same level or quantity of snow falls.

With the snow falling what it also means is that the Sheep and Alpacas are not keen on venturing too far from the building and the hay racks that are inside. We also put a round bale of hay into to them to supplement the grazing and that is particularly important when the snow and ice covers the grass in the fields.

The snow only lasted a couple of days and then the temperatures increased a bit and we were back to the damp weather, thankfully it was quite quick and it helped to get rid of the ice that is is often a hazard around the yard when there is a more gradual temperature change. We’ve all been caught out when walking through a puddle and suddenly finding there is a layer of ice ready to make us slip over!