'All at once there was a tremendous amount to do. A visit to Pumpsaint & District Co-op for almost every known commodity, and directed from there to Pumpsaint garage where they agreed to make a strong tractor box: in fact they made such a robust job that 20 years after it was still in use. Contact made with the Ministry of Agriculture so that I could be duly registered and an advisory officer sent out to discuss my plans. A cow to be milked and butter and cheese made, and the dogs walked around the farm so that they could learn the boundaries and the lie of the land and at the same time I could have a proper look at what I had bought.

A Guernsey cow gives a lot of creamy milk, and if a full time dairy products regime was to be avoided, something had to be put in position to consume it. Accordingly off to market and bought 2 heifer Fresian cattle which the Ministry of Agriculture were advocating. Calves were a glut on the market and there were many very good ones going for very small pennies: their destination was either people like me going into beef production or the veal trade.

The immediate consequence of this was meeting the vet because they contracted salmonella. If Mr Ian Percy is still with us, I send my regards. The possibility that Gwynnion Llethri may have produced a disproportiate amount of his income for two years was due entirely to my inexperience. He proved a fount of information and advice, was marvellous with the animals and entirely and always reliable; if asked he came, day or night, fine weather or foul: on one occasion when the road was impassable he left his car and walked over a mile in the middle of the night, carrying his gear. A professional par excellence'.