Country diary: Music belts out to chivvy along the junior wallers | Andrea Meanwell

Tebay, Cumbria: Competition judges look out for no uncrossed joints, stones decreasing in size as the wall gets higher, the middle well filled, and a tidy jobPick-ups parked on the grass verges lined both sides of the lane down to our farm on Sunday morning. We were hosting the Cumbria Young Farmers Southern District walling competition. Early in the morning, a long stretch of drystone wall, including the footings, had been taken down, and the competitors had the rest of the day to rebuild their allocated section in the local style to match the rest of the wall.Competitors came from Grayrigg, Crook, Sedbergh, Kent Estuary and Pennine young farmers’ clubs to compete in either the junior, intermediate, senior or girls category. Music belted out from the pick-ups to chivvy them along, as well as the tapping of hammers on crowbars. Continue reading...