Anyone who knows me knows I love animals and nature and all things wild - but not many know where my love of wildlife came from. Having been a town dwelling child for the first six years of my life, my parents bought an old farmhouse when I was about 7 years old. It was wonderful. The most magical place my young self had ever seen. A farmhouse that looked like it belonged in Wuthering Heights, old outbuildings, surrounding fields and even a little 'burn' (or stream). It was a whole new world.

New worlds

As a family, we had a couple of dogs and a cat prior to the move. Neither set took much notice of me and I was a little intimidated by both the cat with spiky claws and the oversized pyrenean mountain dogs. But I was introduced to a host of new animals on the farm. Small animals that were not going to knock me over with their boisterous jollity. There were no farm animals, as it had not been a working farm in many years, but lots of wildlife. Strange, unknowable creatures like stoats, who were very shy but had big, sharp teeth ready to bite me  - or so my Mum told me.

Small and furry animals

It lead to many a warning of, 'Don't go into the barns. There are rats in there'. Of course, I wanted to see the rats. But no matter how sneaky I tried to be, those rats always seemed to hear me coming. In the few years we lived there I never saw a single one.

Mice, on the other hand, were sometimes seen as prey being tormented by the farm cats. As much as I loved the cats, I didn't like seeing them play their games. On one occasion my Mum was clearing off my toy shelf to dust and picked up a soft toy mouse - only for it to occur to her that I didn't have a soft toy mouse. But, otherwise, rodents were few and far between. As a lover of Beatrix Potter, this was much to my disappointment.

Scary thrilling

Out in the stack yard we had an old gighouse where a barn owl lived. A gighouse was a small building where the household cart or carriage would have been kept in days gone by. The doorway was large but inside was inky black, like an entrance to another dimension. It always made me a little wary when I walked past it. But I will never forget the pure shock when I plucked up the courage to wander into the gighouse, nerves and all - only to meet the barn owl on its way out. I'm not sure who got the biggest fright - the owl or me. It was all new! Scary! Thrilling!

Hares were frequently observed in the surrounding fields and foxes occasionally. Sadly, both were seen being chased by the local hunt. One time the whole hunt careered through the courtyard in a flurry of red coats and large horses. At such a young age I didn't understand why adults felt the need to be chasing a small animal for entertainment. With my childish mind I thought the hare must not have found it much fun. It wasn't until I was older that I found out what was really going on.

Deer were smarter. They kept to the outside edges of the farm, nervous and wary of a young child. I am sure they stood watching me as I played, puzzled by what the young, two legged creature was doing.

Bunny love

But my favourites were the rabbits. I was bunny mad as a child, 95% of my toys were plush rabbits. So seeing real, live bunnies in the fields was wonderful. I could sit at the window and watch them bouncing round the garden, eating Mum's newly planted flowers. It was pure joy. Incidentally, I still do this. I stand in the garden and watch the rabbits playing in the field opposite the cottage. It is still as joyful as it was when I was 7.

One of my favourite pastimes was collecting caterpillars. In particular, furry moth caterpillars appealed to my love of all things hairy. I would pester Mum for an empty tub (usually a coleslaw tub), add some grass and flowers then place an unsuspecting caterpillar in the tub. Of course, there was much puzzlement when the caterpillar went 'missing'. I never did see one turn into a moth because I tipped the contents out once I realised my new pet was no longer there.

Neither of my parents were interested in wildlife so I found little help in understanding my new surroundings. A lot of the things I saw remained a mystery for a decade or more until I really started investigating the world of wildlife. However, by that time we were long left the farm and my dreams of exploring the wild places were left far behind.

Best time of my life

It really was the best time of my life. On a Saturday morning I couldn't wait to get outside and play with the cats or root around in the undergrowth. As I couldn't reach the locks high on the door to the garden, I would climb out of the kitchen window. My parents were always too slow to get up at the weekend. Who needed a lie in? Not me! I just wanted to be outside with the animals.

I consider myself very lucky to have experienced that life, but there is still an aching in my heart when I think about it. We were only there a couple of years before we had to move again. Leaving is something that has haunted me ever since and I still miss it. Yet it was an experience that lifted a veil into another world. A world I still dive into every day. One that is magical and wondrous. And at least I can always find my way back to the wilds of the farm in my memories.