The Eshaness Lighthouse Farm Click on picture to enlarge Photograph by Sharma Krauskopf

We had company for dinner yesterday. I was finishing up the food when I saw them outside inspecting our garage, which was a rather strange way to arrive. When they came into the house their first comment was 'When did you turn the lighthouse into a farm? Three orphan lambs, two chickens and a sea gull met us when we entered the gate.'

I guess I have to plead guilty to that offence if it is a crime. Right now I am bottle-feeding three orphan lambs (called caddies in Shetland). They share the garage known as the 'caddy shack' with two chickens. During the day the garage residents spend all of their time in the yard around the lighthouse. They seem to think every human has something to feed them so they come running when visitors enter the gate. Sometimes they even follow tourists who are on the outside of the fence around thinking they might get fed.

We have a pet herring gull named Heathcliff. The previous owners fed him and we are continuing that tradition. What has been amazing is Heathcliff which was at first afraid of the lambs and the chickens has joined in as part of the family. It is a common sight to see him walking around with three lambs and two chickens.

I guess I will just go out and have a cup of coffee and watch 'the farm' playing in the yard.

Sharma

I love to hear from you so contact me by Email at sharma@sharmakrauskopf.com

You can find more articles in the archive under Island Miniatures/Lighthouse Letters.

I have three books which are directly related to this column. The Last Lighthouse tells how we bought our lighthouse, the day by day journal of a year at Eshaness entitled A Year in the Lighthouse and in Scottish Lighthouses our lighthouse is featured in the 31 lighthouses presented. You can find out more about these books and other I have written at my official author web site.