Country diary: tractors to the rescue on Three Peaks' icy inclines

Newby Head, Yorkshire Dales When heavy snow blocks the roads, farmer Rodney Beresford goes out to clear the way

Tiny snow devil vortices dance across the scene outside Newby Head Farm, 1,400ft high in Yorkshire's Three Peaks region. But the snow that tinsels the windbreak of Douglas firs does not stir. Neither does the mound of pink rock salt by the roadside; it is already half-frozen. Sheep farmer Rodney Beresford has to dig hard as he fills the hopper behind his 150hp Deutz tractor.