In the bleak midwinter

Baugh Fell, Northern Pennines 'If bad weather is forecast, we ensure the sheep are gathered in before the blizzards break'

"Aye," says the postman, after dragging the heavy gate to one side and before driving on through. "Delivering Christmas cards to Uldale House farm can be an expedition."

Christina Rossetti's carol In the Bleak Midwinter says it all. Drifts. Shot ice. White-outs. Though today only the frosty wind is making moan, and what in effect is an asphalted lane across a moor powdered white with snow and marked by the diamond-shaped footprints of a fox - forboding, as its bends merge into the peaty mosaic - is ice-less.