Well, that's not strictly true.  For a start, nobody's been arrested for murder, re-gained the use of legs or run off with the chauffer, but there have been a couple of dramatic incidents to mark the start of 2012.  Firstly, there was the guest rescue.

We had a house full of excited guests on New Year's Eve - none more so than three lovely Antipodean girls who had arrived on the previous night from London.  The girls (two Aussies, one Kiwi - now living in London) had decided to make the most of their visit to this lovely part of the world with a long walk along the South West Coastal Path during the day on New Year's Eve.  Keith had dropped them off in nearby Seaton to start their walk which hugs the clifftops along the outstandingly beautiful Jurassic Coast here - it's a lovely walk even on a grey winter's day.

We knew that the cab was coming at 6.30 that night to whisk them and our other guests off to a fabulous evening meal and dancing at River Cottage to see the New Year in.  As darkness began to fall at about 5pm there was still no sign of the girls.  Then the phone rang.  We had left them with instructions of how to walk back to us from Seaton, but they'd got a bit lost.  Describing what they could see Keith quickly realised where they were and realising they weren't far he set out with torches and our trusty hound to the rescue.

Those of you who know Merryck will know he's not the bravest.  Picture the closing credits of Dad's Army and you've got a pretty good idea of what Merryck's like in the dark.  Walking closely behind Keith and nervously glancing left and right at the - by now- menacing-looking trees and fields Merryck resembled nothing more than Private Fraser, wide-eyed and terrified that we were all doomed.

Needless to say Keith reached the girls before too long and escorted them back over the dark fields to safety!  Apparently it made a great story over the dinner table that night.

From guests to gusts. Today it's windy to say the least.  Unfortunately the wind whipped around the pig stys and has broken and twisted Keith's corrugated roof that the painstakingly secured last year in the hope it would provide a little more outdoor winter shelter for the pigs.  Today's windy gusts have got the better of the roof and pulled it to pieces.  Keith fearlessly climbed onto the roof to attempt a fix only to have the ladder blown away!  This time it was me to the rescue!  Donning boots and several layers of clothing I battled the wind to prop the ladder back up against the wall.  Well done me!  Good job I was around to help, otherwise it would have been down to Merryck and as we all now know he's not really Lassie!

We're all safe and sound inside which is how we're going to stay for the rest of the day.

Happy New Year to you all!