THIS morning, as I watched the lambs playing and aggravating their mothers, I found my mind going back to that awful spring of 2001 and the foot and mouth outbreak.

I remember particularly coming home from work one evening and, as I approached the village, I saw the sheep being called in.

I know it was about this time of year because I recall the daffodils being out. I thought it seemed an odd time to call them in but the mothers simply ran and the lambs, some only days old, ran after them. As I rounded the bend into the village I saw it, the Land Rover parked across the entry to the farm.

And then I saw them, the men in the white overalls. Someone had to do it, they were good at what they did and it was all over that evening.

My wife and I didn’t eat much tea that night. We used to go over to the Lake District a lot at that year and all I recall that spring was that all pervading smell of fires. A truly cruel spring.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland