NOW he has retired, stockman Albert Edmondson will have time to tinker with his vintage tractors.

Well-known throughout the farming community, Mr Edmondson has worked at Manor Farm, Kirby Knowle, all his working life.

He followed in his father Frank's footsteps and went to work for local landowners, the Furness family, as a boy, progressing from stockman and shepherd to farm foreman - just like his father before him.

'The farm has been my life. I have loved working there and for the family, and never wished to work anywhere else,' he said.

It has helped, that his wife Joyce "fitted in" with his life. "She always went to bed with me at 9pm and got up at 2am to help me with the lambing. She has been a good wife and understood the workload involved."

Mr Edmondson would have liked his own farm: "But unless you are born into farming there is little chance of getting enough money together to buy one. They tended to go from family to family.

"It's different nowadays though, as youngsters born into farming don't want them. there isn't enough money in it for them," he said.

Although never having his own cattle, Mr Edmondson has always treated his charges as he would his own. "They all know me pretty well," he said.

There was too much paperwork and regulation nowadays in farming, he said. "I know changes had to come, but the days of haystacks, of having picnic teas in the field, of children playing among the hay and so on have gone forever. It isn't allowed nowadays."

"And going to market isn't what it was; there is always some official looking out for any mistake you may have made under new rulings."

The foot-and-mouth crisis hit the farm badly and all the stock was wiped out. This came very hard for him, having cared for the stock all his life.

"It's a thing I wouldn't have wished to see, but it had to be done and we had to help the officials deal with the problem. It was like a ghost farm - even the birds seemed to go away when the animals went," said Mr Edmondson.

Although he was never involved with ploughing or other farm machinery, he has always had a keen interest in tractors and now hopes to spend more time with his veteran machines. "I have entered many competitions and exhibitions, not to win prizes, just to take part," he said.

He decided not to live on the farm and bought a small cottage, where he still lives, at South Kilvington. "I thought it better to live away from my place of work," he said.

At one time there were eight people employed on the 1,000 acre farm. "But much of the field work is contracted out so now fewer men are needed. I have just been training a young lad in stockmanship," he said.

"We have had some good times on the estate over the years. I can remember one day when a team of us were cutting the grass at the church when it started pouring down.

"We all dashed into the church and one of the farmworkers got into the pulpit and said he would bless us. He had just got to the words 'all ye who are heavy laden' when the boss walked in and said: 'Get yourself down from there'."

Mr Edmondson will keep his hand in at the farm by doing a few part-time jobs.

He intends to do a bit more ploughing, though with his old tractors. "I didn't get to plough the fields as a stockman, so I took it up as a hobby," he said.

At the Great Yorkshire Show three years ago, he was presented with a long service medal.

Paying tribute to Mr Edmondson's dedication to Manor Farm, Mr John Furness said: "Albert is an outstanding stockman and loyal worker.

"He has a very good understanding of the animals and knowledge of the estate. He has devoted all his life to its welfare, which has been appreciated very much over the years by the family."