Country diary: A trip to the sheep auction – interrupted by light and legend | Andrea Meanwell

It is early Saturday morning and I’m on my way to the Hawes Honeys sale of “in-lamb” (pregnant) ewes at Hawes auction. Usually I drive through Nateby and up over the tops into North Yorkshire, past the big pipe under the road where I used to play with toy cars when I was little, and remembering my sons shouting “hold your breath everyone, don’t breathe the Yorkshire air” as we passed the county boundary.

Today I take a different route, turning off at Wharton to go via Mallerstang instead. As I drove into Mallerstang I had to stop the car and watch as a single ray of sunlight broke through, lighting up a white farmhouse on the other side of the valley, opposite Pendragon Castle.

‘The champion Herdwick ewe from Jessica Harrison at Brotherilkeld sold for £2,200.’ Photograph: Bill Robertson

Pendragon Castle is a much loved local landmark that was rebuilt by Lady Anne Clifford in 1660. Lady Anne is a hero of mine as she insisted that women should be allowed to inherit property, and after a 38-year battle to inherit her family estate, she rebuilt castles and constructed almshouses locally.

There is a family legend, told to me by my grandad, that my Binks family used to keep sheep at the ruined castle. When I researched our family tree I discovered that in the 18th century our family had lived in the now-illuminated farmhouse. I watched the farmhouse until the ray of sun was clouded out again. I couldn’t help but romanticise the landscape for a moment, as if it were remembering me and linking me to my family history – in these uncertain political times it does us no harm to feel grounded and settled in the landscape.

‘Pendragon Castle is a much loved local landmark.’ Photograph: Nicky Beeson/Alamy

There was no romanticising the Baltic conditions for the outdoor sheep show at the auction, where the champion Herdwick ewe from Jessica Harrison at Brotherilkeld sold for £2,200. The auction was packed, standing room only but nowhere to stand, and impossible for some people to see. There’s something special about a successful sale like this – it can really buoy up the farming community. The highest price of the day was £22,000 for a Bluefaced Leicester hogg (weaned lamb) from the Lord farm at North Stainmore.