Well there I was walking down the lane a few minutes from home taking Gemma our rescue greyhound for her daily walk when one chugged past me and on down towards the old cider orchards at the foot of Glastonbury Tor.

So I followed it round the bend and up through a yard with it's small sheds, barn, workbench and cider house and into the orchard where the tractor was now parked under an ancient apple tree, to shade the barrel of water in the trailer on the back from the heat of the midday sun.

After a few minutes of introduction to the owner, not forgetting to mention that I once used to work at Mr Greens farm at nearby Pennard he was only to happy to help. Marcus Govier was his name, it was his orchard and his grandson Peter's tractor and yes I could put it in one of my paintings.

I explained that rather than take pictures in heavy shade I would like to do it in dappled shadow with shafts of sunshine coming through the leaves." Well," said Marcus "do you want me to move her out a bit? Or shall we sit here and wait for the sun to move round?"

Taking one look at the table and chairs under one of the trees and the barrel of cold water with a flagon of cider cooling in I decided there really was no contest.

The resulting picture "Lazy Days" I hope captures that feeling of a restful summers
day when time does not matter a hoot and the word stress has not even been invented.

But it was not just a picture of a dirty old grey tractor that I discovered in Marcus' orchard and yard but also an amazing collection of fascinating subjects, everywhere I looked I kept on seeing thing to paint. Friends said what do you mean, it's just some old sheds, corrugated iron, lean to buildings, piles of old wood and bits of old iron, it is almost a blot on the landscape.

To me though it is a fascinating source of inspiration. In the past I had painted old country buildings, big old barns and farmhouses but Marcus' yard would mean painting a way of life and a way of life that is now so threatened by red tape, by productivity and bank managers that soon this little collection of old sheds that most people drive past without giving it a second glance will not exist, it is not economically viable, it does not fit in.

Now months latter I have had the privilege of following Marcus at work and at rest, watching him repairing old barrels ready for the cider making, sitting cutting up potatoes by another barrel, this time full of daffodils, as he prepares food for the calves. Feeding the young stock in the barn before seven o'clock in the morning having got up at five to do his and Peters bacon.

And to accompany the pictures of Marcus' life I have also been able to note down some
of his memories and his views on things past and present.

"Got a bit of stick in the Aga one morning to do the bacon when we heard all this banging at the door. I says to Peter who's that then, we opened the door there's no one there. Got on with the bacon and there's all this banging again, I says to Peter I reckon that's the front door. That's not been used for years there's a poufee in the way. Well we moved it opened the door and there's old whats is name with his big yellow helmet on and his uniform; he says do you know your chimney's on fire Marcus? Bugger that I says I haven't finished our bacon yet."

Then there is Marcus at rest, a well deserved rest I should think as he sits back in chair beside the little wood burner in his shed to tell me of his first day at work when he had to plough a field with a horse plough "I was the proudest boy in England at the end of the day" he recalls, still with a little glow of pride years later. And as the afternoon goes one by one his old friends drop in and settle down by the stove to remember old times, to sort over the problems of the world outside and most important of all to help Marcus dispense a bit more of his cider. A golden brew that has travelled all of ten feet from the cider shed next door.

"Never had a holiday in my life", he said one day, "don't need to when I got this place do I?"
Then only a few days later I enter the inner sanctum to hear him talking of the best holiday he ever had. "What do you mean Marcus I thought you'd never had one?" Oh yes I did, I had six days in Butleigh Hospital, coor that was lovely that was, it was when they had a proper matron and had their own vegetable garden for the kitchen., I had roast pork with crackling too, proper holiday that was."

Ever been to London I asked him one day "Yes twice to the motor show and that's twice too many"

"Have you got one of they mobile phone Mr Cooper?" He once asked me and laughed.
"When I worked for old Bessie Bull if she wanted you back the farmhouse she used to play a trumpet outside the back door she didn't need no mobile phone."

Only recently Marcus said to me. "Don't get me wrong I don't want to die but if I was to die tonight, I've enjoyed every minute. Besides it can't be too bad I don't know anyone who's come back." How many of us can say that I thought.

Footnote - Marcus has since told me that when I first entered his yard and asked if I may paint his tractor he was a bit surprised. He knew it was a bit rusty and needed a coat of paint but he never expected some strange dog walker to come and offer to do it for him!

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