Peering through a confetti of Cumbria Wildlife Trust flyers boasting photos of the Foulshaw osprey chicks, and with my own display of flowers ballasted by three large stones, I realised that the niceties of stall dressing don't always allow for an August Bank holiday gale in Kendal.

We'd had thunderstorm, too; so waking recently to a sound of heavy rain and a loud rumbling, I was surprised to find the yard bathed in calm autumn sunshine.

The noise, which was now more musical, came from the shippon roof, where four large turkeys were practicing a rather hectic dance routine, accompanied by vocals from the hen house.

Soon exhausted by their efforts, they retired to the garden to feast on damsons for breakfast; for the autumn reds and golds have been almost surpassed this year by huge crops of damsons, sloes, elderberries, blackberries and plums.

Aside from their use to make wines and preserves, the skins of these purple fruits were once used in dyeing, as is evidenced by the purple rash left on hapless sheep's backs by visiting starlings, fresh from gorging on the hedge.

Jane Merritt is a stallholder on Kendal Farmers' market