'What do you do, once you’ve got the harvest in'? By the tone of his voice, the questioner clearly expected Rob to say that he lay on a beach in the Bahamas for the next 11 months of the year.

Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the Autumn is probably even busier than harvest time, as we have got to get the land prepared for the winter-sown crops, trim the hedges around the inside of the fields whilst the ground is still dry enough to carry the weight of the tractor and hedge cutter, drill the winter crops and, if necessary, spray some of them to protect them against pests and diseases, and generally prepare to complete all field work before winter arrives.

It is always an anxious time as, on our clay soils, once they become very wet, all tasks on the land have to stop until the spring. If we ignored the wet conditions, we would do immense damage to the soil structure which could take years to recover. It is not just the work on the land that happens in the Autumn, we are also preparing for winter by gathering fruit, delicious ‘free’ crops of blackberries, sloes, and crab apples from the hedges, to turn into jams, jellies and sloe gin, and walnuts from the orchard where we are in hot competition with our local squirrel.

In addition to the farm work, there are traditional events to support, including harvest festivals. For many years, I have helped on the National Farmers Union (NFU) stand in Ely Cathedral for the harvest festival weekend.

It is great fun, and a wonderful opportunity to meet people from all over the world who come to see this magnificent building and are fascinated by the stunning displays of local produce that are used to decorate it.

One of the main attractions is the pen of rare breed sheep that make up part of the NFU display. Most people cannot believe that live sheep are allowed to come into the building, and when I explain that the sheep will be sleeping there overnight, they are quite shocked.

However, for most of the visitors, the joy is in being able to get close to a real farm animal and see for themselves how content the sheep are in their unusual surroundings.