A ship’s cat might expect to run the risk of getting marooned at some point in its life, but it is an unusual experience for a farm cat.

However, that is exactly what happened to Dottie, our young farm cat, a couple of weeks ago.

Rob and I had taken a couple of days off from the farm and were gazing in awe at the huge, angry sea pounding the coastline, blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding at Wood Farm.

A torrential downpour of biblical proportions was falling so fast that the farmyard drains simply could not cope. The whole area flooded spectacularly, completely cutting off the house from the top yard.

A friend was farm-sitting for us, and Dottie, being young and inexperienced, arrogantly decided that she did not want to sleep in overnight and refused to come in at bedtime.

Instead, she disappeared on a nocturnal hunting expedition, and badly miscalculated the weather conditions.

When she failed to turn up the next morning, our friend was quite alarmed, as Dottie is a firm believer in starting her day with a good breakfast, and has never been known to miss a meal yet.

As the rain gradually eased, our friend set off on a ‘Dottie hunt’, only to discover a flood in the farmyard of which Noah would have been proud.

She eventually heard a pitiful meowing coming from the top of the hay bales on the far side of the lake. She waded through the deep water and called to the cat, but it took all her powers of persuasion to convince Dottie that it was safe to climb down into her arms.

She finally succeeded, and firmly tucking Dottie inside her jacket, struggled back to the house. It was one very tired and relieved young cat who finally reached home and had absolutely no desire to venture out again until the water had fully receded.

Whilst it was not very bright of Dottie to put herself at such risk, we are secretly proud of her as she is turning into a prodigious hunter. A couple of days ago, following a regular inspection, the farm proved to be virtually vermin-free, so she has clearly got the job under control – a great relief after the vermin problems we experienced when our old cat died and before Dottie came into our lives.