OUTSIDE the farm yard is lit up like a fairground.

I have every outside light blazing away. The reason? Night time visitors of the unwelcome kind, maybe up to no good and certainly driving the dogs wild.

Over the past month some of our old farm buildings have been demolished. The pile of roof joists was apparently a great temptation to certain passers by, keen to help clear them away, but not willing to ask first or give any payment for them.

Some were quite brazenly walking into the buildings in the day, but it was the night time visitors that unsettled me, especially as John has been away.

Demented barking by the dogs alerted me to the probing torch lights in the yard, which thankfully disappeared into the night when I switched on all the outside lights.

Recently an elderly farmer was cleared of wounding an intruder who tried to run him over with a vehicle when he went outside at night to investigate why his dogs were barking. I can understand how threatened he must have felt.

Four days ago a lorry with scrap on the back pulled up to the gates. I had not noticed it at first, until I was alerted by the manic barking of the dogs and an angry voice shouting at our sheepdog to go away. But not quite so politely. Two men were sat in the lorry and another was climbing onto a heap of joists.

When challenged he seemed not the least bit bothered I had found him trespassing. Instead asked if there was any "scrap" for sale? I was polite, but firm. Please would he leave and took a pen out of my pocket to write the number of the lorry on my hand.

Well, not a good move. The whole mood became very threatening. What was I doing? I explained to the three of them that we wanted to keep a record of visitors and that there had been thefts from the farm yard.

Angrily, I was thrust a piece of paper with the name of the scrap business. If I didn't believe they were legitimate, ring that number, and they reversed out of the yard at speed and drove off.

I did phone the number later. They denied being in the yard. Didn't know what I was talking about and I must have got the number wrong. So that's why all the lights are on tonight.