She picked up an empty bucket and over the next quarter of an hour showed Hannah the barn where they filled the buckets with the grain and pellet mix that made up the hens’ main diet, and chatted away, explaining everything she did. Then she led Hannah to the large fenced enclosure where they poured the mix into a big circular trough. Next, Adrienne showed her the tap that supplied fresh water to the bird feeders.

When they finally let the hens out, they came bustling and squawking down a wooden ramp, furious bundles of feathers as if indignant at being cooped up for the night. Adrienne laughed with delight.

‘Morning, ladies, welcome to the day. This is Hannah. She’ll be keeping an eye on you for the next few weeks.’ She turned to Hannah. ‘I’ll tell you their names later when you get to know them; you’ll not take it all in today and once you know their characters it’s easier to remember them all.’

Most made a beeline for the feeder but a couple were more canny and loitered near Adrienne and Hannah, as if they knew that the tin buckets they held contained the juicy kitchen scraps of broccoli, cauliflower, raspberries, and potatoes.

‘They’ll eat most things but we only give them organic stuff,’ explained Adrienne as she scattered the scraps across the ground to the delight of the hangers-back who immediately began pecking with comical staccato jabs. Hannah laughed and watched as one came right up to her feet, nosing quite happily around her. She’d never thought of chickens as cute before but she was quite taken with them.

‘Watch this one. I said I’d give you their names once you’d got to know them. This one, I call Attila.’

Hannah laughed. ‘Of course, she’s the leader of the pack.’

‘Exactly. She’s very bossy and convinced that she’s queen bee. There’s a pecking order, as you’ve probably seen.’

‘Is that really where the phrase comes from?’

‘Oh yes. Bottom of the order here is Henrietta.’ She pointed to a lone white chicken loitering at the back. ‘So I always save the best scraps for her.’ Adrienne gave her a pixie-like grin which was reminiscent of her mother-in-law, Bridget, and quite at odds with her usual slightly scary business-like manner. ‘She’s a sweetheart. And that’s Elsie, she’s got attitude, and that one is Audrey. Don’t you think she’s got a bit of Hepburn about her?’

Hannah stared at the little black and white chicken who strutted along with quite a sassy wiggle and couldn’t help laughing again. ‘You’re right.’

Adrienne lifted her shoulders in a casual of-course-I-am shrug that made Hannah grin.