Ferrets…bingo!

By Ruth D’Alessandro, The Wildlife Gardener It’s that time of year when la famille Wildlife Gardener hitch the donkey to the cart and trot off to the local showground for the annual bonkersness that is the village fête. Entirely homespun and mentioned in The Times as among the Top Ten best village fêtes in the country, not even the soft soaking rain drizzling down from dark clouds over the North Downs could deter the inhabitants from having a Jolly Good Time. Highlights this year included: Guess The Combined Ages of Two Pregnant Dairy Cows (in days), Win A Mini (to drive around for the weekend then give back) Terrier Racing, Crockery Smashing, and Slippery Pole Pillow-Fighting as well as big mugs of tea, slabs of coffee and walnut cake and scones and jam served from the tea tent by the doughty ladies of the village. But what’s going on here?

Ah yes, the Ferret Bingo. The benchmark of a real country show is the presence of ferrets in some capacity. At our fête they have a job to do. Bert and Betty Ferret, working in shifts, helped raise nearly