And I thought drains was all I had to worry about. A group of travellers arrived at the farm on Saturday, putting off any further thoughts of sewage. They have now gone, after being told to move on by the police on Monday.
This was after we caused a big confrontation with another group that was trying to arrive on Sunday morning. We blocked off the gate they were trying to come in by, causing a huge tailback of caravans in the road, a big traffic jam, lots of screeching and shouting and even intervention by the vicar whose church service was disrupted.
Saturday's group cut through a chain on the farm gate, took it off its hinges and pushed it over, so about six or seven caravans drove into one of the fields at lunchtime.
Someone rang me from the pub to tell me about it and I was on my own all day so I went straight to the police. The police came with me to reason with them, but as it is a civil offence, they told me to get a court order to remove them which is impossible at the weekend.
We had inherited the mess from a group that were there two years ago, before we bought the farm, and that took weeks to clear up, so it really upset me to see them flattening the hay and driving their quad bikes around. I spoke to the travellers' boss who told me they would clear up and not cause a nuisance and only wanted to stay for a few days.
Of course, as soon as I'd gone, the neighbours are all ringing up about the noise and the quad bikes racing on through the night.
By Sunday, I was no longer upset, but angry. I went up there again without the police, but this time James came too. I spoke to the same boss and told him he had not been telling me the truth when he said they would be quiet and clear up and that I wanted them to go. He asked for £500 to leave, but warned me that more were on the way.
This is when we blocked the gate with our car. That didn't stop them though as they eventually realised they could get onto the land through another farm gate further down the road. We now have about 25 caravans on the field. By now, the police are taking it seriously as we have caused a blockage in the road and disruption in the village.
The police inspector arrives and he then talks to the travellers.
The police later say they will use their powers to serve notice on them to leave. I think this is using section 61 of the criminal justice act 1994 that was brought in to stop illegal raves. Anyway, it means we don't have to go to the courts and is a lot quicker. Some of them left on Sunday night and the others went at 1.50pm yesterday - ten minutes before the deadline set by the police.
A big relief all round after a very stressful weekend. I cleaned up 16 bin bags of rubbish and haven't even started on the toilet paper or the dumped furniture yet.