Santa and his reindeer may be planning a visit to the rooftops of Mells shortly but Mells Village Shop Manager Mike Phypers and his customers were not expecting to find a cow up on the roof of the community-run Shop last Thursday lunchtime.
They were disturbed by the noise of trampling overhead and rushed out to find a cow on the roof of the old cottage which serves as the village Shop and Post Office.
The herd of cows was being driven down Park Hill towards Woodlands End in Mells when one of them made a bid for freedom, turned right and leapt onto the shallow catslide roof on the same level and only a yard away from the low driveway wall to Rock House behind the Shop. The cow eventually slid off the roof into the inaccessible gulley between the back of the Shop and the wall and had to be winched to safety by a tractor.
The cow was happily unharmed after its experience; the shop roof, however, suffered a number of broken tiles which have already been replaced.
Mike commented, "It’s a testament to the original builders of the cottage that the cow didn’t come right though the roof ending up in our stock room!"
by June Costelloe
