Farmer clears away trees as 'thank you from cows'

Farmers worked together to remove two trees which were toppled by Storm Goretti and left lying on a blind bend of a main road in Helston.

Dairy farmer Martin Wallis, who runs Penventon Farm just outside the town, said two large trees had been blocking a carriageway on the main Helston to Porthleven Road on Friday after the 99mph (159km/h) winds.

He said the biggest chunk of tree weighed around five tonnes and his JCB telehandler had not been able to lift it.

He said villagers had always been patient when his herd crossed the road four times a day, so clearing the road for them had been "our way of saying thank you from the cows".

Wallis said: "The main water supply that feeds Helston goes through a wood where about 15 to 20 trees have blown over and their roots, which were underneath the water pipe, have ripped up the pipe when they've fallen, leaving Helston with no water."

He said he had a borehole for water and was on the Porthleven supply for electricity and so had been unaffected but the majority of his neighbouring farmers had no electricity and were running on generators.

The dairy farmer said three of them had cleared the road with a JCB telehandler, a tractor and a chainsaw in a couple of hours.

"The villagers have always been very patient and nice to our cows when they cross the road four times a day, so clearing the road for them was our way of saying thank you from the cows," he added.

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].