Country diary: My family has lived near here for 300 years – no wonder it feels like home | Andrea Meanwell

There is always some waiting around at lambing and calving time, so I like to have a project ongoing. Some years I have written books; this year I’m researching my family tree, in particular whether any of my ancestors may have visited Low Borrowdale farm when it was a coaching inn in the 18th century. I knew they had been involved in fell pony haulage around the north of England, but could they have called in here for a drink?

I’m mainly investigating the Binks family – my maiden name. Almost within living memory, there is my grandad’s grandad, George Binks, a fell pony haulier who lived in Great Asby from 1862 to 1934. My grandad told me which house he lived in, eight miles from our farm. Two more generations of George Binkses take us to 1785, when one was born in Middleton-in-Teesdale and died in 1840 at Kirkby Stephen, 11 miles away.

St Lawrence’s church in Crosby Ravensworth. Photograph: Andrea Meanwell

Two more generations back and Mark Binks is living in Middleton-in-Teesdale. He was born in 1726 – could he have visited the coaching inn, built in 1742? Possibly, but Middleton is 33 miles from home.

It is, however, remarkable to me that my ancestors have moved the sum total of 33 miles in 300 years – no wonder I feel such a strong connection to this area and landscape. It is even more remarkable to discover that Mark Binks’ grandfather, Christian Binks, was born in Middleton but died in Crosby Ravensworth in 1698. The day I found out, I had taken my dogs for a walk around Crosby and its churchyard, eight miles from our farm. Had we passed by Christian Binks’s grave, buried there over 300 years ago?

I have now traced my Binks family tree back to 1553 in Yorkshire. Sadly, when I changed my name to Meanwell upon getting married in 1993, that was the end of the Binks line; 440 years of the name gone. Perhaps I will give myself the middle name of Binks by deed poll so that the name doesn’t disappear after all this time.

But now I must stop pondering and get back to farming. We have sheep to sell this week, and lambs to mark with our smit mark, just as many of my ancestors would have done.