Favourite: Arthur's favourite sheep is Twinkle who, like him, was born prematurely and he bottle fed her
Arthur produces the award. ‘My cupee!’ he beams, holding aloft a huge silver trophy with his name inscribed on it.
Arthur is an endearing little boy: cheerful and chatty, with winning blue eyes. When he was grooming his sheep at the New Forest Show in Hampshire this summer he caught the attention of Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, who was at the event with Prince Edward.
She knelt down in the straw and had her photo taken with Arthur. He produces a photograph: Arthur, the country’s cutest shepherd with the Queen’s daughter-in-law.
And when one of Arthur’s ewes conveniently gave birth to twins on the eve of his nursery school nativity play last week, Nicky took the lambs along so Arthur — who was, of course, cast as a shepherd — had two real sheep to add authenticity to the role.
‘Arthur was so excited,’ recalls Sarah. ‘He wore a shepherd’s outfit my mum made, and held his tiny hazel wood crook with a horn handle that was specially made for him. He refused to take off his tweed cap and wear a headdress.
‘He sat on the edge of the stage cuddling his lambs while all the children sang Away In A Manger.
‘Mum and I had a lump in our throats. He’s our little star.’
There is nothing false or forced about Arthur’s love for his animals: he clearly cannot wait to be with them. ‘He just seems to have an instinct for what to do with sheep,’ says Nicky, and when we walk out to check the flock and feed them, Arthur takes the lead.
‘Come on girls!’ he calls. Then he says: ‘We have to brush up, Nana,’ and finds his little broom and sweeping stray bedding straw into a pile, which he hefts into the bucket of his toy digger.
Nicky pulls him along on it. ‘He can’t power the pedals himself yet, but he puts his feet on them, and as they turn it helps develop his co-ordination,’ she explains.
Arthur checks the drinking troughs, skimming off straw from their surface. ‘We thought, “If he’s going to be a shepherd, we have to teach him the right way from the start”,’ Nicky says.
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