It may be the darkest of months, and the one cracked up to be the bleakest of the twelve, but I actually enjoy January.

I suspect this might be the result of living through the extremely cold, and very snowy 1963 winter, when at the age of ten, and living on a remote farm set high on a hill, my sisters and I were unable to go to school for nearly three weeks.

The winding lane that led to our house was completely blocked on some days, so it was either impossible, or simply too risky, to chance the three-mile drive to the bus stop to catch the old single decker coach that would take us the ten or so miles to our local town for school. Most of the time even our tractors couldn't make it down the lane.

That January was absolu-tely fabulous and we had tremendous fun. There was lots of extra work to do on the farm and us three girls wrapped up warm and lent a hand.

It was a tough time for our animals, and we would trudge out with bales of hay and bags of turnips to feed the sheep and it was a constant struggle to maintain enough drinking water for the cows. It was hard but enjoyable work, and during that very cold winter, we didn't lose any of our animals to the frosts.

There was, of course, time for play and the opportunity for terrific tobogganing. We often had winter snows, so we were equipped with a couple of really good sledges. We would drag them to the top of a steep slope and then whizz down the hillside shrieking and laughing and frequently tumbling into the chilly whiteness. On some days the snow was so deep we had to clear a toboggan run, but as it was so cold, that created a fantastic icy path on which the sledges went even faster.

Snowman building was a must too, and it was particularly pleasing to build ones that didn't melt for days on end.

But the best times that winter were the evenings, when we would gather round our big inglenook fireplace.

The whole family, including our black Labr-ador Sarah and various ginger and white cats, would sit round the roaring log fire, and we'd read or play cards or do jigsaws.

We'd drink mugs of cocoa and listen to music or to plays on the radio. We hardly ever watched the telly on those evenings, as the signal was very dodgy and the picture flickered and often blanked out.

When the inevitable power cuts came candles were lit and we'd play charades or guessing games. It seemed so perfect.

So now when Christmas has gone, I look forward to January. Even though we rarely get snow these days, with a bit of imagination and planning January still has lots of good points.

It is a great cooking month - the time when I make marmalade, the time when a good stew is so delicious and right. But best of all, the dark, rather miserable, and this year, particularly wet evenings, are a good excuse for sitting in front of the fire reading, playing cards, listening to the radio or, with the much improved technology we have these days, watching a good film on the TV!