It was a great turnout for the Manx Grassland Society farm walk on Sunday, kindly hosted by the Masson family at Ballacricket Farm.

When Neil Masson started the tour by saying: ‘We’re going to take you on a journey in time and show you something a bit unusual,’ he certainly meant it.

Just across on the fields adjacent to the farm sits a strange stone in the hedge.

It was investigated by experts in 2003 and found to be between six and a half and seven thousand years old.

It’s granite and pictures of it when it was excavated, before the hedge grew up again around it, show it to be perfectly round with a flat top and some strange holes on the side.

Neil said: ‘It pre-dates Stonehenge and nobody seems to know what it was used for.

‘The closest I’ve heard is that it might be some kind of a mortar, used for grinding things.’

The rest of the walk followed with a tour of silage grounds and grazing fields, before finishing with a look at Ballacricket’s pedigree Holstein dairy herd.

Sophie White, chair of the Manx Grassland Society, said: ‘The Masson family have always been great supporters of the Society and always feature highly in the annual awards.

‘By touring round the farm it is clear to see why. It’s great to have events like this to learn from each other and even how every farm is different something can always be taken away to try at home.’

l The next Manx Grassland Society walk is next Tuesday, June 21, at Close Sartfield at 7pm