Alice’s adventures in mud-derland with farmer Tom

I love ewe! Alice and Tom celebrate 10 years of muddy love and family life together on their sheep farm in the South West.

For Somerset-born and bred country girl Alice, online dating with country life dating experts, Muddy Matches was to present a well timed, new opportunity in life during the summer of 2011. A single mum of one at the time, she admits that the comforts of connecting online ‘suited’ her.

“It meant I could be honest about my status from the start.” She tells us. “Muddy Matches was the first and only dating website I tried. I thought it would be more likely that I would find a good match on Muddy Matches than on other sites.”

Indeed, she did – and plenty of them.

“I found the whole Muddy Matches experience to be excellent. I had a couple of average dates but then Tom came along quite quickly, thankfully!”

Alice, then 26, connected with 70% muddy Tom – a 29-year-old rural surveyor of family farming stock – in May 2011.

“It’s been almost 10 years, but Tom has never let me forget it was me who messaged first” says Alice. “I thought from his profile that he looked good fun.”

So, it turned out. The pair enjoyed their first date together just days later, meeting at a pub – acting as a half-way house – with the two separated by 50 miles on first meeting. Tom near Bristol, Alice based in North Dorset.

It’s so embarrassing but I forgot my purse on our first date (not that I would have expected to pay anyway!!). I didn’t want that awkward conversation at the end of the date so the first thing I said to him was, “I’m so sorry I have no money because I have forgotten my purse!”

“That has pretty much been the same for the rest of our relationship ?”

That first date would go on to bloom into a relationship that has now lasted just short of a decade with no signs of slowing. The rural romance remains strong with both Alice and Tom settled, as you’d expect, into the routines of family life on the sheep farm on which Tom grew up.

“We got married in June 2015. I already had a daughter, but we have since had 2 more child – a girl and a boy. It’s a priority on our muddy bucket list to make sure our children are happy and grow up with a love of our rural way of life.

“Tom has always lived on the family farm, near Pilning, Bristol. It was once dairy but more recently it is just sheep. I grew up in Somerset and have always been around farming and horses.” Alice says, proud of her deeply set roots in country life.

“We both still work full time at jobs away from the farm, then spend our weekends at home dealing with sheep and whatever else needs doing. Tom’s in charge on the farm. I just do as I am told!”

Now the pair are eager for lockdown to be lifted so they can spread their wings a little further; first thing on the agenda: “Go to the pub!” Alice says with alarming aplomb.

She admits there’s more muddy matters afoot too; “We need to tidy up the farm and buy more sheep!”

After 10 years of rural romance, one thing is true; you can never have too many sheep!