Farmer Ted and Matilda live on Mopplee Farm just outside Buckleberry. They love their farm, but they love their animals even more. There is one animal that captured their hearts and it is a sheep called Woolly. She means the world to them.

Woolly had an unexpected entrance to our world. During the freezing frosty winter, Farmer Ted takes his flock of sheep from the barn and walks them from one field to another. He tries to find winter grass for them to graze on before he returns them to the barn. One day, they were out in the very back paddocks when the flock decided to walk to a large clump of bushes. They could hear a bleating sound. As Farmer Ted walked towards the bushes, he too could hear,“Meh, meh, meh!” The lamb’s mouth was wide open trying to get attention.

Farmer Ted bent down and looked under the bush to see the tiniest lamb he had ever seen. He did not know how the lamb had got there and where it’s mother and flock had gone. He stood and scratched his head. The flock stood back and watched to see what Farmer Ted would do. Farmer Ted took off his woolly sweater and picked up the lamb and then carefully wrapped it around the lamb. He then pushed the woolly bundle inside his coat. The flock, Farmer Ted and the lamb rushed back to the house.

The sheep all went and stood by the large loungeroom window and looked inside the house. They could see Farmer Ted talking to Matilda and explaining about the lamb. He pulled out his woolly sweater and showed the lamb to Matilda. Matilda got hot cloths and a hot water bottle for the lamb. They rubbed the lamb with the hot cloths, rewrapped the lamb in Farmer Ted’s sweater, and placed the hot water bottle next to the lamb to keep her warm. Matilda sat with the lamb on her knee next to the fire.

Farmer Ted used milk from his cows, goats, and sheep to feed the lamb. Each day she became stronger and grew bigger. She loved being in the house and followed Farmer Ted and Matilda everywhere. She was more like a dog than a sheep. She loved snuggling into Farmer Ted’s sweater and would cry when it needed to be washed. She loved the sweater so much that Farmer Ted and Matilda decided to call the sheep, “Woolly!”

Woolly was the only sheep allowed in the house. The rest of the flock would often stand at the loungeroom window and look in at Woolly. Woolly would join Farmer Ted and Matilda for breakfast. She would eat crusty bread and cheese. At morning tea, she would drink milky tea and have a biscuit. Lunch she would eat leftovers and dinner she would try anything that Farmer Ted and Matilda would eat.

Some days, Woolly would follow Matilda around and other days she would follow Farmer Ted around. She loved riding in the tractor with Farmer Ted and crossing over the paddocks. She also liked when Matilda did the washing as she would sit in the washing basket, get her head caught in the peg bucket and help pull the washing off the line. She would also watch Matilda make jam and cheese. Woolly loved licking the bowls once Matilda had made any delightful treats.

Matilda had been remarkably busy making cheese for farm orders and for the Buckleberry Cheese Competition. Matilda loved to enter competitions that required handmade items. She had been busy working in the barn all day and the machines had been going nonstop on cheese and jam making. Matilda was very tired and said she would stop for the day. Woolly could see how tired she was and decided to stay in the barn where it was warm.

Woolly wondered what she could do to help Matilda. She had seen Matilda make the cheese and jam many times. Woolly managed to jump up on the table and looked in the large bowl of cheese. Woolly thought that more salt was needed. So, she climbed up on a shelf to try to get the salt. As she carefully walked along the shelf, she knocked over jars of strawberry jam. The jam dripped into the cheese and turned the cheese into a spotted white and red clump. Some of the actual strawberries fell in whole! Woolly stood and was in shock. She did not know what to do. She carefully stepped down off the shelf and table and hid under a chair.

The next morning, Matilda came into the barn to collect what she thought was her prize-winning cheese, only to discover it was not how she had left it. Matilda let out a loud scream. She said, “What happened? It is ruined; it is ruined!” Farmer Ted came running into the barn and saw the cheese. He was lost for words. Farmer Ted tried to calm Matilda down and told her that she had created a new cheese and to enter it in the “Gourmet” cheese section of the competition. They had a good laugh.

Woolly thought it was safe to show her face. She came out from under the chair and looked sheepishly at Farmer Ted and Matilda. When Matilda saw Woolly, she was very cross. This was the first time Woolly had seen Matilda cross. Matilda said, “Naughty Woolly!” Woolly felt ashamed and embarrassed. All she wanted to do was help and now it had turned into a disaster. Woolly thought it was best to move away from Farmer Ted and Matilda so she would not annoy them!

Woolly walked to the back of the barn where all the orders for cheese and jam were in cardboard boxes. Woolly found an empty cardboard box and climbed in. She felt safe in the cardboard box and away from all the commotion. The whole situation had made Woolly tired. She closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.

Farmer Ted’s phone rang and it was Delivery Dan. Farmer Ted opened the gates and barn doors for the deliveries to be picked up. The cardboard boxes were lifted one by one into the back of the truck. Matilda cross checked the orders and told Dan he was good to go! Dan drove off after wishing Farmer Ted and Matilda a good day and see you next time.

Farmer Ted and Matilda then turned to the new “Gourmet” cheese and decided to enter it in the Buckleberry Cheese Competition. They thought that they would call it, “Chee-Berry!” They quickly grabbed a presentation tub and filled it with the new cheese. They then drove from Mopplee Farm to the Buckleberry Community Hall to enter the cheese into the competition. As Matilda stood in line, she could see other competitors looking at her cheese. They all had surprised and shocked looks on their faces. Matilda stood proud and became entrant 122. Farmer Ted and Matilda stopped at a café on the way home and enjoyed a late lunch.

When they returned to Mopplee Farm, there were cows to be milked, cauliflowers to be collected, pigs and goats to be fed and a tyre to be changed on the tractor. Before long it was time to go inside the house to have dinner. Their minds were thinking about the new cheese. Farmer Ted and Matilda received many phone calls from judges asking her how she made the new cheese. They needed to know that it was Matilda’s recipe. After a long night of explanations, Farmer Ted and Matilda went to bed.

It was not until the next morning that they realised that they had not seen Woolly. They thought that she had joined the rest of the flock and no longer wanted to come inside the house. They were so caught up with the cheese competition and farm work that they put thinking about Woolly to one side. The flock, however, could not find Woolly. They stood in front on the loungeroom window hoping to get a sneak peak of Woolly sitting by the fire, but she was not there. The sheep wandered through the paddocks calling out for Woolly, but there was no Woolly. What had happened to Woolly?

Nobody knew that Woolly was in a cardboard box in the back of Delivery Dan’s truck. Not even Woolly! Dan drove through villages and towns and dropped off orders of cheese and jam. His last stop was Pebble Cove, a quaint fishing village next to the sea. Dan dropped off his last orders. Woolly woke up with a loud thump. The cardboard box she was in had been placed inside a green grocery store. Woolly could hear Dan’s voice and that of a man and woman. She did not recognize who they were. She did understand the words milky tea and biscuits. With that, Woolly poked her head out of the box and decided to jump out. She saw the door to the grocery store was open and walked out on to the footpath.

Woolly was surprised to see that she was no longer at Mopplee Farm. Her eyes fixated on the white-yellow soil and the water that made a crashing sound. She could not remember the pond making such a noise at the farm. Woolly did remember some of the different soils and thought she needed to take a closer look.

Woolly crossed the road and walked on the white-yellow soil that she now worked out it was called sand. The sand became trapped in between her toes. Woolly thought it was a clever idea to go into the water to wash it off. It was a little scary as the water kept coming in and out of the sand. Eventually she managed to get in the water, but it was very salty. Woolly left the water and saw what she thought was a cloth on the sand. In fact, it was sticky seaweed. Woolly decided to try to dry herself and rolled on what she thought was a cloth. The sticky seaweed stuck to her coat and turned her white wool coat into black and brown matted wool. She no longer looked like Woolly.

Woolly decided to leave the beach and walk along the promenade. She saw that someone had dropped an ice cream and it was melting on the pavement. She licked the ice cream up and it made her think it was Italian ice cream. It tasted like the ice cream that Nonna Nina had given to Matilda. This thought made Woolly think of home, and she wondered how she would ever get back to Mopplee Farm.