STUNNED conservationists have uncovered 100-year-old graffiti on the walls of a shepherd hut that shows people have always been obsessed by the weather.

Restorers working on the cabin near Dorchester found the pencilled writing left by shepherds as they sheltered in the hut during the lambing season when they had to be on call day and night.

Carpenter Johnno Farrar, of Plankbridge Shepherd Huts in Piddlehinton discovered the writing on the wooden walls.

He explained how many men seem to have used the walls as a diary to document the harsh climate they endured or to record their everyday tasks or local events.

One shepherd wrote on February 12, 1909 that the weather was ‘cold enough to kill the devil’.

Another wrote on February 6, 1907: “This weather is enough to make a man swear black is white and red is blue and chills through the **** of his trousers and cut his throat with his shirt collar.”

Another noted that it snowed on May 8, 1904.

And from March 1-7, 1903 one shepherd documented the weather for every day of the week as ‘stormy, wet, fine, stormy, wet, fair, wet’ for all seven days.

Mr Farrar, 45, said: “We have been commissioned to restore a lot of these huts that have been rotting away in the corner of a farm somewhere for the last 100 years. In recent years there has been a bit of a trend to turn these old wooden cabins into holiday lets.

“These huts were mainly used for shelter during the lambing season which took a few weeks and the shepherd would have had to be close at hand throughout that time.”

Mr Farrar added: “In one hut we found the walls covered in writing in the most fantastic handwriting.

“Clearly these men used the wooden walls to write down their thoughts in the absence of a piece of paper.

“There are simple observations like everyday tasks but there is an awful lot of stuff about the weather.

“They must have suffered some very cold and harsh conditions judging by some of the notes.”

Mr Farrar said it was difficult to say why thoughts had been written down.

He added: “The pencil has lasted well and hasn’t faded with the years. It is fascinating to read after all this time.”

Mr Farrar said the huts he refurbished today for holiday lets cost between £6,000 and £8,000.

As well as accommodation, the cabins have been turned into offices and even a sauna.