I’ve been asked about the slate fence on which the horses scratch their bottoms. The answer is that it’s a fairly normal form of fencing round Snowdonia, presumably made in the past, as now, from offcuts from the slate industry, not necessarily used, as we have, semi-ornamentally. Ours was made by the wonderful Andy Kehoe of Kehoe Countryside (www.kehoecountryside.com), who is a wonderful source of expertise on traditional Welsh planting and rural skills and who advertises slate fencing on his website:-

Very elegant and practical. Is slate a feature of your cottage?
In India some fences are made of rather substantial slabs of granite or marble which I understood are also a solid investment that can be sold off by the farmers if they need cash.