When Newton was 17 in 1659, his mother called him home and appointed a servant to teach him about the farm. He was set to watch sheep, but would build model water mills in a brook, with dams and sluices. The sheep strayed into a neighbour's corn and his mother had to pay damages. He also let swine trespass into corn fields and did not repair the fence in the yard. On market days he would bribe the servant to sell the produce for him whilst he spent the day building models or reading books. On the road south of Grantham people had to alight from their carts and lead their horses up the steep Spitalgate Hill. Various stories exist of one such occasion.  One story says that Newton was so engrossed in his book that he forgot to get back in the cart and lead the horse all the way home. Another story says that the horse slipped the bridle and went home leaving Newton walking home holding an empty bridle, not realising that his horse had gone. Isaac was at home for nine months, which were obviously unhappy. He wrote in his list of 'sins' that during this time he refused to do as his mother asked and became peevish to her and his sister.  He also punched his sister and fell out with the servants. His mother's brother Rev William Ayscough persuaded his sister to send Isaac back to school in Grantham. Isaac was sent back for nine months to the Grantham grammar school. It is said that when Isaac left to go to Trinity College, Cambridge, his master had tears in his eyes.

Photograph of the apple tree in the garden of Woolsthorpe Manor 2010