The Quest for England
A more personal set of videos exploring England, it’s towns, villages and countryside.
The West Grinstead & District Ploughing and Agricultural Society, established in 1871, has been holding shows for over 125 years and is very pro active in promoting the interests of the local farming community. Today I meet up with Richard Verrall, farmer and woodland owner, who takes me around the ploughing match and explains the […]
It’s a bit of a fun outing today. The lovely Julia Hartley and her son meet up with Matthew Holdsworth and his son, and me, to visit Limpsfield Common in Surrey. In the woods are little houses built of sticks and branches by volunteers of the National Trust which children love to explore. Join us […]
The Knights Templar built Shipley Church before leaving to protect pilgrims wishing to visit Jerusalem. This somewhat austere-looking place of worship was built close to the river Adur, though barely a trickle remains of the waterway now. An old piece of iron stone, thought to be a mooring bollard, rests in the south porch. Peter […]
Richard Suggett joins me today to have a look at West Chiltington Church as they commemorate 100 years of the end of the First World War. Members of Richard’s family are buried in the churchyard and a small exhibit in the nave gives details of his ancestor’s exploits during that troubled period. A flower festival […]
Farming today is not easy and is more a labour of love than a profit making business. In this episode the lovely Julia Hartley and myself continue our visit to Morrie’s Farm to look at the cattle. We learn the reality and hardships facing small scale farmers in the modern era. My videos are funded […]
Today the lovely Julia, Adrian Lidget (farmer) and I, visit Morrie’s farm to look at an orphaned calf. Sadly the mother had a calcium deficiency and couldn’t go on. The calf is human fed for six weeks and then returned to the herd. Morrie has been farming in this part of Kent all her life […]