Campsite News Aug 2022
Three generations of a Portuguese family came to the campsite, but they preferred to be known as "Maderians".
They were very friendly and boisterous, and a little bit noisy and chatted until 3 in the morning! (1) The new hookup at the hardstanding, in the field next to the River Char, was used for the first time during August by campers who have visited the site on numerous occasions before. (2)
Apple Safaris, as mentioned in my last newsletter, continued into August with whole families travelling up the road and into my furthest field to throw apples at the cows. The campers were amazed that I took my Honda Jazz right up to the field gate over a bumpy field. (3, 4) The cows and calves were lapping up the attention – and the apples. (5)
One family, who are now coming down to Bluntshay at least 4 times a year, planned one of their visits to co-incide with a birthday. Balloons were everywhere, (5a) and a birthday cake appeared. (6)
Buy Sylvias Book
Dorset’s Western Vale
After travelling in many parts of the world the author came home to West Dorset to find a much-changed Marshwood Vale from her youth. In order to capture the changes she decided to research the social history of Whitchurch Canonicorum and other parts of the Marshwood Vale from approximately 1880 to 1985 before all recollection was lost of what was becoming another world.
The book also includes 80 black and white photos, a map and legend of the parish of Whitchurch, local sayings a sample of the dialect, an index of people’s names from the text and an index of local place names used in the text.
Farm News & Updates
The 6 monthly TB testing came around again, so being summer we had to collect them from the furthest field and drive them down the road, with the bull leading the way! (7) They all passed, thank goodness!
We also did pregnancy testing on all the cows. Paddy (my favourite vet!) (8) had all the most up-to-date equipment to do this electronically, (9) but unfortunately, they were not all pregnant! Disaster! I will probably have to get another bull in to do the job. We had one lame cow so Nigel treated its hoof (10) (11) and cured the problem.
As usual, we have to buy in straw bales and stack them in the covered yard to be used in the winter. (12, 13)
As with every year the children on the site were keen to help with the geese. Some of them became experts at herding them into the field in the morning or out of the field to go to bed in the evening. (14) Fortunately the geese were sensible enough to stay under the sheets during the very hot weather to avoid getting sunstroke. Eleanor had some beautiful Exchequer Leghorns hens in the area by the river.
Unfortunately, a fox got them one by one and Barbara (the last one) was taken only a few days after this photo was taken. (15) Eleanor decided to start from scratch again and bought 24 eggs online, but only one hatched out, being the chick in the middle. (16) The breed is Ayam Cemani, which is a rare breed from Indonesia. The ducks are Cayuga from America.
When I first came down from London to resettle in Dorset I started planting my own apple trees after grafting scions onto rootstocks. After two years in the garden they were planted out into the orchard with a protective fence around them.
Unfortunately over the years these young trees were neglected and got completely grown in. (17) It took a lot of effort to cut out the brambles and stinging nettles (18, 19) Eventually the trees were found ! (20) I will have to have these trees, in the big cages, copsed every year from now on..
As the fencing on the earliest trees that I planted was totally rotten we had to pull it all down. Then it was necessary to put a new fence around all of them to protect them from sheep and deer. (21, 22, 23).
Quad bikes save a lot of time on a farm as you can zip around the fields in no time to check the animals. Even the dogs hitch a ride! (24) The peacocks continue to frequent Bluntshay and this time they brought their chicks. (25)
Now, in theory, I have more time since my husband died in June I am attempting to have a big clearout from the house and the farm. This will take a long time!
A friend and I gathered all the chutney I had stored in big coffee jars and jam jars and emptied it all into big plastic containers so that the pigs could have it mixed with their breakfast cereal. (26) As I don't go to markets anymore I have no outlet for chutneys. I hope the pigs appreciated all the time and effort that went into their exotic meals!
I have yet to take all the frozen fruit and vegetables from the freezers and throw it away. I suppose I ought to do it soon as electricity is now so expensive.
Charity Music Weekend At The Five Bells Inn
This was held over several days and was a great success. I decided to attend the Saturday night concert which was well underway by the time I arrived. (28)
I was immediately offered food by George and Alfie. (29) Stacey was kept busy at the bar (30) and the music was in full swing, (31) with dancers careering all over the place. (32) The event made over £1,500 and this will be given to Cancer Research and Marie Curie Hospice Care.
Lammas At Causeway Farm, Blackdown
This is a Christian festival celebrated at the beginning of August to mark the blessing of the first fruits of the harvest, with a loaf of bread made from a new crop of wheat being brought to the service for this purpose.
This falls at the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumn September equinox. The loaf is blessed (33) and in Anglo-Saxon England employed afterwards and was broken into four parts, which were to be placed at the four corners of the barn to protect the garnered grain.
In many parts of England tenants were bound to present freshly harvested wheat to their landlords on or before the first day of August. In the medieval agricultural year, Lammas also marked the end of the hay harvest that had begun after Midsummer.
The event was held at Causeway Farm, by kind permission of the Doble family who put on a lovely lunch in one of their barns, along with a bar. (34, 35)
Martin Maudsley At Coppitt Hill
After having a background in environmental education, Martin has worked as a professional storyteller for the last 15 years, providing performances, tailored projects and creative workshops. (36)
He also creates original stories on commission, for both performance and publication, and has a wide experience in providing storytelling training in museums and visitor centres. He has a particular passion for stories that inspire and connect audiences with natural landscapes and local heritage.
In his role as a freelance storyteller, he works with schools, families, organisations and adults. This can involve fresh and vibrant performances of traditional tales, local legends and oral stories, which are tailored to suit every occasion.
When he arrived at Purcombe Barn he was surprised to see so many small children attending (mainly from the local campsite). He immediately changed his repertoire to something suitable for the age group that would keep their interest for more than 5 minutes (seeing that infants have such a short concentration span!). (37)
Everyone, including adults loved his action songs and stories and I was amazed at how long he kept the interest going for the tots. He is to shortly publish a book entitled "Telling the Seasons". (38)
This will be launched at the end of October at the Bridport Literacy Festival. Later it will be on sale at Little Toller bookshop in Beaminster and The Bookshop in Bridport. https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/telling-the-seasons/9780750996716/
Melplash Show Aug 2022 Held In Bridport
I must admit that I hadn't attended this agricultural show for some years. But this year I was hoping to spend some time in the Bridport marquee helping out at the Bridport History Society and West Dorset Family History table for an hour or so, and also to have lunch at the National Farmers' Union tent (40) (41) and to meet our local MP Mr Loader. (42)
Fortunately, I brought a showground map (43) with me as the car parking was completely different than previously, and involved a lot more walking!. Originally you entered the site from near West Bay, but now it is from the Bridport Bypass. I should have marked my car with a balloon on the radio aerial as I had difficulty in finding it at the end of the day!
Melplash Show is a huge social event for farmers from miles around where they meet up with friends, family and colleagues all connected to farming. As it means that a lot of the farms are unattended farmers need to make sure that everything at home is under lock and key.
It was a beautiful hot day and people were out in droves, (44) and tractors seem to get bigger by the year. (45) I wandered over to the West Dorset Beekeepers' tent (46) and met a few people I knew from the past when we used to show honey.
Besides all the usual honey classes and wax demonstrations for candle making one beekeeper had a glass frame full of bees, which kept youngsters fascinated for some time. (47)
Before returning home I had to go into the horticultural and handicraft marquees to see what they had to offer. As a young teenager, I used to enter knitted items and machine-made clothes to compete with other like-minded people. Later on, as an adult, I tried my hand at flower arranging, and vegetable classes, (48)
2022 saw the 175th anniversary of the Melplash Show and was the first time since 2019 that it was staged. It is estimated that approximately 17,000 people attended. There were over 70 sponsors involved with financing various aspects of the Show, including some private individuals, local firms or corporate companies.
It was interesting to see that Shire Horses were still being shown with a lot of new people involved. This is very encouraging! This photo shows shire horses at the Melplash Agricultural Society's ploughing match held this autumn. (49)
The secretary, Lucy Hart, said that one of the most popular areas on the day was the "Discovery Farming" This is an education programme run and managed by the Melplash Agricultural Society, (a registered charity) with the aim of promoting and improving agriculture and horticulture in West Dorset for the public benefit.
This is basically to encourage the next generation to understand the roles that farming and agriculture play in the national and local economy and the environment. Discover Farming was launched in 2015 to inform, educate and enthuse young people. As soon as this facility was open on the day it was packed out, which continued until closing time.
There is a Bursary Scheme which offers grants to local students aged 17 years and over. This was established to help West Dorset based students who wish to further their education in the field agriculture, horticultural and related subject areas. Since the scheme stared in 2007 the Society has awarded £172,000 to 73 students. What an achievement!
Acknowledgements
Joanna House, Stacey Molyneux, Alisha Lambert, Mark Hawkins, Martin Maudsley, Helen Doble, Eleanor Lambert, Julie Weller, Andrew Carey, James Holmes and Lucy Hart from the Melplash Show staff.
Comments
Sylvia,
Was saddened to read of your husband's death. I think most of us – at life's end – wish for it to
be peaceful and pain-free and hope this was so with your husband. You had mentioned he
suffered from long-term dementia, which must have been very testing for all involved, but you
seemed to have coped with great fortitude!
Allan
Hi Sylvia,
I submitted a comment to your newsletter but was unsure if it went through so thought I would forward it to you here as well.
I'm thinking between the fresh apples for the cows and the chutney for the pigs, that you have very happy animals on your farm!! Enjoyed the newsletter.
Take care, Maggie
Lovely August newsletter, Sylvia
Thanks so much for including info about my book. It's at the printers now so should be here soon!
Wild wishes, Martin x
martinmaudsley.co.uk
martinmaudsley.blogspot.co.uk
@StoryMartin
Hi Sylvia.
Great newsletter. Liked the goings-on at the farm. Intrigued by the electronic cattle pregnancy tester; never had that on our farm. Good to get a look at the orchard, where I remember exploring around years ago. Also liked seeing the Shire horses at Melplash. There seem to be a mix-up of photo numbers around 45-49. And I didn't see any "beers" in the bee frame :-)
Sandford
Thanks, Sylvia,
Very interesting.
Best wishes, Clare
It's nice to see that the campsite is keeping you busy, and that the children are enjoying the activities. It's great news that the TB testing was a success and all clear but not so good that they are not all pregnant. looks like you have a nice lot of geese to fatten up for Christmas and unlike the chickens I hope you keep them away from Mr Fox. It's great to see that work has been done in the orchard. When I last walked the farm walk I was disappointed that everywhere was so overgrown with weeds and brambles. I'm glad to see that there are still many local traditions and shows taking place. I remember your Dad loading us all on a tractor and trailer to go to the Melplash show back in the day. It was such a treat. I remember that in the 1950s the Smiths only had horses to all the work on their farm it was lovely to see them at work. Your article as usual is very informative and its lovely to see that there are lots of things going on in and around the valley, it certainly keeps you very busy. Keep up the good work.
RAY NEWMAN
