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This thirty four minute, directed by Colin Gregg and funded by South West Arts, follows the daily life of farming team Peter Hannaford and Ruby French. The film shows the two in their work on the farm and illustrates a rural way of life barely changed from the early 1900s. It includes Peter and Ruby talking about and carrying out many traditional farming practices and rural activities along with discussing the harsh life of a Dartmoor farmer and the local folklore that governed their outlook. This rare oral and visual history of rural life is remarkable for its understated portrayal of the landscape, working and domestic life, superstitions and dialect of the region. Traditional farming techniques lingered on in parts of the South West region long after more modern machinery and techniques had been introduced in other areas and the South West Film & Television Archive has many films and programmes that illustrate rural life and work in the region. These include footage of farm work, rural markets and cattle auctions, as well as films showing traditional dress, music, dance and folklore. A number of films made at Dartington Hall between the 1920s and 1940s depict agricultural and rural industries in detail and record many of the traditional skills used there such as in 'Dartington Forestry and Sawmill' (1920s). Other examples in the collection showing aspects of rural and traditional life in the South West include Westward Television's 'The Cider Makers' from 1970, and Peter Kennedy's film of the Padstow Mayday festival 'Oss Oss Wee Oss' 1953. |
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