Farming, Friendship and Community
The seasonal rhythms of the agricultural calendar in the years before mechanisation intensified gave Bourne plenty of opportunities to socialise and record rural life. She lent a hand at lambing, shearing, haymaking, harvest, gathering ponies or sheep from the moor, and feeding stock.
Bourne admired traditional breeds of farm animal and had a passion for Exmoor ponies, an ancient breed that she considered to be descended from prehistoric wild horses. In the summer she went to country shows and in the winter, like many in the community, she followed the hunt, an activity that she believed was integral to the spirit of Exmoor.
In so wild a region and so scattered a community any meeting with a neighbour or visit of a friend is occasion for gossip and the putting-on of the kettle for tea. The sharing of news and the giving and receiving of hospitality is part of the way of life of hill-farming.
Wild Harvest, 1978.
Bourne’s pictures of life on Exmoor farms, including tasks such as stone-walling, hedge-laying, and harvest, form an important record of a changing agricultural landscape. Her early Exmoor drawings also depict horse-drawn implements and carts, which were being replaced by tractors during the post-war drive for mechanisation.
Her drawings of farmhouses and their interiors express her attachment to Exmoor hill farms as an essential but swiftly disappearing part of the landscape. During the 1950s and 60s, the amalgamation of smaller farms into bigger agricultural units was leading to the neglect and abandonment of older farmsteads, or their conversion into holiday homes for visitors to the newly created National Park.
Although she loved Ferny Ball, it was difficult to survive there day-to-day. In 1994, increasing age and ill health forced her to move into a rented bungalow in Withypool. However, she remained dedicated to Exmoor until the end of her life.
With permission of The Exmoor Society and Halsgrove Publishing.
With permission of The Exmoor Society and Halsgrove Publishing.
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