'Season of mists & mellow fruitfulness'
John Keats
Next weekend Loseley will be hosting the Surrey Game & Country Fair. If the weather is good it will be a delicious early Autumnal day of country pursuits. Here are a few of my pictures taken over the years.
" Ploughing engages a man in many ways, although surprisingly strength is the least of it: horses do the heavy pulling and the ploughman has no need of pushing, for a finely tuned plough will glide through the soil with the ease of a wing through the air.The achievement of this sublime state, though, rests in experience ... when all is correct ... then there is the possibility of a symphonic day behind the plough. All that can break the harmony are the horses.
Working horse are no slaves. They have minds of their own, and imaginations. If they get it into their heads that it is time for a midday break even though it is only ten o'clock, every furrow will be a fight as the ploughman asserts his will over theirs. Sometimes the fight can last all day. For devilment, a horse will deliberately lean against his mate and push him out of the furrow, causing the ploughman to curse. A sharp rebuke will bring him back to his senses, for a while, before his mischievousness finds another way to express itself.
Then there are the easy times when to plough with horses is to undertake a day-long conversation. A horse needs to hear you and know that you are there - his blinkers prevent him from seeing you ...
People have asked me if ploughing all day is lonely. How can it be? I talk more in a day's ploughing than in normal life, and to my remarks, projected the length of the reigns, I seem to get answers, but I can't tell you what they are.
It is a mysterious business, to plough the land with horses. Those who have mastery of it are worthy of kingly respect. "
Extract from Following the Furrow by Paul Heiney - Icons of England.
The photos above and below were all taken at Loseley during a previous ploughing match. I must say it looks easier and more fruitful to plough using real horse power as opposed to machine power.
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless with fruit the vines that round the thatch - eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage - trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells with a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees.
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er - brimmed their charming cells.
John Keats
The Country Fair is slightly different every year but teddy bear jockeys and sheep racing is an inevitable part of the day.
Last year a rather entertaining commentary & demonstration of sheep sheering by a good looking Australian had everyone laughing over the risqué jokes surrounding Lenny the bedraggled looking rastafarian sheep.
In 2015 everything took a turn for the theatrical when we watched this talented gentleman riding three horses at once.
And then a wall of fire was introduced and it all got very exciting.
Sadly this act has never returned to the show, I suppose horse gymnastics and jumping over walls of fire doesn't really qualify as a country pursuit!
But horses will still feature and I couldn't finish this post without mentioning the beautiful day I spent at Peper Harow earlier in the year.
Don't fret, fox hunting is still banned, these hounds are just stretching their legs ... and running straight at me!
To complete this reflection on country pursuits, a beautiful picture I captured - the polite nod between the younger man on horse back and the older gentleman made my day.
