Wellbeing and the Countryside
We might have romantic notions about country life being beneficial for wellbeing and sometimes this is the case. However, life in the village and on the land can also be characterised by stress and heartache.
In this online exhibition you will find just a few examples of different ways in which rural practices impact on physical and mental wellbeing as well as contemporary first-hand accounts of what it’s like to live in rural Britain.
This exhibition was co-developed with a member of the MERL volunteers, the Farming Community Network and Ridgeline Trust, with assistance from the Rural Services Network. It was made possible with the generous support of the Wellcome Trust.
TB TESTING
As part of the redevelopment of the museum we carried out a series of interviews with people who live and work in rural England. Sandra Dodd, of the Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, talks of the heartbreak of testing and culling cattle for Bovine TB in her herd. While farmers often have to be dulled to the cycle of life and death inherent in their work, this does not make the pain of losing animals they care for any less keen when it involves sickness and injury.
The accompanying photograph shows tuberculin testing of cross highland cattle Perthshire (1950).
FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE OUTBREAK AT STURMINSTER NEWTON DORSET (1935)
There is a demonstrable connection between human welfare and animal welfare on the farm. Outbreaks of diseases such as tuberculosis and foot and mouth disease can pose a risk to physical health but also lead to feelings of stress in response to threatened livelihood and grief at the loss of loved animals.
THE POULTRY FARM: POSTCARD FROM LORD MAYOR TRELOAR CRIPPLES HOME AND COLLEGE (C.1910)
Care farming is the therapeutic use of farming practices. This hospital provided treatment to children with limb and joint problems resulting from tuberculosis. Outdoor lessons and activities were part of the treatment regime.
Today, thousands of people around the UK undertake farm activities in order to learn new skills and benefit their health, mental wellbeing, and social life.
COW BELL
This bell belonged to the Minett family of Elmstone Hardwick, Gloucestershire. The village had open fields and co-operative husbandry until 1914, so this bell may have been used to bring the villagers’ cows and sheep home from common pasture in the evening. It may well have originally served as a church sanctus bell.
RIDGELINE TRUST
Mental and physical wellbeing can be improved by outdoor activities, which allow people to connect with nature. However, it’s not always easy to access green spaces in urban areas.
The Ridgeline Trust is a Reading-based charity that provides horticultural therapy for people with learning, mental or physical disabilities, and for others with particular needs. Gardening and related social activities help people to learn new skills, improve communication and social skills, and build their self-esteem and confidence.
FRIENDLY SOCIETY POLEHEAD
Poleheads were carried on processions by members of village clubs or parish friendly societies on their annual ‘walks’. Friendly societies were formed to provide some insurance for members against sickness or death, and also played an important role in the social life of the village.
Although people often think country dwellers are a bunch of ‘doughnuts` there is a surprising amount of brain power around here. We look after our local churchyard and building via a ‘friends` group and organise plenty of activities in the village for all comers.
– Mike and Tricia, Norfolk
DORSET STOUR IN FLOOD (C.1960)
The Farming Community Network (FCN) serves farm workers and their families during difficult times. Many of the Network’s 400 volunteers have close links to agriculture and an understanding of types of issues faced by people in rural England and Wales. The FCN works to support the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of the farming community through a confidential national helpline.
NATIONAL DAIRYMEN’S BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION COLLECTING BOX
This collecting box was used by the National Dairymen’s Benevolent Institution to collect funds to provide financial assistance to retired dairymen. Today, institutions like the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution continue to provide support to farm workers experiencing hardship.
STRAW HAT
The countryside can be a haven for people seeking respite from the stresses of city life. Charlotte Bunney moved from London to Westmorland, Cumbria with her husband in 1948 to run a farm, market gardening business and an architectural practice. This hat was used during harvest and for gardening.
We live in Norfolk and manage to ride our bikes across country almost daily to keep fit – off road… Jobs are harder to come by but there are less applicants but the space and fresh air are worth it. Towns now turn us off completely, although we went to the V and A in London at the weekend and enjoyed it.
– Mike and Tricia, Norfolk
FIRST AID BOX USED 1914-17
While the countryside may be considered a healthy and safe environment, this is certainly not always the case. Rural health visiting was established in the nineteenth century to teach mothers about health and hygiene. In November 2017, Buckingham celebrated the 125th anniversary of the birth of rural community nursing with a Festival of Health.
‘TRUNCH’ BY CLAUGHTON PELLEW-HARVEY
This work depicts the village of Trunch in Norfolk, near where the artist lived. Pellow-Harvey was imprisoned as a conscientious objector in the First World War and thereafter sought solace deep in the Norfolk countryside with his wife and fellow artist Kechie Tennent.
Research has indicated that natural environments can play an important role in recovery from stress.
Claughton Pellew-Harvey (1890-1966), Trunch, 1930, oil on canvas, 108cm x 88cm x 5cm. © By permission of the artist’s family.
‘WOBURN SHEEP SHEARING’ (1811)
Living in rural areas can be an isolating experience and farming has one of the highest suicide rates of any industry. The stigma often attached to depression can lead people to ‘bottle up’ their worries.
Livestock markets and agricultural shows have long been important places for socialisation and can help rural people to combat feelings of loneliness.
WARNING SIGN
Farming is one of the most dangerous occupations in Britain, accounting for just 1.5% of the workforce but up to 20% of workplace fatalities. The Farm Safety Foundation works to raise awareness of farm safety among young farm workers, aiming to reduce life-changing and life-ending injuries.
FARMING COMMUNITY NETWORK (FCN) VOLUNTEERS IN LANCASHIRE WITH THEIR HEALTH CHECK TRAILER AT BENTHAM MARKET.
The FCN works alongside local NHS trusts to provide free health checks to farmers at livestock markets, helping them take action to improve their chance of a longer, healthier and happier life.
COSH
Working alone and in remote locations can magnify risks on the farm. This cosh was used for self defence by a farmer on a lonely stretch of land between Brill and Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire. He placed it under his pillow every night.
RAMBLING POSTER (1932)
This advertisement for discount train fares urges suburban dwellers to visit the countryside. Encouraging travellers to pick a bouquet of wildflowers would not be considered an environmentally responsible message today.
There is evidence that group walking in natural environments can improve psychological and emotional well-being and physical health.
We are also custodians of the countryside and many people think that we don’t appreciate the nature and the wildlife we are surrounded with but nothing is further from the truth. We love the patchwork of fields, the ploughed fields that look like brown corduroy, the hedgerows, the wildlife and all the uniqueness of our British landscape. We count our blessings every day. – Kathy, dairy farmer, Cornwall
CATTLE NEAR STONEHENGE, WILTSHIRE (1965)
Doctoral researcher, Claire Nolan, is conducting personal interviews to aid our understanding of the social value of prehistoric archaeology in Wiltshire. Participants have identified experiences relating to themes of aesthetic perception, sense of peace, and nature and sustainability which have had a positive impact on their wellbeing.
So my cows have been calving within this area of the landscape. So I’ve been going up there every day, sometimes twice a day, to check them, and so you see how each day things change, and the exciting things, and I’m aware that I get excited about things that other people don’t get excited about. I get excited, like today, going out to feed the cows, and then seven great bustards flew off. – Alison, Wiltshire
SOUVENIR BADGE
What’s good for wellbeing is not always clear-cut. While some people see hunting as a recreational pursuit and essential part of rural identity, others are concerned about its impact on wildlife and welfare. This souvenir is from the Liberty and Livelihood march against the ban on hunting with dogs, which was held in London in September 2002
BREAST PLOUGH
This breast plough comes from Winchcombe in Gloucestershire and was used on hilly fields between Roel camp and Sudeley Hill. These ploughs were in common use until the twentieth century for paring turf, levelling ground and clearing land of stubble.
Farming is a very hard and challenging job, working long hours, including Christmas Day and other special days and working outside a majority of the time in all weathers. Thank goodness for washing machines!
– Kathy, dairy farmer, Cornwall
‘SOUNDS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE’ RECORD
What sounds do you associate with the countryside? This children’s record aimed to promote interest in nature by playing sounds that one might hear during a country walk, including birds and animals. It also provided information about feeding and nest-building habits.
That’s another part of Wiltshire as well, it’s kind of got all the sounds around you, yet you wake up with the birds chirping and things like that…And then obviously when you’re living in Reading, and it’s not necessarily like that… I don’t know it just, sometimes seems odd that there’s nothing there, like not the birds or anything like that.
– Jonathan, Wiltshire
BAROMETER
Weather has a profound influence on rural life. Heavy snow and flooding can be disastrous to farm businesses. This barometer was used at Suttons Seeds in Reading, which served as an Official Auxiliary Meteorological Station of the Air Ministry and kept daily records of all local aspects of weather.
Harvests have to be done when the time and weather dictates, many a holiday has been cancelled at the last minute because the farm always comes first. Cows will calve any time of the day or night and in all seasons. I have been standing in a field in the pouring rain in the middle of the night helping with a calving in my nightie, coat and wellies several times.
– Kathy, dairy farmer, Cornwall
FLOWER BASKET
Craft activity can have therapeutic value, providing a creative outlet and mental and physical stimulation for the maker. This flower seller’s basket was made at the Royal London School for the Blind
ROPE
During the 1960s, rope was produced by members of the Tone Vale Young Farmers’ Club as part of a social development scheme at the local hospital. This scheme used traditional crafts as forms of occupational therapy.
COPPER MUG
This mug was designed by Elizabeth Waterhouse (1834-1918), who ran evening metal-working classes for young men in the early-twentieth century. This work was endorsed by the Home Arts and Industries Association, which formed in 1884 to help stimulate handicrafts in rural districts.