Sloe Gin, Threshing and the First Autumn Fires_September & October 1952

Autumn is settling over Hiltonbury Farm, and September and October 1952 bring a wonderful mixture of hard work, family life and the small rituals that mark the changing seasons.There are sloes to gather for homemade gin, beans to salt for winter, logs to stack and the first fires to light as the colder weather arrives. On the farm, John is deep into the long business of threshing, while the weather alternates between lovely autumn days and thoroughly rotten ones. Life away from the fields is just as busy. There are football matches at The Dell, Harvest Festival, fireworks, theatre trips, sewing, gardening and a steady stream of visitors through the farmhouse. But beneath all the ordinary bustle, Mother is increasingly worried about John as his back trouble is followed by major dental treatment and then severe headaches — yet somehow he simply carries on. There is anxiety too when the cattle undergo their tuberculosis tests, followed by enormous relief when almost all of them pass. And then, just when life seems to have settled down, the cattle escape, Andrew comes home for half-term, and before long the whole household is Monopoly mad. Join me, Andy Vining, for September and October 1952 — two months of threshing, changing seasons, family worries, laughter and everyday life at Hiltonbury Farm.My Mother’s Diaries – The Hiltonbury Farming Family Story 1948–1976.