LIKE Ronald Blythe’s Akenfield, George Ewart Evans’s 1956 book Ask the Fellows who Cut the Hay transports readers to rural corners of Suffolk, documenting the fearsome reaping of time-hallowed aspects of country life by rapidly accelerated agricultural mechanisation in the first half of the 20th century.

Robert Ashton, who was taught at school by Evans’s wife, Florence, has returned to the scene, offering a reprise of Ask the Fellows in the shade of contemporary agri-business, favouring Evans’s direct, simple veracity over Blythe’s more literary shaping of farm workers’ conversations. Evans’s focus was the village of Blaxhall, near where Ashton began working in agriculture in 1969, alongside members of some of the families interviewed for the original book.

Where are the Fellows Who Cut the Hay? isn’t wholly a lament for a lost way of life. Chapters examining different staples, such as wheat, wool, coins, and coal, or institutions, including school, church, and trade, do trace the growing disconnection between the source of production, end product and end user, and industrialised farming takes some flak; but this is a far more nuanced book. Around Suffolk, Ashton finds signs of a modest renaissance for small businesses delivering to their locality, bypassing supply chains, and reconnecting consumers with produce at source.

Ashton’s move from Anglicanism to the Quakerism of Florence Evans undoubtably colours his views of the Established Church, which he describes as historically authoritarian, controlling by fear and endorsing the power of the squire’s pew. He finds the contemporary Church somewhat lacking in tolerance of true individuality, especially among the clergy, with no room for the eccentric but much loved figures remembered from his youth. At the same time, the demise of agricultural church festivals among rural communities weakens connections with the land further.

In contrast, the conclusion praises the number of innovative and independent farms and businesses that he has discovered, offering genuine hope that the tide is turning, and that with an increase in sustainable land management may come more rural jobs and a greater appreciation of the benefits brought by smaller, self-sufficient communities.

Ashton’s father was the village bank manager; today, rural bank branches are long gone. The church is often the sole remaining village institution, but for how long, under current diocesan plans? If the drift from countryside to city does reverse, as the author believes is possible, will there still be a living network of country parish churches to serve the needs of revitalised, re-engaged, and re-rooted village communities?

The Revd Richard Greatrex is Rector of the Chew Valley East Benefice, in Somerset.

Where are the Fellows Who Cut the Hay?
Robert Ashton
Unbound £16.99
(978-1-80018-298-1)
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