Did We Really Do That?

It was ‘all change’ down on the farm in the 1970s. A tsunami of technology hit agriculture, revolutionising food production with everything from clever agrochemicals to civilised tractor cabs. “Grow more!” cried the politicians who could remember food rationing. “We don’t mind how – just get on with it!”

“Grow less!” cried the politicians of the mid-1990s, stung by tabloid tales of grain mountains and wine lakes. “Stop using everything cheap and effective, measure every field to the nearest square metre and make lots of inspectors welcome! And don’t forget to log when you washed the combine!” This tsunami was of red tape.

Charlie Flindt was lucky enough to farm the golden years between these dates, an era of minimal bureaucratic interference and maximum output – and fun. He has plundered the diaries, the photographs and the memory banks to compile fifty jaw-dropping stories that will inspire disbelief from those who weren’t there – and perhaps those who were, but, being of a certain age, have forgotten.

Charlie and Hazel Flindt farm a hundred acres at Hinton Ampner in Hampshire as semi-retired tenants of the National Trust.