Hay Making & the Royal Show

Bygone Britain is revealed in this rural delight where hay is stacked with pitchforks and some very heavy horses aim to be Best in Show

Kathleen Arrowsmith's delightful short film features scenes that convey the backbreaking nature of farm work before the more widespread use of machines. Men use pitchforks to make haystacks while a solitary car, pushing a rake attachment, gathers up the newly-mown hay in the field. Then we see highlights from a 1937 heavy horse show, held at Wrottesley Park Wolverhampton - where each equine contestant is made to look their very best for the judges.

Mrs Kathleen Arrowsmith mainly filmed at Warren Farm near Streatley in Berkshire. Her films provide a vivid portrait of rural life on a working farm in 1930s Berkshire. Many of her films feature traditional hand and steam-powered mechanical farming techniques used to harvest wheat and other crops like vegetables. Her later films feature views of larger vehicles of the period, as well as views of rearing livestock and a variety of breeds of working horses on the family farm.