Agricultural Holiday Camps

The effortlessly comic Richard Massingham abandons the stress of his city job to work on a farm

Digging, hoeing and hefting hay - the larger-than-life public information film veteran Richard Massingham escapes the stress of his London office to volunteer on a farm. During and after WW2 the Ministry of Agriculture disseminated an array of media campaigns - from posters, radio and newspaper ads to films like this one, all designed to encourage people to 'lend a hand on the land'.

This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.