This month Exmoor celebrated two special anniversaries; the Exmoor Hill Farming Network’s 10th birthday and 70 years since Exmoor became a National Park.
To mark these events, a book has been produced titled Exmoor Farms: A Year on the Moor. The launch took place on October 16 at Cutcombe Market, where over 150 people gathered for the occasion, eager to buy a book (or, in many cases, several books) and enjoy a slice of celebratory birthday cake while chatting with friends.
Written by Exmoor farmer and local author Victoria Eveleigh, with photographs by Eleanor Davis, this ambitious and deeply felt tribute to Exmoor’s farmers records a year in their lives.
The Network manager Katherine Williams said, “I wanted to find a way to tell the hidden stories of our farms and create a record of the farming year that would show some of the things our farmers do – capturing this moment in Exmoor’s history. A book also seemed the perfect way to celebrate the Network.”
The project came from a meeting in December 2022, when Katherine mentioned the idea of a book to the chair of the Exmoor Society, Kate O’Sullivan, and the two of them started on the journey that has resulted in the book and its accompanying exhibition.
A local team assembled to bring the project to life, working non-stop under the guidance of the editor Jane Pearn. The team has been overwhelmed by the positive reaction to the book and the sales in just ten days.
The photographic exhibition at White Rock Cottage, Simonsbath, has only been open for a couple of weekends but hundreds of people have been to see it. The book is on sale via the Exmoor Hill Farming Network’s office at Cutcombe Market, The Village Stores, Withypool, Exmoor National Park Visitor Centres, and at White Rock Cottage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 1st – 3rd November. It can also be ordered via the Network’s website www.ehfn.org.uk/exmoor-farms-a-year-on-the-moor. The book costs £25 and can be posted within the UK for an additional £5.
The exhibition will be at White Rock Cottage, Simonsbath, (by Ashcombe car park and toilets grid reference SS773394) next Friday, Saturday and Sunday before going on tour to various other places, including Barnstaple Library from the 11th – 22nd November and Lynmouth National Park Information Centre at the beginning of December.
This post was originally published on here
