Andy Vining’s Podcast: My Mother’s Diaries 1948 – 1976: Episode 22 — May and June 1951

My Mother’s Diaries: Chicks, Ducklings and Haymaking at Hiltonbury

Life on the farm in May and June 1951

By Andy Vining

Fifty cockerel chicks, a clutch of ducklings, a birthday pair of goldfish and twenty-five tons of hay: May and June 1951 brought plenty of activity to Hiltonbury Farm.

Reading my mother’s diaries today, I am struck by how much she fitted into her days. Washing, ironing, baking, gardening and mending were woven around family visits, children’s dancing lessons and helping my father, John, on the farm. Somehow, there was usually time to put the kettle on.

I was eight that spring, away at St Probus School in Salisbury. My sisters Jennifer, Janet and Heather were at home, and my mother’s diary gives me a window into everything happening while I was away.

A cold start to May

May began with rain and a persistent cold wind. There were potatoes to plant, garden beds to dig and poultry accommodation to prepare. Father was busy carting dung at Ramally, while Mother divided her time between the house, the garden and teaching children to dance.

Four girls came up from school to practise at the farmhouse. Other sessions took place at the school or in the hall, depending on the weather. When colds spread among the children, one practice had to be cancelled.

On 3 May, the family listened on the wireless to the opening of the Festival of Britain. It was a national occasion, but at Hiltonbury the ordinary work continued. Mother helped with potato planting before going to another dancing practice.

There were worries, too. Grannie was unwell at Beechcroft, particularly with trouble affecting her eye, and Mother called round to see her.

Against this busy background, she announced a personal ambition: she was going on a diet because she thought she was getting too fat. With baking, visitors, teas and suppers filling the diary, she had chosen a challenging time to begin!

Home for half-term

One of the happier moments was the journey to Salisbury to collect me for the Whitsun half-term holiday. Mother recorded a lovely day, with her own mother joining the trip and staying afterwards for tea and supper.

Coming home meant returning to the place I loved most. There was always something happening on the farm, and that May was no exception.

Father, with Cross, Guppy and Brian, finished preparing a store for the chicks. Brooders were made ready, and fifty cockerel chicks arrived from Mr Cross, with more following later.

Jennifer had a poultry project of her own. She had put twelve duck eggs beneath a broody hen and was waiting for them to hatch.

Meanwhile, improvements continued around the farmhouse. Mother made a small lawn outside the back door, crazy paving was laid in the front garden, and she made and hung new curtains for the landing window. Sweet peas, lobelia and asters all received attention as the garden moved towards summer.

My holiday soon ended, and my clothes were packed for the return to St Probus.

Washing, mending and a troublesome gramophone

Mother’s washing and ironing appear repeatedly throughout these months. Sometimes she finished before lunch; on other occasions, a large wash occupied the afternoon and evening.

There was darning to do as well. Clothes were repaired and kept in use, and a visit from the chimney sweep added another household job to the list.

A bus strike disrupted the girls’ journeys to their convent school in Southampton, so Father had to take them. When the buses finally started running again, he had another problem: a dreadful toothache, followed by an extraction.

Yet there were pleasures among the chores. Mother went to Winchester with Win to see a film starring Jennifer Jones. There were visits to friends, cricket to watch and an outing to the bluebell woods with Win, Janet and Julie.

On a wet Sunday, the girls entertained themselves by making up dances to records on the wind-up gramophone. That machine would feature again before June was over, rather less successfully.

Summer arrives—and so do the ducklings

June began with real warmth at last.

Mother, Father and Win went to the pictures to see Wedding Bells, the Fred Astaire and Jane Powell musical remembered for Astaire’s extraordinary dance up the walls and across the ceiling.

Another outing took Mother, Win and the girls to Southampton’s Grand Theatre for The Maid of the Mountains. Mother thought the performance “jolly good”.

Back at the farm, Jennifer’s patience was rewarded. Eleven ducklings hatched from her twelve eggs. Sadly, one was trodden on by a hen, a small reminder of how closely delight and disappointment could sit together in farm life.

There was good news from Salisbury, too: I was top of my form at St Probus. Later, Mother and Father came to the school for the fathers’ cricket match. Rain interrupted proceedings, but I scored twelve runs and the boys beat the fathers. That was a result worth remembering!

A birthday and food from the farm

One of the pigs went to the slaughterhouse in Eastleigh, and Mother and Father subsequently collected the pork, ham and offal.

Without electricity or a refrigerator at Hiltonbury, the cool pantry mattered greatly. Producing food was only part of the work; looking after it and making good use of it were household responsibilities as well.

Mother recorded that the pork served for Sunday dinner was lovely. She also baked cakes and iced a birthday cake for Janet, whose birthday fell on 11 June.

Bunty helped with the party preparations, and everyone had a good time. A later birthday present from Julie brought further excitement: a pair of goldfish.

There were gooseberries to preserve, too. Mr Cross picked some while farm work continued around him, and Mother bottled fruit for later use. One afternoon, the family had tea beneath the apple trees—a peaceful scene among much busier entries.

The race to bring in the hay

By June, haymaking was becoming the central task on the farm.

Father began cutting at Flexford, but getting the crop safely stored depended on the weather and on machinery that did not always cooperate.

An elevator broke down during carting. Later, the swathe turner failed just as Cummins started work, sending Father to Romsey for spare parts.

Mother helped turn the lucerne, another fodder crop being prepared for storage. Showers, cold winds and heavy downpours made progress uncertain. When the lucerne was finally dry enough, baling began after tea, with Cross and Guppy helping and Fred Freebourn involved in further baling.

The diary eventually records twenty-five tons of hay baled from the fields at Flexford. Behind that figure lay days of cutting, turning, drying, baling and carting, with Father still working while family life carried on around him.

There was time for the Royal Counties Show, where Mother met friends and relatives among the cattle, machinery and agricultural displays. She returned with the children and Win on another day, enjoying the cattle and jumping.

One entry brought a sudden change of mood. Calling at Cowley’s, Mother learned that Daisy had just heard of her husband’s death. Such moments stand quietly among the everyday entries, reminding us that the diary recorded a whole community’s life.

Dancing to the end of June

The children’s dancing had occupied Mother for weeks. Their performance at the Women’s Institute was a success, and another school display went well.

The final June performance was a different matter. The children made a muddle of their dances, and the gramophone let her down.

After all those rehearsals, it must have been frustrating. Nevertheless, the diary moved on to tennis that evening and the next round of ordinary life.

That is what makes these diaries so valuable to me. They preserve the big tasks—haymaking, livestock and family occasions—but also the smaller things: a cup of tea with Joan, a walk after supper, curtains finally hung or flowers planted before evening fell.

May and June 1951 were full of work, friendship, children and changing weather. Together, those everyday details bring Hiltonbury Farm, and the people who knew it, back to life.

My Mother’s Diaries – The Hiltonbury Farming Family Story 1948–1976 is a weekly podcast drawn from my mother’s diaries and my own memories. Discover more and listen at mymothersdiaries.co.uk.