Celebrating 50 years of food and farming in the Surrey Hills
Although geology, soils and climate sculpted the skeleton of the landscape, the beauty of the Surrey Hills is largely the result of the way the land has been shaped and maintained by farmers, landowners and estate managers over the centuries. This has created a delightful mosaic landscape of small and large fields surrounded by hedgerows, shaws and copses, clustered around traditional farm buildings.
Farming in the 1950s
The Second World War had left its legacy of food rationing and a shortage of houses. It had also altered the way the Surrey Hills were farmed. There was an ethos of utilitarianism and a continuing sense of urgency driving food production. Frivolous niche crops like lavender, grown at Shere before the war for essential oils and dried flowers, were jettisoned in favour of food crops. The huge acreage given over to oats – the original bio- fuel powering the thousands of working horses keeping farms going – was no longer necessary as the tractor took over.
Mechanisation was also reducing the numbers of farmhands needed and tired agricultural cottages began to be sold off or rented out. Most Surrey farms now had a tractor and with Government encouragement to maximise production, agriculture was an exciting industry to be working in. Merrist Wood Agricultural College in Worplesdon trained young farmers and there was a lot of Government sponsored research into crops and fertilisers generating an upbeat atmosphere of progress.
Livestock farming
In the 1950s, milk was being produced in the Surrey Hills on a colossal scale at hundreds of small farms. Dairy herds grazed cheek by jowl all the way along the Tillingbourne Valley from Dorking to Guildford and on the slopes of the Hog’s Back to Farnham. They supplied London as well as the local market and farms west of Guildford supplied the Army as well. Milk churns were a common site at the end of farm tracks where they were left for collection every day. Surrey also had the highest density of beef cattle in the country.
Bill Westnedge, who has farmed at Norwood Hill in Surrey since 1947, says: “Farming was exciting right through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Tractors had come in and horses went out. We needed fewer farm hands as mechanisation took over. 50 years ago nearly every farmer had a few cows but those little farms have now gone.”
Farming today
The Surrey Hills landscape of patchwork fields, woods and hedgerows has survived partly because the poor quality of the soil and the hilly terrain make it unattractive for large scale arable farming, and partly thanks to the conservation designations like the Green Belt and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that have had a significant impact.
The rise of the environmental movement has helped farmers to encourage wildlife diversity and see their farms as high quality landscape. There are far fewer commercial farms, but where once there were small dairy farms, there are now lots of small holdings and hobby farms producing anything from lamb to goat and goose, many of them organic.
Surrey farmers have survived salmonella and BSE, Foot and Mouth and a non-stop stream of forms to fill in. Blue tongue lurks round the corner along with avian flu but the Surrey countryside is in good shape for the future. From a farmer’s perspective, the economics of farming are actually starting to look up, with higher milk and grain prices. And the money from renting out converted dairy buildings and niche enterprises like ice-cream and cheese, helps bring in a secure income.