Fields of Gold

A few weeks ago we were enjoying some family time in beautiful Devon.

Whilst driving down one of their not so busy roads we noticed that the fields ahead had a strange knobbly texture to them. 'Adventure time!' I cried much to the joy of the girls and we veered of course and headed towards the knobbly fields. And what a treasure they revealed ...

It turned out that we'd timed our visit perfectly to coincide with the harvesting of the lucrative thatch fields. A local man pulled up along side us whilst I was hanging over the metal gate taking pics and started to tell me a bit about the crops and the area. He even phoned his girlfriend and got her to walk down with a beautiful  book of black and white photography by local photographer - James Ravilious. 

This is an expensive crop.  The farmers cut and tie the wheat with the grain still in the ear. The sheaves, as they are called, have to stand for a couple of weeks whilst the grain ripens. The grain is then threshed out and the stalks re-trussed to produce the bundles of wheat reed. It's all very weather dependent!

Technical talk aside, for me it was like something out of a period drama. Bundles of combed wheat reed all around us as far as the eye could see. A truly magnificent scene and one that would love to be able to capture again (timing and weather permitting).  

I so wanted to let the girls run up and down the neatly arranged bundles of wheat. Now that would have made a gorgeous photo!