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Old Pond now has stock of Paul Heiney's latest book, Farm Fatale, in which he tells the story of his ten years' farming with working horses in Suffolk.
In the early part of the book Paul writes about the experience he acquired working one day a week on the traditional farm run by Roger and Cheryl Clark where horseman 'Gerry' was one of the great characters. The photograph shows Gerry with one of the Clarks' Percherons.
For more details of the book or to order a copy online see here.
The death has been announced of Julanne Arnold, formerly books editor at Farming Press. Julanne died peacefully on Sunday 25th after several years' illness. She was 81.
In the photograph from December 1993 Julanne is centre front in a pale blouse. Around her, left to right, are Farming Press staff: Catherine Britton, Annie Shead, Roger Smith, Peter Melling, Samantha Blain, Claire Newbery and Sue Dalgleish.
Julanne was loved by us all for her warmth, humour, wide range of interests, knowledge and intelligence. She was a superb editor, as the authors with whom she worked during her ten years at the company said time and time again.
Julanne came out of her retirement to undertake free-lance editing in the early days of Old Pond. She and her husband Roy offered the great support that was just what we needed and for which we will always be grateful.
Julanne Lynn was born in October 1931 in Chester, South Carolina. After university she became an editor for the book publishing company Harper & Row in New York where she met Englishman Roy Arnold who also worked in publishing. They were married in 1963. Julanne and Roy settled in England, at first in London, then thirty years ago in Needham Market, Suffolk. There Roy ran an historic tools trading, publishing and bookselling business.
For many years Julanne worked as an editor for Egon Ronay, leaving in 1987 to join Farming Press, locally based in Ipswich. Roy Arnold died in December 2009.
Julanne is survived by her sister Willa, son Harry and daughter Kate as well as grandchildren Gabriel and Isabel. From 2008 Julanne ran a personal blog which you can log on to here. Her memorial service was held at St John the Baptist Church, Needham Market, on 10 December. The Order of Service and some memorable tributes by Willa, Kate and Harry can be found here.
Farm Fatale, Paul Heiney. Hardback 234 x 156 mm, 200 pages inc. 14 line illustrations. ISBN 978-1-900318-44-0 (Excellent Press). Now in stock at Old Pond at £12.99.
In the early 1990s Paul Heiney set aside his broadcasting career and swapped it for a life on the land. He decided that he would start his own farm and it would be like no other farm you could find.
Shunning modern intensive methods, he reverted instead to a system of farming that his great grandparents would have known. He ploughed, sowed, reaped and mowed with cart horses rather than tractors, employing mighty Suffolk Punches that were once the workhorses of agriculture in the eastern counties.
He gathered round him a small band of local and aged helping hands to help steer him through the up and downs of farming life; along with a collection of native breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs that had found no place in modern food production but which he thought would be very much at home on his farm.
Although he was prepared for the hard work that would follow, Paul could never have guessed how the story of this little farm would unfold. His life became overwhelmed by all the disasters and rewards that a farming life can bring; his livestock showed him little respect – and took every opportunity to remind him who was really in charge.
This book, awash with not only blood, sweat and tears but a great deal of good humour, tells a story of the changing seasons in the countryside seen through the eyes of a man in determined pursuit of a dream.
Paul is a well-known writer and broadcaster in the UK and over 30 years has appeared on all Britain's major radio and television networks. You can currently see him each week on ‘Countrywise’. He spent seven years on BBC1's top-rated show, ‘Watchdog’, developing a career in consumer journalism that had begun with ‘That's Life’ in 1978, and continued later with Radio 4's ‘You and Yours’.
Despite his very busy life, Paul found time in 1993 to create Harnessed to the Plough, a highly successful programme in which you see the life of Roger and Cheryl Clark farming with Percherons and Suffolk Punches. This is available as a DVD from Old Pond, as are five other programmes, four of which were made for ITV Anglia. All these DVDs, as well as the Old Pond book The Traditional Farming YearThe Traditional Farming Year, reflect Paul’s deep feeling for our rural past.
Paul lives in Suffolk and is married to broadcaster Libby Purves. He is an enthusiastic ocean sailor.
Patrick Barkham’s Guide to British Butterflies, Produced by Bill Smith of Great Takes TV. 2-DVD set, approx 3½ hours. ISBN 978-1-908397-57-7. Now available from Old Pond at £24.95 inc. VAT.
Patrick Barkham’s book The Butterfly Isles – an account of his quest to see all Britain’s 57 species of butterfly in a single year – was a publishing sensation. I bought it at Christmas 2010 and couldn’t put it down.
Now Patrick has re-lived his remarkable year, travelling the length and breadth of the country, from the Isle of Wight to the Highlands of Scotland, to present this unique guide to British butterflies. All the butterfly species have been beautifully filmed in their natural habitat, but this is much more than a basic identification guide.
There’s a separate film devoted to each species, in which Patrick provides a historical perspective; how the early naturalists discovered, described and named the butterfly in question, and how its distribution has changed over the years. There’s a detailed description of the butterfly itself, both male and female, how to identify them and where to find them.
Close-up comparisons are provided where confusions exist between similar species. For several of the iconic species, such as large blue, purple emperor and brown hairstreak Patrick interviews leading experts in their field including Professor Jeremy Thomas and Matthew Oates of the National Trust.
The DVD also contains chapters on migrants and vagrants, those rare species that are occasionally seen in this country, and advice for new butterfly enthusiasts about how best to pursue their interest. The result is the most comprehensive and professionally produced film yet made about our wonderful British butterflies.
The producer, Bill Smith, has had a lifelong interest in butterflies. After a long career as a television producer and cameraman for both BBC and ITV, he has spent the last two years filming all the butterfly species, and working with Patrick to develop this DVD. He will be known to Old Pond customers for his work with Paul Heiney on programmes such as A Victorian Summer and Secret Rivers.
Bulkhaul Volume 3, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD approx 70 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-52-2. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.
The third in CP’s popular Bulkhaul series is an international programme offering something for everyone fascinated by bulk haulage operations.
Pete Connock and Martin Phippard include features on an unusual MAN and four-axle semi-trailer with two tipping bodies used in Southern Sweden and an impressive Scania 8-wheel tipper employed to haul biomass fuel for Scot Heating based in Stirling, Scotland. Pete and Martin also show a stunning Volvo XXL bulk tanker drawbar outfit working in the snow and ice of a Finnish winter and an interesting Volvo FM rigid and drawbar tipper operated by HN Sillifant & Son from Cornwall.
The programme concludes with unique footage of five-trailer road-train combinations working in a vast coal mine in Queensland, Australia. Grossing around 480 tonnes and measuring almost 70 metres (230 feet) overall, these leviathans require the services of a Kenworth C-500 tractor at the front end and powered axles located in the third trailer. Spectacular is a word often over-used, but NOT in this instance!
Pete Connock and Martin Phippard have been making trucking programmes for nearly twenty years. Their fully researched and narrated DVDs are aimed squarely at fellow trucking enthusiasts. More of their DVDs can be found in the Truck DVDs from CP section of the Old Pond website.