Saturday 5 April 2008

Day five-Tamarisk Farm-Dorset-UPDATED


Tamarisk farm,West Bexington.
The sun filtered lazily through the dusty dappled leaves of the evergreen oak outside Tamarisk farm house. The house stood, mottled by the ever-changing light as it had for century’s. Solid, content and satisfied that it has played its part well in making the farm what it is now. Joined to the shrubby, scrubby, landscape that reaches down to the hard hitting sea with its line of dedicated fishermen; each a parody of the other.
Tamarisk Farm houses owners Arthur and Josephine Pearse are very similar to the home they have inhabited since the 1960s. With a gradual, functionalist approach they have learnt what the land will and will not do and have allowed this to dictate what they nurture and grow. Sticking to their organic principles, even though others didn’t necessarily agree with them for the last 47 years.
“We live as we thought we should live and so we grew organically. Having 6 children influenced what we did” adds Josephine.
Arthur answers when I question him about becoming a farmer that:
“We didn’t decide to become farmers. We decided to grow vegetables then Josephine who liked the animals decided to get some goats. The goats turned into cows and then the cows had more cows”
As I munch deep brown fruity homemade cake and sip strong tarry tea in this cosy farmhouse sitting-room I can’t help feel that time has stood still here. And that, that is no bad thing.
“People have become overwhelmed and meaning becomes concealed. We are a society full of materialism and consumerism” Says Arthur.
I can’t but help agree with him. We do seem to have lost touch with our surroundings and have lost the empathy we once had with the land. Ideals that Arthur and Josephine have not lost.
They have a caretaker approach to the land and when decades ago the government wanted to convert the area into a Nuclear power station they wrote to the National trust to see if they could help. The National Trust now owns and protects much of the surrounding area.
To be continued........................

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