And whatever I am, wherever I am, this is me.

February 15, 2018 7:19 AM

Daleswoman Hannah Hauxwell passed away recently aged 91. She was living alone on her family farm, with no water or electricity, when in 1973 she became famous after being featured in Barry Cockcroft's documentary Too Long a Winter, about the north Pennines community. Her quiet, pragmatic acceptance of her life moved viewers, and donations from the public enabled her to connect her house to the national grid and expand her cattle herd. She went on to feature in several more documentaries, including travelogues to Europe and America, and co-author books. Barry Cockcroft returned in 1989 for a poignant follow up film, A Winter Too Many, as Hannah prepared to sell up the farm she was no longer able to maintain.

As her family had never used artificial fertilisers on their pasture, it was found to be a wildlife haven, and one of her fields was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and renamed Hannah's Meadow in her honour.

For contemporary fell farming insight, go down the farming twitter rabbit hole, including Herdwick Shepherd, James Rebanks (previously) (who's dog Floss has just had puppies if you need a pick me up...)

posted by Helga-woo (5 comments total)

Too Long a Winter appears to be region-locked, but A Winter Too Many might be more accessible if you're not in the UK. It includes several clips of Hannah taken from Too Long a Winter.
posted by Helga-woo at 7:20 AM on February 15, 2018

This is where one branch of my ancestors lived, in Teesdale near Barnard Castle. Some of them were agricultural laborers, living in conditions not much different than she did. All you have to know about how hard that is is that 19th century mining jobs were a much sought-after improvement over these tiny farms.
posted by tavella at 9:48 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

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posted by Mister Bijou at 2:29 AM on February 16, 2018

From the second link:
“Why go on about her? She’s done nowt to deserve it.”
My family are from Yorkshire, and so farmed a good bit further south in the Pennines than her, but this very neatly expresses the general North Yorkshire farming attitude to fame, success and material wealth. Or in some cases, anything which might make you at all happy.
posted by Vortisaur at 11:26 AM on February 16, 2018 [3 favorites]

I quite like the Northern Echo link. Apparently she was one of those rare instant celebrities who got just enough fame to suit her and improve her life, but not enough to make her unhappy. Also, Cockcroft sounds like he was a good dude, the books he helped her write provided her an income that allowed her to retire to a comfortable cottage in town when she got too old to farm.
posted by tavella at 11:59 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]