Mayfield

In a period of rapid change in rural England, farmer and writer James Rebanks explores the lives of rural workers in and around three English villages.

Un-nostalgic and unpatronising, these are the uncensored voices of rural England - by turns thoughtful and funny, defiant and melancholy. As forces including land ownership, government policy, climate change, globalisation, rewilding and food production monopolies alter rural England forever, James explores the impact of these changes on the collective lives and cultures of communities and offers a portrait of their inner lives.

We hear from foresters and farmers, a deer stalker and a regenerative market gardener, a bellringer, a gamekeeper and a retired vicar. Men and women from 23 to 90 years old.

In this second episode, we hear from the people of Mayfield in East Sussex. An hour from London, this country of coppiced woodland and small farms feels largely untouched, with a lively community and high street lined with shops. But family farmers and working locals are now a tiny minority in a world of big estates, wealthy commuters and retirees. This episode focuses on their vanishing culture, the increasing vulnerability of England’s tenant farmers and the enduring power of land ownership to influence the future of the English countryside.

Produced by Michael Umney.
Executive Producer: Susan Marling
Mixed by Mike Wooley
Original Music by Toby Hay
Special thanks to Peter Treherne
Michael Umney was supported by a Churchill Fellowship, awarded in 2025
A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4.