Agriculture on the Nottinghamshire Wolds: Interviewee 10: Jennie Phimister

	Jennie was born in 1923 at the Farmers Arms, a farm in Plumtree where her father was tenant. His name was Herbert Elding and his parents lived at Northcliffe Farm at Wysall on the road to Keyworth. The family later moved to the Manor Farm at Plumtree.
The Farmers Arms: I was born at the old Farmers Arms, which had been the old coaching inn. …The actual licence was taken away during the First World War. And it was used as a place for the German prisoners that worked on the land… in the First World War. And then it was divided in 1920 because Mr Turner had died - the Licensee. And they wouldn't allow Mrs Turner to stay on. So they split it in half: to a smallholding, which my father got in 1920; and the other half became a home for Mrs Turner and her daughter. …What they used to say was, they blew the coaching horn as they came round the church corner. And what became our cowsheds - they were the actual stables for the horses. And the horses were changed there.	Old views of the Farmers Arms, Plumtree
Jennie and Grandfather outside the house at the Farmers Arms	At the Farmers Arms: In those days you milked the cow; you put the milk through a sile, and it was put into churns and collected every day by Mr Budd from Nottingham …the original size churns, metal ones of course, …very heavy. But in those days, my father just bred Lincoln Red Cattle, which although not a heavy milker, it was good for meat, for food as well. And he used to take all his calves to Melton market. And the dealers from Lincolnshire were always there, waiting for him to buy the calves. But it was a happy time at the Farmers Arms. It was a nice house, a lovely house, and a big washhouse and that, and other buildings. And so, in fact when mother and dad - after they'd just come to Plumtree - my uncle Frank Elding started the first bus from Keyworth to Nottingham; and he used to garage it in one of the sheds at Farmers Arms.
Move to Manor Farm: We moved to Manor Farm from the Farmers Arms in 1935. And that's when the Cockaynes came into the village. And we moved up to the Manor Farm, which had been empty for a year. The land had been neglected. And a lot of our land was right up onto the Wolds. And so we were - took it over - and we lived rent-free. You had to do a lot to the house, and the land was in a shocking state, which father got it all going. And then, of course, when the war came, they said, "Well you've got to plough some of this land on the Wolds up." And he just got it right; and he never did get a crop off. So you know food was wasted. But some of these people seem to know better than the farmers. …We'd got attics where we used to hang them [hams], and a wonderful dairy and cellar - the Manor Farm, marvellous place.	Family at Manor Farm, Plumtree
Grandfather Elding	Cattle on the Wolds: A lot of it [land] was up on the Wolds. There was just this field and one across the by-pass, and the rest was on the Wolds. And in those days, it was horses and carts. And if you ran your cattle - your young cattle - up on the Wolds in the summer, we had to cart water in churns. Eventually we did get a ram up there that worked. And we had to share it with the Wilkinsons, but it was hard going - hard going. The bull: Yes, we did [have our own bull for the cows]. And most of them - my father bought most of his cattle from Jack Tuckwood at Wysall. And I remember him very well coming to the house. And my father - we'd got this bull - and my cousin from Wysall would cycle to school at Bridgford, and drop off a postcard, "Can I borrow the bull? Herbert." And my father used to walk, and my uncle would meet him halfway, just through Keyworth, and keep it until he'd finished the use of it. Our best bull was called Billy Montague. He was a pedigree - yes a wonderful old bull.
Horses: We had huge Shire horses. We used to have three or four at a time. And we always used to feed the foals with a lump of sugar a day or two after they were born. And you could always catch them. And they used to come to the back door for the sugar before they'd go and drink at the trough. …A man who worked for Mr Brown at Tollerton, Mr Seward, he was a wonderful old man for breaking horses in, and he always broke our horses in for us. …[A stallion] belonged to Stayton - I think it was either Sutton Bonington or somewhere round railway where Stayton lived. And he used to come on a Monday, when it was time for the horses to be served. And he used to arrive at our place on a Monday, complete with the stallion. And we put both him and the horse up overnight. And then he went to other villages the next day. …Lovely horses - I've still got photographs of them. And I still love to see horses with a plough. A horse can go where tractors can't. Violet was our lovely mare. She was a wonderful mare. But every time she dropped her filly foal we lost it, because she'd got this disease - fillies seemed to get this joint evil - and I can remember lying in the field with one foal, while the vet operated on it …with the twitch on it's nose. And then old Captain, he was another wonderful horse. And we were so sad when they had to go. My father was the last farmer to have a tractor in this village.	Eldings' horses
Plumbtree Windmill	Farm cottages: The Town End Cottages: there were eight of them. And our Manor Farm had the first one. And the rent was half a crown a week for my father. So the farm labourer got his cottage free and his milk free on top of his wages, which were very small I can assure you in those days. Now, huge families were brought up in them, about ten children. And there was only one bedroom and a landing, so how they went to bed, I don't know. We used to say they used to get them to sleep, and then stand them round the wall. But they were homes - they were still homes for people. And now they have divided them into four … and one of them is up for sale at £119,950. I don't know what the old farmers or farm hands would say, if they could even think that it was worth anything like that. But they have been made rather nice, but… The Green Cottages are on the Green - little Green Lane - in front of Manor Farm - near where Manor Farm is. And there were eight there; but now there are four. …[Opposite Town End Cottages] it's just one house; it was two farm cottages, which one belonged to the Haywoods Farm at Flawford, and the other one, Bill Holbrook, was a farm labourer in it, but now it's been made into one house. …[Gardens with the cottages] what we called the allotments. There were two lots of allotments… they were right up Mill Lane near the railway. And the first lot were for the Green Cottages, and then the other side of the lane were the ones for Town End Cottages. …They were well kept… they had to keep them then to… for food. But they used to carry water …cans and bits of water up there to water the stuff… One realised - it wouldn't happen like that now…
Leaving Manor Farm: We left Manor Farm. I was married in February 1953 and a month later my father took with very bad heart trouble. And we were a tenant farmer. And there was nowhere to rent in those days. And I know it would break his heart to - he couldn't bear not to live in the country. And fortunately, the Estate then was just still owned by Mr Clement, who it was left to by the Burnsides. It was left to his sister. And so they allowed us to buy the orchard, which is where our houses are now. We built a pair of semi-detached, 53 and 54, one for mother and father, and one for my husband and myself. And we looked after them for the first seventeen years of our married life.	Parents at the Farmers Arms
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