BEFORE DOMESDAY BOOK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22711, 25 October 1935, Page 18

BEFORE DOMESDAY BOOK

ANCIENT ENGLISH MANOR BACK TO LIFE AGAIN EXPERIMENT IN DEVON. Round a manor near Totnes, a pleasantly situated borough on the River Dart iu Devonshire, which traces its history far back beyond Domesday Book, a pioneer experiment in rural reconstruction is approaching its testing time. The manor is Darlington Hall, and one object of I lie experiment is to prove that an English country .state can be economically developed through extensive agriculture and the establishment of what may be termed “ utilisation ” industries. When Mr L. K. Elmhirst began the Darlington experiment eight years ago he found the manor, with its former tilt yard and rich acres of land, employing only 30 men. To-day the pay roll for the home block of 1200 acres has risen to 300, and the total, including associated undertakings is approximately 1000. To the original mixed farm adjoining the hall there have been added an intensive dairy farm, a poultry farm with (5000 head of chickens, and a pig farm which is just coming into production. Exeter used to be an important centre of the wool industry. Therefore, Shetland and North Wales sheep have been installed on an additional 330 acres of moorland farm, and their wool

combed and made up into traditional country tweeds and even fine woollen scarves. Another piece of poor land has been transformed into a commercial garden for the supply of alpines and herbaceous plants. A second garden is devoted to flowering trees and ornamental shrubs, and as a natural development garden design is also undertaken. Timber is being planted up near Chngford, Lustleigh and Buckfastleigh, and a timber mill lias been built to cope with the output, not of the estate only, but of the whole area between Lickeard in Cornwall and Exeter. In adjoining workshops garden seats and farm gates are turned out from the wood which the mill produces. Fruit orchards are also being planted, and a large cider mill has been built. Much building was necessary at every stage. The result is a building organisation, with its headquarters in a disused Hour mill; and this in turn has led to the development ot three building estates along the Devon coast. Finally, the building of modern houses suggested the manufacture of modern furniture, and this also is undertaken. Each of the farm undertakings was planned on the basis that five years should be allowed for the discovery of the best lines of development, and a further five years for commercial establishment. Laboratory help has, at every stage, been available. With rather more than two years to run, there is a good hope that the original schedule will in most eases be realised.

Mr and Mrs Elmhirst say they believe if the English countryside is to be brought back to life, country life must be made interesting. Complementary to tbe purely economic experiments, therefore, Dartingtou is also the headquarters of a ballet school and the home of a flourishing co-educational school.