Jean Bland, 79, who was brought up in Grayrigg and Skelsmergh, remembers the bracken harvest in the 1950s

IN the autumn one of the jobs on our farm at Skelsmergh in the 1950s was collecting bracken from the local fell to use as bedding for the calves during the winter.

My father and our hired farm worker who lived with us would yoke up the horse and cart and depart for the day to Potter Fell.

They would take with them scythes, rakes, pitch forks and lunch.

My father would have spoken to the owner/tenant of the fell, who was no doubt glad to have some of the bracken cleared.

Adders were present on Potter Fell and were sometimes seen sunbathing on rocks.

Driving the horse and cart along the quiet country road, crossing the river Sprint, and finally up the unsurfaced fell road, would have been very pleasant on a bright, autumn morning.

After the bracken was cut and gathered together, it had to be loaded onto the cart and secured with ropes before the journey home, where it was then unloaded into a spare stall in the stable, where our two horses lived.

Perhaps two or three trips would be made each autumn ensuring that the young calves had dry, comfortable beds throughout the winter, and also producing valuable manure to put on the land in the spring.

In the late 50s/early 60s my father and brother used a now iconic grey Ferguson tractor and cut the bracken with a mowing machine, speeding up the whole process.

Bracken was free and while labour was available it saved money in buying bedding straw.

As far as I know, bracken is no longer gathered in this way.