My Mother’s Diaries – The Hiltonbury Farming Family Story 1948-1976

March opens with snow on the fields, rain at the windows,and bitter winds sweeping across the farmyard. Winter is reluctant to leave, and the house is still full of fires, mending baskets, coughs and colds, and children restless from too many muddy days indoors but through it all runs the real heart of these diaries —the ordinary, beautiful business of family life… meals, visitors, gardens, birthd...

January and February 1949 take us deep into a Hampshire winter at Hiltonbury Farm — where life carries on through cold days, coughs and colds, and the constant rhythm of family and farm. Inside the farmhouse there is always something to be done — sewing, mending, cooking, and caring for the children — while outside the hens are laying, eggs are gathered, cows are milked and the countryside waits q...

In the next episode A new year begins at Hiltonbury Farm… January 1949 —in My Mothers Diaries Winter still holds the countryside firmly in its grip, but there is a feeling that something is about to change. Because in these small, ordinary days —of work, laughter, and winter’s lingering cold —a new year is quietly beginning…and everything that follows… is still to come, listen on Sunday to My Moth...

As November and December 1948 unfold, Hiltonbury Farm turns inward. The days grow shorter, the air sharper, and attention shifts to keeping both livestock and family safe through the cold. There are frosty mornings, busy kitchens, and preparations for Christmas that sit alongside the ordinary work of the farm. The final entries of the year carry that gentle mixture of fatigue and gratitude — the f...

November 1948… Rain lashes the fields and the farm turns inward. Pigs are killed for winter meat. Eggs are shown and awarded. Fences are mended. Fires are lit earlier each evening. There are bonfires and fireworks, Lodge meetings and Growmore dinners — muddy boots by the door and frost waiting at the gate. Then December arrives with wind and rain, barley threshed in the yard, chickens plucked for...

By September 1948 the light begins to change at Hiltonbury Farm. Harvest is coming to an end, mornings feel sharper, and there is a sense of taking stock. The children are back at school, the evenings grow shorter, and the farm moves gently from summer abundance towards autumn preparation. There is still work to be done — there always is — but Mother’s diary begins to carry that thoughtful note th...

September 1948… The light begins to change. Mornings turn cooler, mist lying low over the fields at Hiltonbury. Harvest presses on — barley coming in, potatoes lifted, apples gathered before the weather shifts. The yard is busy again, boots muddy, machinery carrying across the air. The children return to school and the house grows quieter by day — though never still. Inside, there is preserving an...

July and August 1948 find Hiltonbury Farm in full summer stride. Harvest approaches, livestock and poultry require careful attention, and long evenings stretch across busy working days. Amid cricket matches, visitors, and children at home for the holidays, the steady rhythm of farm life carries on — practical, hopeful, and shaped by the seasons.

High summer on the farm. The hay cut and carried before the weather could turn. The long evenings stretching golden across the fields. Children in and out of the house from morning until dusk. Calves to tend, chickens to count, strawberries to pick — and always washing on the line. But summer is never only sunshine. There were shows and sales, visitors calling, dancing in the evenings, and the ste...

By May and June 1948, Hiltonbury Farm feels as though it is breathing and working properly now The days are longer, the children are in and out of the house, and the fields begin to show the promise of summer. There is planting to be done, broodys to tend, washing that dries quicker in the sun, and neighbours who still drop by for tea without notice. Life does not slow down, but it steadies. The s...

Late spring 1948 finds Hiltonbury Farm settling into longer days and steady growth. Potatoes are planted, chicks are thriving, goose eggs are set, and the household hums with the rhythm of work, visitors, and village life. As May turns into June, the land begins to show its promise — but not without its challenges. Join us as we step into early summer on a Hampshire farm, where routine, resilience...

Spring 1948 arrives at Hiltonbury with cold winds, planting in the fields, and life pressing forward after loss. March brings sorrow and new beginnings; April brings birthdays, broodys, duck eggs, visitors for tea and the steady work of a Hampshire farming family finding its rhythm again.

A short preview of Sunday’s episode is now available — March 1948 brought both loss and new life to Hiltonbury Farm.

This is the beginning of My Mother’s Diaries , starting with her entries from January and February 1948. These recordings are simple readings from the small diaries my mother wrote in each day. The ink has faded over time, and some entries were difficult to read without a magnifying glass, but uncovering her words has been both a joy and a personal adventure for me. They tell the story of our fami...

A preview of our first full episode following last week’s introduction. January and February 1948 bring bitter cold, frozen pumps, kitchen fires, new chicks, and the steady rhythm of winter life at Hiltonbury Farm. Amid birthday cakes, football matches, and farm work, there is growing concern as Father’s health declines. Join me as we step properly into the diaries — where hardship, humour, and qu...

My Mother’s Diaries – The Hiltonbury Farming Family Story In 1948 my mother "Peggy" Vining a Farmers wife and Mother, at the time of four Children started life at Hiltonbury Farm Chandlers Ford in Hampshire, Southern England just six Miles West of Southampton. Mother started writing a daily diary in January 1948 and they continued until she passed away in 1994 These entries give a quiet,...