BBC Domesday 1986 entries for Fairseat and Stansted areas

In 1986 the BBC launched an ambitious project to record a snapshot of everyday life across the UK for future generations. A million volunteers took part. In 2011 the BBC published the survey online and for six months invited updates to the photographs and text to celebrate the 25th anniversary. Shortly afterwards the website was added to The National Archives’ UK Government Web Archive.

You can find the Stansted block here.

I found this photograph of the Black Horse there, taken before the pub was painted white.

The Fairseat block is here.

From there I picked up this nice little description of Woodbine Farm in 1986.

Woodbine Farm,which is owned by Mr. Frank King, is situated in the small village of Fairseat. The farm is fairly small,about 28 acres in size. Some of the land is rented to another farmer for grazing. The rest of the land is used to grow most types of soft fruit,including a few white currants which is rather unusual.

Most of the fruit is picked by the customer, (this makes it much less expensive,) although Mr King employs some casual labour in the picking season. The customers are mainly local coming from the nearby villages of Culverstone and Vigo.

             
Mr King works the farm himself with the help of two ladies who work part time throughout the year. At one time most of the villagers worked on local farms but nowadays with modern farming methods far fewer do.