011. A Radical History of the Commons (with Katrina Navickas)
"The law locks up the man or woman who steals the goose from off the common / But leaves the greater villain loose: who steals the common from the goose."In this episode, Joe and Ollie speak with Professor Katrina Navickas (University of Hertfordshire) about the history of the commons: the shared resources that communities depended upon for their livelihoods. Learn about the historical processes that encroached upon the commons, and the public resistance to get those resources back.Katrina's next book, Contested Commons: A History of Protest and Public Space in England, is published by Reaktion Books this autumn.Lantern Slides of the Open Spaces SocietyUntitled Goose Game---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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010. Flying Your Drone Through a Michelin-Starred Polytunnel (with Amy Bateman)
Modern farming is full of digital technology. Nobody knows this better than Amy Bateman, a prize-winning photographer and sheep farmer who uses digital tech in both lines of work (even using the same kit to take photos and to run the farm).In this episode, Joe and Ollie continue chatting with Amy about technology and diversification on modern farms: from tech's opportunities for developing farms and improving farmers' lives, to the risks and challenges that technology presents to rural communities.Links:Amy Bateman wins photography award for lamb photo: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cumbria-47091514360-degrees VR shepherding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-913nvaQMRU&feature=youtu.beForty Farms video: https://youtu.be/oOlzZWg58SY---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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009. Forty Farms (with Amy Bateman)
In 2020, award-winning photographer and sheep farmer Amy Bateman set out to document the stories of forty farms in Cumbria. From Lake District hill farms, to the Solway marshes. Amy's photographs present a captivating picture (literally!) of Cumbrian farming in a period of profound societal and technological change. We've been fortunate enough to display them in our 2025 exhibition, Forty Farms, based on Amy's gorgeous book of the same name.In this episode, Joe and Ollie chat with Amy about her work and perspective as a farmer and photographer. What motivated Amy to create Forty Farms? What did she learn from the project? And as myriad challenges continue to impact English farmers, where are those forty farms five years later?Links:Forty Farms: https://amybatemanphotography.com/forty-farms/A Landscape for All: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXMrTTifpw8The Wanderlust Women: https://www.thewanderlustwomen.co.uk/--Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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008. The Art of Dog Poo Posters (with Man in the Woods)
Man in the Woods makes art about parts of rural England that you wouldn’t normally think about – and definitely wouldn’t find in Wordsworth. From hastily-printed dog poo posters, to portraits of massive cows framed in pubs.In this episode, Joe and Ollie continue last week’s conversation with Man in the Woods. We discuss his artistic career, his interests, and the modern history of people interpreting and distilling the rural world.Links:AniMERL Crossing: A Gallery of SmocksMan in the Woods (Instagram)🐑🐑🐑Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
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007. We Were All Rural Once (with Man in the Woods)
Seven years ago on a Friday, artist Scott (best-known on social media as Man in the Woods) set off for a walk to no particular destination. The next Friday, he started a new walk where the previous week's ended. He's been doing that every Friday ever since, documenting his travels on social media while producing beautiful artworks that reflect his finds and the connections he builds to where he explores.In this episode, Joe and Ollie speak with Man in the Woods about what inspired the Friday walks, where it's taken him, and how exploring England's rural landscapes has helped him reimagine his relationship with English cultural identity. Topics range from psychogeography and rural flaneurs, to pubs, Peckham, and the pooing pigeon that now represents London Museum.View images that accompany this episode on our website: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2025/07/the-friday-walks-with-man-in-the-woods/---Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible through the generous support of Arts Council England and Museums Partnership Reading, a partnership of The MERL with Reading Museum. Themetune by Tai Dawson. Co-hosts: Ollie Douglas and Joe VaughanProducer: Joe Vaughan Shop MERL merch: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html Support the pod: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/donate/
The Museum of English Rural Life podcast. We're exploring the fascinating, surprising, and moving backstories of our collections, to tell the story of the English countryside.
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