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 Online shop: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
--------
34:58
--------
34:58
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 Online shop: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
--------
42:03
--------
42:03
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 Online shop: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
--------
42:20
--------
42:20
006. The Meaning of Pigs (with Dolly Jørgensen)
Content warning: This episode contains references to animal slaughter, antisemitism, and injury to children. Listener discretion is advised.Joe and Ollie continue their deep-dive into the history of pigs with Professor Dolly Jørgensen (University of Stavanger, Norway). This time, we explore the symbolism of pigs: from their significance in our myths and religious texts, to their use as a foil for thinking through what it is to be human.Delve deeper into Dolly's work in her book, The Medieval Pig: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837651689/the-medieval-pig/See visuals from our discussion with Dolly in Dolly's Bluesky thread: https://bsky.app/profile/dollyjorgensen.bsky.social/post/3lsjukzwkzk2sThis episode contains audio from Epidemic Sound.--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 Online shop: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
--------
38:03
--------
38:03
005. Medieval Pigs (with Dolly Jørgensen)
Content warning: This episode contains references to animal slaughter and blood. Listener discretion is advised.In medieval England, all roads led to pigs. They lived side-by-side with humans, and were a common sight in daily life.In this episode, Ollie and Joe speak to historian Dolly Jørgensen (Professor of History at University of Stavanger, Norway) about what it was like to live with pigs in medieval England: from pigs' place in homes and food systems, to the challenges required to maintain pig populations.We'll be following up with Dolly in two weeks' time for another episode, exploring the symbolism of pigs, and what they have represented historically and today.Delve deeper into Dolly's work in her most recent book, The Medieval Pig: https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837651689/the-medieval-pig/See visuals from our discussion in Dolly's Bluesky thread: https://bsky.app/profile/dollyjorgensen.bsky.social/post/3lsjukzwkzk2sThis podcast contains audio from Epidemic Sound, plus freesound_community via Pixabay.---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 Online shop: https://merl-shop.co.uk/shop/absolute-unit.html
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.
UK