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Jean Mundy, Land Girl.
I set forth on my first trip away from home on the fourth of October 1944 from Leeds city station. My father saw me off and my destination was Exeter, changing at Bristol. I was very apprehensive about the whole journey, never having travelled alone before. Finally I arrived and a Land Army person was there to shepherd us into some transport to take us to Whiteways Cider Farm, which was our home for one month's training. It was at a place called Whimple in Devon and we lived in a hostel. We received a uniform, shirts, overalls, breeches, greatcoat, hat, shoes and Wellington boots.
We were then shown all the different parts of farming. It was a mixed farm, cows, pigs (300), and of course we had a big dairy. We worked in groups on a different section each week. When you were on pigs, which had to be cleaned out and fed before breakfast, no one would sit near you because of the smell. Before they let us loose on the dairy cows we had to train on a rubber udder, which was a laugh. We were taught how to record all the milk a cow gave and, of course, it went through several filters before it went into churns and off to the large dairy.
We didn't get a lot of free time. The girls were from all over the place. One girl I made friends with called Maira, she was Welsh. We were taken one night to a dance at a camp. They were Canadians and a lot of them were wounded. One week we were asked if we would go apple picking. We all thought this would be a good job. Not so - it was very hard work picking them up off the frozen ground. They sent us out with what seemed like old blokes to us. At lunchtime they all had big jars of scrumpy cider, the rough stuff and very strong.
Then it was time to go out to different farms. I was sent to a place called Ladrum Bay, very lonely it was, right on the coast. I didn't last long. They hardly spoke to me and the cooking was pretty awful. The farmer's wife was a Londoner. The rice pudding I remember very well -it took three days to cook. So when I got a day off I left and went back to Exeter. I expected to get really told off, but it wasn't so bad. It was getting near Christmas and one of the farmers at Ottery St Mary's needed a land girl while their girl went on leave. They were called Potter and they were really lovely people. I slept in a feather bed before duvets (very comfortable). The food was great. We did so much work before breakfast; we milked and then I used to deliver milk with one of those bikes with a big basket on the front. I had one disaster, spilling the milk before I got the hang of it.
I spent that Christmas with them and I hung up my stocking and got all sorts of bits and pieces plus a ten-shilling note. Mr and Mrs Potter were lovely people and when I got moved to a permanent farm, I still used to cycle over to see them. I used to write to them for years after I left the Land Army. Mr Potter died first, but I wrote to Mrs Potter until she was over ninety years old.
Before I was taken to my next farm I had to go to Headquarters in Exeter. They told me I was going to the Barry's at Ten Acres on West Hill, Ottery St Marys. I was told I was only to do farm work, no housework. They felt they were just a small place and as their daughter had to go to the Admiralty at Bath, they thought Mrs Barry might be after a cheap servant. This was not the case but they used to call to make sure. Mrs Barry never asked me to do any housework, but I did use to help as they were so kind to me. I learnt so many things, skinning rabbits, killing ducks and chickens and preparing them for the table. We didn't get much meat ration so I used to get sent to the gamekeeper for pigeons etc.
Theirs was a lovely house. Mr Barry had had it built with about 16 acres of land They had beautiful Jersey cows, a pet lamb, a horse, chickens, ducks and cats that slept outside, and a lovely English Setter called Dina. She was also kept outside. Mr and Mrs Barry had decided to retire fairly young and then decided they would like to farm. They worked very hard. They had built most of the outside buildings themselves.
This was where I really got to know about farming.
The Barry's always used to show me how to do things like lifting sacks of feed without damaging myself. I used to milk but some of the cows were quite temperamental. They used to hold the milk if you didn't do it right, so it was a while before I could milk all of them. They didn't have a bull, but used artificial insemination, which was very modern in those days. The herd was a pedigree one, so we used to get all the semen from another pedigree herd. This used to come in big thermos flasks by train so it was all a matter of timing and, of course, the vet with me as his assistant holding the cow's tail. Then a wait, to make sure it was all OK. The first calf I saw born, I sat up all night. I was very thrilled it was so beautiful.
A good job was sawing logs. Two used to work the bow saw; it kept you nice and warm on winter days we used the wood for the fire.
I was one of the lucky ones in the war. The air raids were never near where I was and we never went short of food. Plus nobody I knew was killed in the war. I was always glad I went away from home. It showed me how the other half lived.