Another hot summer's day for our visit to Rugbourne Farm

It was another scorching hot day for our recent pilgrimage to Rugbourne Farm near Bath with the EuCAN Somerset Volunteers. Our friends Andy and Zanna invite us over every year to help them cut and rake off their wildflower meadow. Considering the heat, we didn’t think we would complete the job but managed to in the end – must have been due to the extra energy from those Magnum icecreams that did it!

Rugbourne Farm was called ‘the cradle of English Geology’ by ‘The Father of English Geology’, William Smith, when he lodged here 1791-5 and began his stratological map of England. The owners have saved the house from imminent collapse (it was on the ‘At Risk’ register of SPAB). The farm itself is only 12 acres and was runner-up in the John Hughes Memorial Trophy (FWAG), which was a great achievement as the winner was a ‘real’ farm of 400 acres. There us a copy of Smith’s early geological map of the area in the hall.

Many thanks to everyone who took part!