Country diary: A wild morning at the ploughing match | Rev Simon Lockett

Wye Valley, Herefordshire: There's a sense of deep history to events like this, where mesmerising horses and precision ploughing fall under the judges' eyeWhile Storm Amy whiplashes the trees, a sense of calm at the 181st Wormside Annual Ploughing Match. The fields are gently busy with horses and tractors, working at a steady pace, all competing in categories from hand-trip reversible ploughing and two-wheeled garden tractors to a fascinating heritage technique called the high-cut method. Entrants come from near and far, including Cornwall and the Isle of Sheppey in Kent (a 4am start for them).I watch the high-cut contest. This method of ploughing was developed in the mid 1800s to prevent seeds being scavenged by birds, back when seed was broadcast by hand. The tractor creates a deep groove, with the furrows looking like wedges of cheese. Metal boats drag behind, polishing the sides so the seed falls in the furrow; the farmer then returns to bury the seed with a harrow or a horse pulling a bush. Continue reading...