A Day in the Hayfields

Midsummer haymaking larks

Nothing says midsummer like haymaking - a charming glimpse at the harvest in a time before tractors.

Enchantingly beautiful, Cecil Hepworth's modest interest film captures the essence of an English midsummer and the hay harvest in a time before tractors. Probably filmed in the ancient water meadows of the Thames, somewhere near Hepworth's studio at Walton, it shows men cutting hay using a horse-powered reaper. Less productive but certainly charming are the local babies and toddlers playing in the cut grass.