The Walnut Tree novel, by Caroline Wedd, lends a voice to the current 'milk price crisis' in the farming industry. Farmers have been in touch with Wedd with words of thanks:
"You've captured the essence of life on the farm perfectly - now everyone can see the tough, yet rewarding work that we do every single day - come rain or shine!" Right now, farmers are protesting in supermarkets, blocking roads with tractors and petitioning for help from the Government and large corporations. The storyline in The Walnut Tree, set on a farm and within a farming community, offers a vivid insight into the country way of life, the hardship and toil.
Within the novel, the protagonist Carrie (an aspiring journalist) spends her weekends understanding the intricacies of farming life. An article that she writes very poignantly connects the Women's Land Army with the 'milk price crisis' we see today:
‘The Land Army fights in the fields. It is in the fields of Britain that the most critical battle of the present war may well be fought and won" Lady Denman, Director of the Women's Land Army during the Second World War.
Wedd, who grew up on a small dairy farm near Burton on Trent in South Derbyshire, drew on real-life experience to write The Walnut Tree; she then added a storyline with fictional characters from a dream she had 19 years ago and made the book a reality. The images in this email were taken on Wedd's farm as she was growing up. The friesian cow above was Wedd's favourite, called Marcia.
"My farmers were wonderful farmers. Hard working and kind to their animals.
Not all farmers are bad farmers, you know.
You shouldn't believe everything you read in the papers!' she laughed."
