Photo by Martin Johns
Bernard Ellis
Although not born in the village Bernard is a long-time resident having moved when his father took on the farm at Hickling Hall in the early 1960’s. Since taking over from his father Bernard has run the farm, greatly increasing its acreage and overseeing the advent of mechanisation and the production of crops for some of the major food suppliers in Britain.
Bernard brings to life the rigours of work on the farm and tells of the sprout harvest, from the pickers in the field through to the trimmers in the shed (including Joan Greenacre – another of our “Voices”).
We are also given an insight into life at Hickling Hall – from the cold and vastness that Bernard experienced in his childhood years through to a graphic account of the fire which destroyed vast areas of the property on Boxing Day 2014 – “The worst day of my life” Bernard recalls. Subsequently we are told of the refurbishment and re-building of Hickling Hall.
