The Ground Beneath Our Feet

An exploration of what it means to work as a farmer and be part of a farming community.

About the work

Taking place between 19th August 2024 & 28th February 2025, The Ground Beneath Our Feet developed in four stages. Between August & December we undertook discussions and interviews to gain a greater understanding of farming life.

These then inspired writing and devised theatre workshops over the winter and provided a springboard for family friendly workshops in February. Lastly, the results of the project have begun to be turned into scripts for seven short films which we hope to produce at a future date.

How we made it

We spoke with individuals from the farming community and collaborated with ‘We Are Farming Minds’, attending their ‘One Foot in the Grain’events to interview larger numbers of older farmers.

After anonymising the interviews, we took some of them to a series of writing workshops held at The Courtyard to inspire potential stories. These were then used in devised theatre workshops that were held at The Courtyard, Hereford Sixth Form College and at Hereford Cathedral School.

Some of the words, phrases and metaphors were then used as inspiration for painting workshops held over the school holidays for families across Herefordshire, concluding in a planting of spring bulbs at the workshop sites.

Finally, the work produced across the project inspired the creation of seven short film scripts which we plan to develop, reflecting the realities of farming life, speaking to those both in and outside of farming communities.

Watch a preview of how the films will look.

The project was created in collaboration with The Courtyard, Hereford and We Are Farming Minds and it was supported by Herefordshire Council.

Events

Stage 1:

September 2024 - February 2025

Cast/ crew

Producer & Writer: Estelle van Warmelo

Workshop leader & Writer: Ant Stones

Workshop leader & Assistant Producer: Mina Nakamura

Assistant Producer & Writer: Jordan-Alicia Todd