The Strettons Podcast

it's been a long 18 months of producing an episode every Tuesday and we're feeling worn out from the effort. Sian and Pete look back over their time producing The Strettons Podcast, their favourite episodes and the people who will stick it their minds. Thanks for your support and encouragement and thanks for talking to us when we approach you in the street, in the hills and on the farms. You have helped make this podcast an important archive for rural South Shropshire. We've had fun but now we need a rest! It will remain here so you can re-listen to any of the episodes. You can still buy us a beer or a coffee if you see us around town!

Tony Madeley reflects on three generations of farming history, from his grandfather’s struggles in the 1930s to the gradual building of a livelihood at Eaton Manor. What emerges is not just a story of agriculture, but of resilience, risk, and the long view, where decisions made with caution and care slowly take root over time.

Jim Davies reflects on a lifetime in farming, from rebuilding Blackhurst Farm from dereliction to adapting through decades of change. With humour and honesty, he shares stories of family, hardship, and resilience, alongside memories of horses and travel, offering a grounded perspective on rural life and what matters most after nearly ninety years.

Mark shares a life shaped by farming roots, family, and hard work, from milking cows by hand as a child to running a rural taxi business. He reflects on loss, including a fire that destroyed treasured vintage tractors, and the realities of modern rural life. With humour and honesty, he talks about family, local life, and looking ahead to a slower pace.

This week we’ve been back up the hill to Picklescott where we’ve caught up with Nigel Morris, a third generation farmer at Wilrack Farm. Nigel tells us what it was like to grow up in a small village on top of a hill and what passed for entertainment for him and his friends. We talk about the challenge of early starts and the importance of resilience in order to overcome the challenges of low milk prices and what the future of dairy farming might look like.

We have a bit of a laugh with the kids who will eventually become the custodians of this land we love. We’re back at the food bank in the Parish Centre to learn how the situation has changed over the last year. Then it’s the Gardening Club Show in the Silvester Horne Institute where we speak to exhibitors and visitors and we finish off this week, where we will all end up - in a cemetery but it’s a popular green burial remembrance park near Rushbury.Timings Next gen farmers  02:03Food bank 09:37Gardening Club show 15:14Green burials 22:14

Stuart Wright is known to everyone in town as the owner of Wrights Estate Agency. He talks to Sian about how the family ended up in Church Stretton, the shops and people who were around then and about the time he went on a school trip to the Welsh coast which ended in disaster.

We have been back to see Matt Johnson at Hazler Farm to hear how lambing has gone this year and what’s next in the farming calendar. And there’s some Victorian farming going on at Acton Scott Heritage Farm where visitors dance around a May pole like something you’d see in a jigsaw of times gone by! Church Stretton accordion band provide the music and the shire horses provide the raw material, and and then carry it, for the other big event on the Victorian Farm - muck spreading.Timings Acton Scott Heritage Farm  00:48The cake walk at Eaton church 07:10Th end of lambing 14:48

Keith Morris is well-known in the area as the undertaker. He tells us about growing up in Church Stretton, memorable moments with a burning hearse and the brotherhood of undertakers.