Commons Stories
Commons Stories is a collection of stories from four upland common regions across England: Dartmoor, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District and the Shropshire Hills.
You’ll find written and photographic portraits of people, short videos, audio clips, and reflections on events through the year, as well as reflections on some of the challenges of building sustainable futures for people and landscape in these special places.
The collection is put together by somewhere nowhere duo, writer Harriet Fraser and photographer Rob Fraser, with contributions from commoners using GoPro cameras to capture snippets of their day-to-day lives on the farm and in the hills.
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Dartmoor Hill Ponies and the Pony Drift
During a Dartmoor pony drift commoners work together to round up the ponies from the moors, and urge them down to the farmyard to be sorted. It’s fast, and vast areas are covered. When we joined for the day, we also learnt about the heritage of ponies, and some of the farmers’ thoughts about the future for ponies on Dartmoor.
Graham Goddard: Walkhampton Common
Graham Goddard is a Dartmoor Commoner, and grazes Dartmoor Ponies on Walkhampton Common. In this piece he shares his thoughts on commons, ponies, government policies around upland farming, and what it’s like to be chair of the commoners association.
