Haymaking The Traditional Way

Haymaking in the valley below the guesthouse

Last year’s hay stack and this year’s hay

It was the height of haymaking last week and nowhere in the mountains did we see any sign of mechanisation.  Even in the valleys, where there was the occasional tractor, it seemed that scything by hand was still the preferred method.  Whole families set to, cutting, turning, piling the horse-drawn carts impossibly high with fragrant hay, and then stacking it into conical haystacks.  At the beginning and end of the day murderously sharp scythes were casually slung over shoulders as the families made their way to and from the meadows.

Not sure what Health & Safety would think of this boy and his scythe