By Robert Ashton

UPDATE: Spring 2024

This book is being launched at a special event on Sunday 7th April at Blaxhall Village Hall where Robert is also hoping to have a Blue Plaque unveiling recognising George Ewart Evans. Be part of this Blue Plaque appeal: You can support the campaign here

Pre-order your copy from Amazon here. Or better still, come and meet Robert at the Traditional Song Forum’s Spring Conference on Saturday 6th April at Stowmarket Scout Centre

A lifelong fascination with the work of Suffolk oral historian George Ewart Evans, who lived at Blaxhall in the early 1950s and collected the stories his neighbours told him of how rural life was before the First World War, prompted Suffolk author Robert Ashton to write his own book about how rural life is evolving today.

Where are the Fellows who Cut the Hay, takes stories from 12 of Evans’s books about rural life, adds Robert’s own experience of growing up a few miles from Blaxhall, where Evans wrote Ask the Fellows who Cut the Hay, the book for which he is best remembered, and introduces people bringing back, or keeping old ways alive. Robert interviewed descendants of Robert and Priscilla Savage, about whom Evans wrote in several of his books, and also met one of the people helping to keep Blaxhall’s folk singing tradition alive.

Where are the Fellows who Cut the Hay is being published by Unbound, who are crowdfunding a hardback first edition. The book is currently 96% funded, so will shortly go into production, but there’s still time to pre-order your copy here. We’ve negotiated a 10% discount for you; just add the promo code BLAXHALL at the checkout.

Happy reading!

‘I was born in Essex, raised in Suffolk and have lived and worked in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Norfolk. Now I am returning to Leiston, the town where I had my first shave, owned my first car, and met then married Belinda, who has been my wife now for more than 40 years. Belinda’s family farmed in this part of Suffolk for generations and for as long as I can remember, it has always felt like home’.

Added March 2023