A song
Do you know where we go from here?
Farming on Exmoor.
Do you know where we go from here
Where will It end?
Do you know where we go from here
Do we sell up now, or stay and fear the worst
Will the walls, will they crumble and tear?
Do you know where it all began?
Our little family clan.
Do you know where it all began?
In the tenth century
We sailed from Frances shores
To start a life on English moors,
And that was nigh, a thousand years ago.
Do you know where we went from there?
From Porlock Bay to America.
Do you know where we went from there
What did we do?
We spread over Exmoor,
Some were rich, and others poor.
But our little branch, we lived off the land.
For four hundred years or more
We’ve farmed this place upon the moor.
For four hundred years or more
We’ve prospered and thrived-
But our barns have single cattle stalls,
Our yards too small for modern tools,
After eight generations is it time for a change?
Do we sell to the city man?
Money rich, tradition none
Do we sell to the city man
And stand back to see,
Do we sell to the city man
As he brings in the workers and
Stone by stone he destroys every barn.
Do we stay here and struggle on?
With the old ways of farming gone
Do we stay here and struggle on?
Just because it’s our heritage.
Do we stay here and struggle on
Maybe convert to a tourist home.
I wonder, what would Grandfather say to us then?
So do you know where we go from here?
Farming on Exmoor.
Do you know where we go from here
I thi the end-
Of a deep rooted family
With no sons left, the name will flee,
And wither away into part of history.
sung to Benjamin Bowmaneer
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