Market gardeners worked hard, often 6 days a week, to make enough money from growing fruit and vegetables to look after their families. Most of the people in charge of market gardens were men, but they didn’t work alone.
Find out below about some of the other people who helped to make market gardening possible.
Letters from the past
In April 1933, school children in Pershore and Badsey were asked to write about their lives and the area’s market gardening. Scroll through sections of these below, or read some of the Pershore letters in full.
The handwriting is very neat but not always easy to read! Some letters of the alphabet look a bit different to how we write them, so use the typed copy to work them out.
Local memories
Here are Karen, Francis, Reg and Bob’s memories of growing up – listen out for what they got up to and which parts they enjoyed or disliked.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, Karen spent her childhood weekends and holidays helping out on the land. She helped with lots of different tasks, even driving the tractor and, in this clip, selling strawberries.
Jane’s father was also a market gardener, whilst Joan’s family ran a shop. It was not just the children of market gardeners who helped during busy harvest times – Joan remembers collecting potatoes with her school class during the 1940s.
Old photos & records
Whilst most market gardeners were men, some women did run their own market gardens. Many women also helped their families to plant, pick and pack crops alongside running a house and caring for children, but there are few written records of their work.
However, there are photographs and the wage records kept by Oxstalls Farm in Evesham, a large market garden, do tells us a bit about the women who worked for them during the busy harvest season.
Use the side arrows to move left or right.
Click on the link below to see larger, easier to read copies:
Not everyone who worked in market gardening grew up locally. Travelling workers would arrive in the area at harvest time, when extra help was needed, and some growers moved to the Vale of Evesham from elsewhere in Britain or another country. For example, several Italian families moved here after World War II and set up large market gardens.
There are very few records of Gypsy and Traveller communities working on market gardens, even though many larger market gardens relied on their help at harvest time. Groups of families would stay in the Vale of Evesham for several weeks picking plums in the summer or sprouts in the winter, then move on to the next place where there was work.
Explore the records and old photos below by clicking on the side arrows to move left or right.
