C U LTUR E
The Hawthorn Sings
in Smeale Words Suzy Holland Illustration: Carola Colley
I wouldn’t mind betting half the Island has never been to Smeale. There’s no church, no pub, no shop and although there is a beach even the hardiest swimmers talk about the rip tide. But what Smeale does have is abundant farming land in what is colloquially known as the golden triangle, experiencing the best weather on the Island.
A
nd deep in Smeale is Smeale Farm, owned and run for generations by the Martin family. Beth, who grew up on a dairy farm, and studied agriculture at Bangor University, swore she’d never marry a farmer. How wrong she was! Steve Martin and his brother Chris manage Smeale Farm as sustainably as possible, and with wildlife conservation in mind. And it is this which has inspired Beth to write the stories and vignettes which make
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up her book ‘Song of the Hawthorn’. In the early days of the pandemic, when farming continued but their holiday cottages were closed to visitors, Beth began to write down the short stories which, she says, had been wafting around her head partially formed, “like a teasing perfume I couldn’t pin down”. “Covid meant our lives were quieter, and we felt more isolated, but the natural world doesn’t work like that!” says Beth. “The hawthorn continues to sing, the hens continue to lay, worms turn the earth and so on and so forth. And so it was with my writing: once I’d started, I couldn’t stop and two years later, with the help and support of family, friends and the Island’s creative writing community ‘Song of the Hawthorn’ was published.”
LIFE & ST YLE IN THE ISLE OF MAN
