Minningdale tunnel.

 

Minningdale Tunnel, oil on canvas board, 14x10 inch

Minningdale Tunnel

I was here with a Canadian visitor recently and am here again with F and L.

The enormous stack of bales fifty metres long and 10 metres tall is still standing, a seasonal monument reflecting both farming industry and expertise. Indeed it has been referred to as ‘industrial’ in scale. 

Here is a view looking back from the stack, along the road which leads to Warter, passing Minningdale Farm. The belt of trees on the right envelopes the farm complex with a protective shield. Soon it will change as autumn gives way to winter. The leaves will turn gold and rust changing the scene completely, reminding me to visit again to paint again. As I painted this view, George at my feet, I was standing on a roadside verge. Indeed my fellow artist and her dog were doing the same at the other side of the road, their subject being umbels and the huge stack. I concentrated on the painting, the road disappearing into a small bright light as it emerged from the tree tunnel. Passing close to me, at regular intervals were huge Stewart trailers ferrying harvested grain back and forth. Their tyres were enormous and I noted they had three axles which automatically made me think twenty one tons. As well as these, which were racing to take advantage of the good weather, I saw a familiar sight. Another skeletal trailer designed as a bale chaser zoomed by and I waved to the driver. We had chatted recently when I had painted the ‘stack’. Indeed he had built it and confirmed it was the longest in the area, and that the height was the maximum that could be built with the trailer.

I enjoy the brief interactions with the farmers, a nod, a smile which says so much about mutual respect. I certainly appreciate the hard job they all have at this time of harvest. We all decide to stop painting and head off home where we both work late into the failing light, on an allotment, our version of seasonal endeavour though on a somewhat smaller scale.

Available from my online store.

Video here showing two bale chasers building a stack 6 bales high by approx. 56 bales long

https://youtu.be/dMWJvxgHtmw?si=pPSlhlnqyZwwlwNM

The huge stack detail from larger painting