Now just under ¾ of the way through my internship at Sacrewell and I have catalogued about 3 times the number of objects I originally aimed for.
The project is progressing rapidly and I am really enjoying working at such a fast pace. Every time I finish cataloguing the machinery in one barn then I feel a sense of achievement, but am a bit lost. I end up scraping the bottom of the barrel searching for useful tasks to do (pun intended, we have a lot of barrels). Just when I am getting bored of double checking manufacturer’s names or re-taking photographs in better lighting… then someone tells me there is a hidden pile of objects over there! I spring into action, camera in one hand and a pair of work gloves in the other. What originally appears like a mass of tangled wood and metal deconstructs into 3 mangles, 3 washing machines, 3 grind stones, a steelyard, a chaff cutter and a cake breaker. Please don’t make the same mistake I did and think a cake breaker belongs in the Great British Bake Off tent. It is for breaking up oil cakes, made from the pulp left after the extraction of oil from plant seeds, into small pieces to be fed to livestock. Not to be presented to Mary Berry.
As it stands, I have catalogued 566 entries into my database. However some of them hold up to 24 objects in 1 entry, because who feels the need to individually label 24 identical wooden wheel spokes. Not me. I am far too busy finding new and exciting machinery! Which leads me to the latest discovery…
Sacrewell is a 550 acre farm, 500 acres of which is rented to Riverford Organic Farmers. I had heard rumours that one of the barns on their site contained some more farm machinery along with 3 double-decker vintage buses. Having investigated on Friday afternoon, I can confirm it contains A LOT. Probably as much as I have found on the rest of the farm put together. So with just over 1 week of my internship to go, I say ‘bring it on!’
To conclude, the project is going brilliantly and I am having way too much fun!
https://www.riverford.co.uk/pet