Country Life
Romecrofts Again
The annals of The Spectator are concerned with a new devel- opment in rural activity. In 1926 under the encouragement
of Mr. St. Loe Strachey, Mr. Scott, a professor of philosophy at Cardiff University, set on foot a scheme which he called by the attractive name of homecrofting. The central idea of it was production for sustenance and not for sales. Ten cot- tages were built on five acres near Cheltenham, and are occupied by men who have non-rural jobs in the neighbour- hood. These homecrofts have been a success on the whole, and the homecrofters lay special emphasis on the pleasure of providing themselves with abundance of fresh vegetables.
Both their health and their pockets are benefited. A second scheme is now in being on another five acres. The crofts on this plot are communal rather than individual, and a great many outside helpers, including schoolboys and professors, have spent part of their spare time in cultivating the land. The emphasis here is rather on the value of the camp as an agent in rural reconstruction, or, if one may use so ugly a word, de-urbanization. The idea appears to have a good deal in common with the Grith Fyrd camps, a scheme of which the public ought to hear more. It has wide possibilities.
Social reformers owe both to Mr. Scott and to the originators of Grith Fyrd a debt of gratitude for their pioneer work.
They cannot, of course, compare with the allotment scheme of the Friends in scope, but the ideas are valuable out of all proportion to the number of people at present benefited.
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