Country diary: the first farmers did not go in for squared-off plots

Chew Valley, Somerset: These unruly fields are what we call 'ancient countryside' and its pattern may go back to neolithic times

When we first visited Folly Farm some 30 years ago this 250-acre plot was up for sale. Gates were hanging from their hinges, the hedges were rampant and the pastures were waist-deep in flowers; the 20th century did not appear to have happened yet, nor even the 19th.

These unruly fields were carved from the land, not drawn by a ruler - the first farmers did not go in for squared-off corners as they hacked into the wildwood. The landscape historian Oliver Rackham called this "ancient countryside" (as opposed to the regular fields of "planned countryside" formed by the enclosures) and its pattern may go back as far as the neolithic period.