Fell Gather — Commons Stories — Foundation for Common Land

Commons Stories

Commons Stories is a collection of stories from four upland common regions across England: Dartmoor, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District and the Shropshire Hills.

You’ll find written and photographic portraits of people, short videos, audio clips, and reflections on events through the year, as well as reflections on some of the challenges of building sustainable futures for people and landscape in these special places.

The collection is put together by somewhere nowhere duo, writer Harriet Fraser and photographer Rob Fraser, with contributions from commoners using GoPro cameras to capture snippets of their day-to-day lives on the farm and in the hills.

Video Diary - Lizzie Weir, gathering on Kinniside

A shepherd’s eye view while gathering sheep in from Kinniside Common in Cumbria’s Lake District. Join Lizzie Weir as she looks for and coaxes sheep away from the common and back to the home farm for sorting.

Video, Lake DistrictHarriet Rob FraserSeptember 16, 2022Fell Gather, Gathering Sheep, Kinniside Common

Listen in : Gathering on Kinniside Common

Listen to Sam Rawling describing the process of gathering sheep in from Kinniside Common, down to the River Calder, in July 2022. Commoners work together to bring in the sheep so they can be sheared. The recording is shared with a selection of images from the day, as the sheep are brought into the pens, and sorted.

Lake District, VideoHarriet Rob FraserJuly 23, 2022Herdwick Sheep, Sheep Gather, Fell Gather, Ennerdale

Commons Stories

Exhibition: Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes, Yorkshire

April 19 - September 8th, 2024

The Foundation's core activity is supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation with project funding from additional sources.