ABSTRACT
Today, living in a comfortable modernized cottage within a few miles of the Welsh border, in one of the most beautiful areas of England, it would be easy to romanticize about the life of rural women in the West; to overlook the loneliness and depression; to forget the sheer physical hardship of living without electricity or a piped water supply. However, I well remember, less than thirty years ago, pumping water, carrying buckets, doing everything by hand. The isolated farm cottage had no running water, no electricity, and open fires which constantly needed replenishing. Life in the country can be very hard. Sara Delamont (1980: 132) identified seven themes of rural life, the first being 'the unremitting domestic toil' and the second 'the importance of agricultural work' which meant rural women often had to shoulder an additional burden outside the home. Furthermore, many farmers' wives were expected to make a significant contribution to the household budget by selling eggs and poultry.
