“They say a storm in summer clears the air and leaves the world peaceful. But there are some storms that stir the world so about, that when they have passed, things can never be set back quite as they were.”

– Adult Laura Timmins, Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson
Source: “Lark Rise to Candleford Quotes.” Quotes.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 30 May 2021. https://www.quotes.net/movies/lark_rise_to_candleford_quotes_104082

This was possibly my third or fourth viewing of the ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’  BBC series.  And what a joy it was to be transported far from the woes and complexities of this modern life, pandemics, and on and on it goes. 

I found myself absorbed in the stories and lives of the people of Lark Rise and Candleford.  The simple hamlet folk of Lark Rise live in close-knit families, work hard on the land, struggle to make ends meet, and live rough and raw, but they are kind, resilient, and unafraid to live the life they have. 

The more well-to-do Candleford citizens however, indulge in food and fashions, gossip, grand aspirations, titter and tattle from (and about) the hilarious and haughty Pratt sisters, their esteemed and wealthy (but friendly) squire, and all the goings on revolving around their Post Office and its beloved but strong-headed postmistress, Dorcas Lane.

We are taken on quite the journey…

Flora Thompson’s story is based a real place dear to her heart (see video below).  The characters in the series have their losses, regrets, hurts, broken moments, and quarrels, but they face them with grit and truth.  They apologise then forgive (rinse and repeat these), or find ways to move through their lives and issues with a grace I feel is rare if not altogether lost to us today.  They are big and bold-hearted people, hearty, passionate, and unafraid.  At least for a while, I can completely lose myself in their world and emerge with deeper lessons for my own time and life.  I laugh with them.  I cry with them.  I am moved by their humanity and crave for their simplicity.  If I could have dived into the television screen to be there, I would.

No community is perfect, whether city or rural – people will be people with all of their usual foibles, fumbles, and failings, but we all need a solid foundation, or at least a log to hang on to when we feel tossed about in the stormy seas of life.  That log is community and companionship.  This series teaches that we need to care about each other through the ups and downs, and that it takes a spirit of love and persistence, even if we are tired to the bone.  It is about being a community of people who are prepared to get involved, put up with the messiness, love hard, forgive, cry, laugh, dance, and know who we truly are. 

Community is about knowing why we are here and fighting for what is right no matter if a person is poor or rich, what is happening in the wider world, or what society may think of us.  It is about being and building people of character, virtue, hope, justice, and uprightness.  These things are not old-fashioned – they never were out of style – it is us who have changed.  Being vulnerable and humble is not a flaw.  It means knowing the difference between right and wrong and being brave enough to admit that something needs fixing, especially if that ‘something’ is ourselves.

People come and go.  Decades pass us by.  Change is inevitable.  Those little chocolate box places and country ways may be or feel lost to us.  And yet, how the people of those times lived need to come back to us today.  We need to remember and treasure those old ways of profound love, respect, humility, hard work, and courage to live from the soul.  We cannot trust in science, technology, and ‘progress’ to advance or to save us.  Politicians will fail us.  Technology breaks down.  We are not robots but flesh and blood.

We must return to being human beings who can actually be human again.  To feel for each other, to love the environment, be still, enjoy true friendships, have faith, family, and something to believe in and work for.  We must love the simple things like tending to a garden patch, noticing the wounds and needs of our neighbours, keeping bees, sitting down for a cuppa and a chat with someone next door, baking, telling stories, reading, journaling, taking long walks in nature, cooking a dish from scratch, or soothing a person’s frets.  Much of this takes place in this series.  People take the time to notice life and can sense when something is not quite right.  They do not run, but face their lives.

Many times in the series we see people’s hearts being crushed over and over again.  They lose out in love and hopes are smothered.  But what the good folk of Lark Rise and Candleford demonstrate is that in their time of pain or grief, a burden shared is always a burden halved.  They show us how we need each other and that we need to be real people who care and are genuinely interested in someone else other than ourselves.  People can connect at a soul level when they look into each other’s eyes or stand beside each other without a need to speak at all.  Love never grows old or tired, even when people do – Queenie and Twister prove that.

Kindred spirits.  Soul-friends.  Companions together through thick and thin.

Where is that now?  Are we too busy to care?  Do we live in a street where no one speaks to each other and everyone just keeps to themselves?  Are we too frantic making money or worrying about our own needs?  Can we believe that old values and ways can revive us in an age of disconnection and fear?

Hamlet and small town folk make time for laughter, music, singing, and merry-making.  Alf and Twister are ever ready to gather people together for a song and dance.  Do we include this in our lives?  Do allow ourselves to have wholesome fun, be creative, sew, mend, and recycle?  Do we stage plays, have community events to look forward to, and seek the lost person we may not have seen or heard from for a while?

What keeps me returning to this series is a longing to be with salt of the earth people who have no airs and call a spade a spade.  They may be poor, toothless, bent over, sometimes drunk, and a little rough around the edges, but they have hearts that run deep.  They are willing and ready to stop their chores and pull up a chair to talk or help someone get out of a pickle.  They would not hesitate to give you their last morsel of food and never complain about their own lot in life.  They keep on keeping on and put their faith in something and Someone greater than themselves.  They treasure companionship and care for each other in a way that feels like a comfy blanket in winter.

I don’t know about you but the way the world is right now, that’s the place and kind of people with whom I want to be – Lark Rise to Candleford is truly my escape – no! – it is “my one weakness”.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Old post office, Lee (Devon), England-LCCN2002696904.jpg ; Storrs village.jpg ; The cottages and the village life of rural England (1912) (14779314742).jpg