Eight months of memory gathering is culminating in an exhibition next week looking at how rural life has changed over the last century.

Kestle Barton, an ancient Cornish farmstead above the Helford River in Manaccan, will become the backdrop to the collection of local farming photographs and films, with a weekend of activities taking place.

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‘This Land’ will run over the weekend of August 31 and September 1, from 10.30am to 5pm each day; it is free and open to everybody.

The event is the result of collaboration between Kestle Barton and the Institute of Cornish Studies (ICS), based at the University of Exeter on its Penryn campus, through the project ‘Tallys an Tir – Traditions and Stories of the Land’.

Over the weekend, Kestle Barton will be showcasing a range of films and photographs produced and collected by a group in the area.

There will also be a series of films made with local primary schools, inspired by farming stories.

Sarah Chapman, who is leading the ‘Tallys an Tir’ project, said: “The group that we have been working with here have put in a lot of hard work over the past year, carrying out interviews with local people, and making these into a series of short films.

“The group has also brought together some amazing old photographs of the area, as well as a few more surprises that will be on show over the weekend. We are all really excited to see it all come together.”

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Activities over the two days will include an art workshop for families at 11am on the Saturday, a performance of ‘Keskerdh An Kammva Dro’ – a procession around the turnstile – by artist Julia Giles at midday and a film screening at 2pm that same day.

On the Sunday the event will welcome Paul Chaney, an artist in residence at Kestle Barton for 2013, who will be introducing his ‘field machine’ – an interactive computer programme that maps potential land use from information about food values and the desires of individual participants.

Also featured as part of the event will be a range of photographs of local farming families, taken over the 1990s by fourth generation Helston-based vet John Head.

The project has been able to help John scan over 200 of his negatives, preserving them as records of the time. The photographs show a relaxed view of farming in the Lizard area from the 1990s.

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Accompanying these photos will be a short film, featuring farmers from the area reminiscing about some of the characters that appear in the images.

The project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund with additional support from FEAST Cornwall.

All dates and details of events can be viewed at www.cornishstories.com.