The extreme winter of 1963, also known as the 'Big Freeze', was one of the longest and coldest winters on record in the United Kingdom. Boxing Day 1962 brought blizzards to the South West of England, and by January 1963, the West Country was blanketed with snowdrifts up to 18ft deep in places.

Although we are constantly being bombarded with news about climate change and global warming, and we live under their threat and the increasing international food insecurity, the impact of previous instances of extreme weather events, such as drought, floods, storms and unusually high or low temperatures, in Britain the above has received relatively little consideration by rural and agricultural historians.

The Big Freeze of 1963 severely impacted the farming community and its animals, and it's likely to happen again. We found little information about Ottery in the old papers. We only saw a small article in the Belfast Telegraph mentioning the safety measures to be taken after the town's gasholder had iced up. Consumers were warned of possible danger and advised to turn off their taps until further notice. Additionally, Ottery had experienced a water crisis due to frozen water mains, leaving parts of the town without water for three days.

Since there wasn't much information available, I had to rely on Dave Stevens' memories to learn what it was like in our area:

"I was stuck at my grandparent's house in Combe St Nicolas near Chard Somerset when the snow hit at the end of 1962. I remember that a "crust" formed on the snow as the temperature dropped. You could walk on this crust, but now and then, you would break through and find yourself crutch deep in the snow.

"My father managed to drive as far as the top of Windgate Hill; he had an old sit-up and beg Ford Pop, which was great in the snow—then walked the rest of the way on top of the hedges to the family farm in Dunkeswell. When he got to the village, he told people he had come by helicopter, and they believed him.

“Walking across the River Otter as it had frozen over was incredible. My father had a friend who worked at the butchers in the Square, so we had access to the plastic meat trays. These made great sledges, but for some reason, the green plastic ones always went a lot better than any other coloured ones. Vincent Feeney, an old schoolmate, has unearthed some photos taken around Ottery during that winter by his father, Trevor.

"John Vinicombe of Woodford Barton Farm had a clump in the Front Meadow of the farm. Root crops could be dropped into the clump from the field, which was 10 feet or so above the floor of the clump. Access to the clump was via Pitham Lane. Ken Carnell, one of the workers on the farm, had been digging into the clump for food for the cattle for several days and effectively had dug out a cave, with the roof of the cave composed of frozen crops, snow and ice. Of course, the roof collapsed one day, leaving Ken with just his head sticking out of this pile of ice, snow and crops.

"Another memory of that time is seeing my parent's neighbour taking an axe to a huge icicle hanging down the entire side of the house. I have a feeling, as well as the farmers and farm workers driving around in their tractors to help clear the roads. Equipment from English China Clay quarries up at Rockbeare Hill was also pressed into service."

The Big Freeze of 1963 serves as a reminder of the lessons learned during that time. As a farming community, we should remember that if it happens again, which is possible due to climate change, our farmers will be those keeping us alive through their hard work, equipment, and the produce of their labour.