A documentary about small UK farms in coming to Kingsbridge next week, with a Q and A session with the creator.

‘Dying Breed: A Year on Three Cattle Farms in West Cornwall’ will be shown at Kings Cinema, Kingsbridge, on Sunday, June 11, at 4pm. Film-maker Mick Catmull calls it his “love letter to a disappearing way of life”.

Mick said: “Something like 100,000 small UK farms have gone out of business in the last decade, unable to compete in a farming world dominated by retail giants and big growers. The small farm has been part of the South West landscape since time immemorial – but for how much longer will that be the case?”

Mick spent a year making Dying Breed on three small cattle farms in west Cornwall, recording daily farming activities and the recollections of farmers approaching the ends of their working lives.

The film that emerged is a “poignant but unsentimental” record of a way of life in steep decline. “Each of them is aware that on their passing their farms will likely be sold off to big growers, land speculators or even city bankers who fancy a bit of hobby farming” said Mick.

Dying Breed will be coming to Kingsbridge following a sellout seven nights at Newlyn Filmhouse and an appearance at the Celtic Media Festival on the Isle of Man, where it was a runner-up for the Single Documentary Award.

The film is now starting a tour of Devon. It’s already had an enthusiastic reception in Tavistock where one farmer passionately insisted that “Every city dweller should see this film..!”

Mick will be present to introduce the film and answer audience questions.