Written and photographic portraits of the farmers, gamekeepers and conservationists who work on common land are being exhibited at a North Yorkshire Museum.

"Labour of Love" is a new exhibition at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes by photographer Rob Fraser and writer Harriet Fraser. They run an environmental art and research practice from near Kendal.

The exhibition presents stories they have gathered during two years of meeting people who farm and manage Ingleborough Common, Grassington Common and Brant Fell Common, near Sedbergh, as well as common land on Dartmoor, the Lake District and the Shropshire Hills.

The Northern Farmer: Shepherds meeting on the summit of Ingleborough at the start of a sheep gather in November, by Rob Fraser

"Labour of Love" at the Dales Countryside Museum (open daily, 10am-5pm) will run until September 8. It is being staged as part of "Our Common Cause: Our Upland Commons", a three-year project led by the charity, Foundation for Common Land. As well as Rob and Harriet Fraser’s work, there are wild boar bones from Ingleborough and items from the museum’s permanent collection to see.

During a lecture at the museum in April, organised by Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum, Harriet and Rob revealed their approach to their project.

Harriet said: “For commoners there is a lot of uncertainty and threats to this way of life – and we’ve been cataloguing that.

The Northern Farmer: Harriet Fraser, Rob Fraser and Friends of DCM Chair Martin Garside at the opening of Labour of Love on 19 April 2024

“At the heart of our work is meeting people and listening to people. So I’m out and about with my microphone, Rob with his camera. And we learn from everyone we meet, whether we’re on a peat bog, or on the fell looking at dung beetles, or talking about management of the sheep, or talking to somebody from the National Trust about how to deal with the challenges we are facing. And we always have a bit of laugh. You’re never far away from a chuckle when you’re out with farmers.

“Although the areas are geographically spread across England, a lot of the farmers know each other from the auction marts, from sheep and sharing bloodlines.”

Two of the standout stories presented at the exhibition are that of George Hare, gamekeeper on Grassington Moor, and of Adrian Shepherd, head of land management at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

In the lecture, Rob said of his photographic technique: “I enjoy making people feel comfortable in their own space, standing where they feel like they are part of that landscape – and then press the button. It’s normally about a half a second exposure on my large format plate camera. Just for that fleeting moment they look into the camera, they look at you, from where they are.

“We keep using the word privilege. But it has felt like a privilege to spend time with people who have got this much attachment to these spaces.”