In 1966 The Sunday Times Magazine commissioned John Bulmer and the writer Martin Page to make a picture story on the quintessential English village. The typical village had to have everything a village should have — a butcher, a baker, an undertaker — and not be full of retired people. The researchers settled on Pembridge in Herefordshire, by coincidence only a few miles from where Bulmer had been brought up and was living at the time.

The published article showed the range of activities and amenities but also uncovered another side of local life: the hierarchy that still existed, the petty squabbles, the low pay of local work, the lack of opportunity made worse by appalling public transport. Bulmer's pictures capture the lighter side too — the fete, the conviviality of the pub, children playing and at school. He spent most of his time working abroad for the magazine, and this was a rare commission at home.