William Tyson lived at the Bield in Little Langdale and kept a diary between 1782 and 1787 in which he provided a detailed account of everything that he did. Life was an unremitting slog of hard manual labour around the farmstead, relieved by the merriment of Christmas and his fiddle playing for local dances and a dancing school. The diary details the labour around the mixed farm, from sheep rearing through the growing and harvesting of cereals and vegetables to maintaining soil fertility and maintaining the field boundaries. As a fiddler he kept a record of his playing for dances, merrynights, fairs and fetes, for which he was paid. The diary records catching predatory polecats and several old Westmorland traditions including 'riding the stang', 'gathering pool pipes', 'perambulating the boundaries' and using 'needs fire' to protect his cows from the plague. He lived to 81 years of age and died unmarried in 1836. The diary gives a uniquely detailed glimpse of rural life in the late 18th century.