PEOPLE are to be able to study the life and times of one of Wiltshire's most distinguished writers.

The archives of AG Street have been given to the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office in Trowbridge by his daughter and granddaughter.

Mr Street was well-known for his passionate love of the countryside, particularly his own patch at Ditchampton near Wilton.

He expressed this in numerous books and articles about farming such as Farmers Glory, recognised as one of the great rural classics of English literature.

Edith Olivier, the novelist who lived in Wilton and whose diaries and papers are also at the record office, suggested he took up writing.

It changed Mr Street's career from a struggling tenant farmer on the Pembroke estate into a household name. His first work was published in 1932 and he wrote a weekly column for Farmers' Weekly from 1935 until the week before he died in 1966.

Wiltshire County Council's principal archivist, John D'Arcy, welcomed the donation.

said: "Mr Street was a regular member for the Any Questions team for many years, a prolific writer of fiction and a leading agriculturalist. This really is a valuable addition to our archives."