countryside – Page 8

Autumn

Today I began the first of what will be many bramble bashing (or should that be obliterating) sessions throughout the autumn/winter as I try to get on top of the scrub encroaching on some of the farm’s stewardship plots. The sky seemed to be missing today, a great grey and white canvas only intermittently markedContinueContinue reading “Autumn”

How crucial are direct payments for farmers?

In a recent policy document the NFU has suggested that continuing direct payments (at least in the short-term) in a new British Agricultural Policy will be crucial to help farm businesses deal with volatility. Before I read the report I must admit that I had become convinced that withdrawing as much support as possible isContinueContinue reading “How crucial are direct payments for farmers?”

Durable Wellington Boots

Now, I wear my boots perhaps more than any other form of footwear, and it’s important for me that they last as long as possible, so I thought it might be useful to take a look at some wellies on the market right now… Firstly, from the Original Muck Boot Company – the Muckmaster HiContinueContinue reading “Durable Wellington Boots”

Rewilding – still learning

It’s now a few years since I came across the concept of ‘rewilding’ and read George Monbiot’s Feral, far from the first book to tackle the subject, but perhaps the one that holds the crown for popularising it to such an extent and garnering a more established ‘movement’ of rewilding within conservation circles. Over that same periodContinueContinue reading “Rewilding – still learning”

One fifth of English farms have disappeared in past 10 years

England’s green and pleasant land: a patchwork quilt of green and gold fields with quaint little villages nestled in between and ancient farms run by families who have worked the land for generations. Is this a true perspective of the English countryside? You and I know that this rose-tinted view is not the reality, norContinueContinue reading “One fifth of English farms have disappeared in past 10 years”