Open Farm Sunday - 10 June 2007

Open Farm Sunday - 10 June 2007

Anyone who appreciates the English countryside knows that farms are important and play a critical role as custodians of our landscape. However we often have very little understanding of what farming today is all about.

Open Farm Sunday is a national day organised by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) with the aim of showing how farmers have to balance their care of the environment with their fundamental need to produceing safe, wholesome and affordable food.

We often have a distorted view of the farmer's life and this is an ideal opportunity for farmers to help change that. It is also a great way for children to be introduced to the countryside and all the pleasures of walking (farm walks are a common feature on the farms).

Last year was a pilot for this event and involved nearly 300 farms. This year LEAF have high hopes that it will be even bigger. To find out more, as well as details of an event near you, click on Open Farm Sunday.

Today's participating pub: The Cyder House in Shackleford, Surrey.
Prizes offered: £40 meal voucher, 2-course meal for two and bottle of champagne.

The Pub Walker
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Increased Coastal Access is On The Way

There is much comment about coastal access at the moment following Natural England's recommendation for "a 4,500 km continuous corridor of clear and well managed public access along the entire length of England’s coast." Natural England, the Government's new conservation advisory body, are in for a bumpy ride.

The proposals are brave in their vision but, as with everything, the devil is in the detail. The Ramblers are generally encouraged but want national legistlation and have real concerns over implementation if this is left to local authorities, given their a mixed record in enforcing rights of way. The National Farmers Union of course are up in arms about a statutory approach, calling for local solutions and compensation, while the Country Land and Business Association raise the issue of how this would impact other individual rural businesses too such as gold courses, holiday parks and caravan sites.

The Government is committed to action but will undertake further consultation later in the year. Let's hope talk gives way to real action soon. In the meantime, why not try today's pub walk below which includes a stretch of the South West Coast Path?
See update...

Today's pub walk: The Mussel Inn, Down Thomas, Devon

The Pub Walker
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Posted: TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2007

Fair Price for a Pint

There is a campaign underway to promote a fair price being paid to farmers for a pint of milk. This is a joint initiative by Waitrose, Farmers Guardian and Country Living. With an average of 78 producers in England giving up on dairy farming each month over the past 4 years, there are serious concerns over the future of our home milk production and some fear we may need to import our milk in the future (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England).

So, why should we care? Our rural landscape owes so much of its "natural" beauty to the grazing of livestock that we have to be prepared to see that landscape change if we allow this decline to continue. It is not just about the views we enjoy on our pub walks but also the knock-on effects of more intensive grazing by fewer, larger herds - leading to potentially more chemical use, deterioration in soil and water quality, not to mention loss of some habitats key to biodiversity.

If you want to help you can sign the Farmers Guardian's online petition and Register support for Fairtrade for Farming.

The Pub Walker
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Talking Bull

Is it me? I just get so annoyed by getting ¾ the way around a circular walk only to be faced with a stile and the ominous sign “Bull in field”. What does this mean? Bull in field is harmless? Bull in field so continue at your own peril? Or bull in field but hey, don’t worry, if it attacks you can always sue? Only the farmer knows and he is certainly not letting on.

Two recent walks were frustrated in this way. One required us to travel 3 sides of a very large square and the other had no viable alternative within our allotted time despite our being so close to our destined refreshments that the gastric juices were already flowing! On both occasions the same pre-printed laminated sign was used and it would have been easy to have included some additional information to indicate how the sign should be interpreted.

Maybe the farmer was just happy for us to be thwarted in our efforts to use the public footpaths across his land. Or maybe we should simply be made of sterner stuff. Somehow childhood memories of being chased by stampeding bullocks seem to linger on …

If you are unsure how to react when you encounter cattle or a bull in a field then the Ramblers give some good pointers in the “Cattle in fields with public access” section of their “Animals and Rights of Way”.

The Pub Walker
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