We’re Buying a Farm

The future of learning from the land at the last remaining agricultural college farm in Cumbria looks set to be secured, thanks to the intervention of The Ernest Cook Trust.

We have made an offer to purchase Low Beckside Farm, Mungrisdale, pledging to continue its use as a crucial learning resource for the region.
The farm is the sole remaining centre of learning on the land in Cumbria and was part of Newton Rigg campus (run by Askham Bryan College), which is closing in July 2021.

Our offer for the farm has been accepted by Askham Bryan College, in a sale organised by international land agency Savills.

There was local concern at the potential loss of this valuable learning resource to the children and young people of Cumbria. Thanks to our intervention, its future looks secure as an operating farm and we look forward to re-establishing it as a learning centre.

Our aim is to get more people learning from the land by operating the farm alongside training schemes, apprenticeships, demonstrations, educational visits, workshops, seminars and open days.

Andrew Christie-Miller, our Chairman of Trustees, said,

Tim Whitaker, CEO and Principal of Askham Bryan College, which took over the running of Newton Rigg in 2011, said,

Low Beckside Farm is a great addition to the work the Trust already carries out in the north of England.

We run training and apprenticeship programmes for disadvantaged young people from our base in Cumbria, in collaboration with Lowther Castle and Gardens Trust. We also do much for engaging communities in the countryside from our base in Lancashire, as part of the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership Scheme.