Opening the farm gates
Farm Tenant Helen Wade’s warm welcome to visitors at Eastleach Downs Farm
As farmers we need to be more welcoming to help people understand more about farming and food production.
Pig farmer Helen Wade is upending the view that farms are unwelcoming to visitors, urging walkers – including those less able – to come and enjoy fresh air and exercise at Eastleach Downs Organic Farm on the Hatherop Estate in Gloucestershire.
She and husband Sam have created two permissive paths, a car park and a substantial visitor hub in the form of a large shepherd’s hut with a cosy woodburner and toilets next door on their 320-acre farm, where they rear organic pigs and grow arable crops.
Disabled visitors can enjoy the experience, thanks to a mobility vehicle available on the farm which can cope with the mainly flat grass paths.
The inspiration for opening up the farm to visitors came during the coronavirus lockdowns of 2020 when Helen was disappointed to read that some farmers were complaining about people taking their allotted exercise time in the countryside.
“There was a lot of quite negative comments from farmers about people walking on crops and not keeping to the footpaths and I started thinking about how we could bridge the gap between farmers and the public,” she said.
I thought if people knew that what they were tramping all over was the food they would be putting on their plates they wouldn’t do it.
The idea grew and the couple turned to local businesses and neighbours to help them build their hub, put down stone for a car park, create the three-metre-wide paths and sow them with hard-wearing grass seed.
Helen spoke to Disabled Ramblers and they initially provided a Tramper – an off-road mobility scooter – for use on the farm. Later, using a grant from Cotswold National Landscape, the Tramper was replaced with another mobility vehicle.
The main support came in the form of a grant from the Farming in a Protected Landscape Fund, from the Cotswold National Landscape, matched with funds from Helen and Sam’s landlords, The Ernest Cook Trust. There was also substantial help for fencing and other work from the Cotswold Wardens.
The result has been hugely positive, with visitors calling in to enjoy a walk, admire the pigs and buy pork, bacon and sausages, produced in an on-farm butchery. Helen said there had been no downsides and visitors respect the farm and, so far, seem appreciative of the chance to enjoy it.
She and Sam are first generation farmers who came to Eastleach Downs more than 30 years when it was owned by the late Sir Thomas Bazley, who was ahead of his time in converting his land to organic status.
The farm was later acquired by The Ernest Cook Trust and Helen believes her commitment to providing public access and information to visitors is a good fit with the Trust’s aims as a charity focussed on Outdoor Learning. She said: “We thought that we needed to do more, as farmers, to connect with our customers. We all say ‘Buy British’ but what do we do to encourage them? We can’t just expect people to support us if they feel intimidated about going onto a farm and don’t really know what goes on there.”
High standards of animal welfare and a commitment to grow as much of the food for their pigs as possible on the farm are the twin drivers of the agricultural operation – something which the growing number of visitors to Eastleach Downs are learning all about.
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