Rural Britain is a wonderful assortment of farms, estates, hamlets, villages, forests and moors, lochs and valleys. Our stunning scenery, close communities and wonderful rural businesses provide an idyllic lifestyle for many, but rural life can also throw up some pretty unique challenges.
The Rural Scene (the Scene & Herd rural blog and news updates) looks at what’s new, what’s relevant, what’s tasty, what’s fun and what’s challenging about life in the Great British Countryside. We offer an insider insight into rural Britain, highlighting some of the exceptional people, businesses and innovations we believe that everybody should know about.
Networking. The word brings me out in a cold sweat. The idea of sidling up to people I don’t know, and who already look happy in the conversation they are having, makes me feel awkward and rude. I even once went to a workshop which taught people how to sidle up in the most polite way possible. I still felt stupid!
READ MORELast week’s OnFARM podcast focused on encouraging rural businesses to share their stories of how they have helped communities and landscapes flourish, as nominations for the Helping It Happen Awards 2022 remain open. The Awards, run by Scottish Land & Estates, are now in their sixth year, again focusing on the key aim of recognising the role of estates, farms and rural businesses in enabling and supporting success in rural areas and helping rural Scotland to thrive.In the podcast, Sarah-Jane Laing, SLE Chief Executive, highlighted that not only are the awards a superb source of motivation for businesses and their teams, but also that past winners have seen increases in turnover since winning – reason enough to enter surely?!
READ MORE"If we had lost this show, I would have presumed I was jinxed - but, all being well, we're looking at a barnstormer". RHASS Chairman Bill Gray has been sharing his thoughts and feelings ahead of the 200th Royal Highland Show this June. Bill's chairmanship has been a rollercoaster ride through the Covid period, but he looks set to end his tenure on a high.
READ MOREMembers of a Danish farmers co-operative experienced a packed 3-day tour of the Angus potato industry recently. The delegates were members of KMC, a cooperative owned by potato farmers from throughout Denmark who specialise in growing 30,000ha of potatoes for starch production. They enjoyed a packed itinerary organised and hosted by SoilEssentials, the Forfar based precision farming technology company.
READ MOREI’m hoping that this week you might be able to help us with a bit of research – and perhaps help out the farming/rural sector more generally at the same time. As many of you will know, farmers and land managers don’t always get an easy ride in the media and can sometimes wrongly be portrayed as the bad guys in certain circumstances – the climate change debate for example.
READ MORE
Anna Davies: Email: anna@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
Ross (Monty) Montague: Email: monty@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
Company Registration Number: SC448325. VAT Registration Number: 162173427