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.
Regular listeners to our OnFARM podcast will be aware that we have regularly covered agri-tourism in recent months. An episode recorded at the Scottish Agritourism / GoRural Scotland conference emphasised that agri-tourism is, in many cases, not actually a diversification from farming, but rather can be looked at as simply marketing farm produce in a different way. We have subsequently produced an episode focussing on farm-based attractions as days-out around Dundee and today’s (Monday 25th April) looks at farm tourism around Edinburgh. Future episodes will focus on Glasgow and Inverness.I write this little blog, however, not solely as a means to highlight the podcast. Rather, I would like to share my thoughts on the importance of agri-tourism businesses to our wider farming industry.
READ MOREA special auction to raise funds for charities supporting people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine will be held this week by Caledonian Marts, Stirling. Restaurant vouchers, holidays, farming equipment, livestock sporting memorabilia and experience tickets will be auctioned live, and simultaneously online at caledonian.auctionmarts.com, when the sale gets underway at 11:00 this coming Saturday, 23rd April.
READ MOREAre you worried about rising costs of fertiliser? Then now might be the perfect time to convert to organic farming and remove this worry. Artificial nitrogen is not required in organic farming, with organic farming working in a natural way to protect soils and biodiversity with fewer artificial inputs. The Scottish Government has made a manifesto promise to support the growth of organic farming in Scotland, and there are funding provisions to support organic conversion and maintenance in the AECS Scheme.
READ MOREWe hope this finds you well and tucking into some Easter eggs, hot cross buns or the last of some Scotch lamb (we like these recipes for leftover lamb). The Scene & Herd team have been kept busy juggling family life with lambing and sowing - and of course, helping rural businesses be seen and heard.
READ MOREBorn Mucky? This Farming Life? The Farmers' County Showdown? Which are your favourite rural tv shows? Since it was first broadcast in 1988, BBC One's flagship rural affairs series Countryfile remains the highest-rated factual programme on British television. Three decades later, the new kid on the rural block is Clarkson's Farm, featuring a year in the life of Britain's most unlikely farmer, Jeremy Clarkson set against a backdrop of unhelpful weather, unruly animals and an unexpected pandemic. The rise of unscripted entertainment in recent years has been staggering - our own OnFARM episodes rank in the top 2% of global podcasts - and whatever the reason for our ongoing love affair with the land and the people who make their living there, rural programmes look set to continue.
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Anna Davies: Email: anna@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
Ross (Monty) Montague: Email: monty@sceneandherdpr.co.uk
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