The day started with a walk through Coton, John and Wendys local village. A small, pretty countryside town. I explored the church and found my great, great grandfathers gravestone. John then took me into Cambridge and I picked up my little blue puegot car!! So small, and just fit the suitcase on the back seat.
It was great to get in the car to start next adventure. I had detailed instructions on how to get to my destination, but missed the first turn off, so ended up weaving through small towns for an extra half hour. It was really the best, tourist route to go in the end!!
Next stop was Dureham, near Norwich. David and Christine Hill welcomed me into their home like I was family!! David was a Nuffield scholar, and they farm their 1400acres with canola, wheat, and grass seed. They are both very passionate about agriculture, and are very frustrated by the huge regulations placed on agriculture in England, and the influence of green groups over political decisions (like every English farmer I think!!).
We headed out to dinner with a farmer group called the ‘Mardlers’. They meet once a month over the colder months, 8 times a year. ‘Mardler’ in some old language stands for leaning on the gate and having a chat, but this group of farmers do far more than that. A guest speaker comes to each meeting to talk about all different aspects of agriculture. Tonight we had a farmer who is working his farm in collaboration with his 2 neighbours to achieve economies of scale and improve profit, whilst stilling maintaining ownership of his own land. After the speaker is dinner, and a round table discussion on the topic with the speaker. It was great to chat to a few of the farmers in the area.
No comments:
Post a Comment