National Trust offers iconic £1m coastal farm for just a pound a year
The keys to a £1m farm and the future of a precious landscape could be in your hands for just a pound a year, as long as you’ve a passion for nature, people, and sheep.
Last year the National Trust stepped in to protect the Great Orme in Llandudno, North Wales. It is now offering the lease on that land for just a pound to ensure the habitat can recover and thrive, and to give a potential shepherding star a helping hand to start out in farming.
This unique £1 tenancy follows on from the announcement of the NT’s 10-year vision, aimed at reversing the alarming decline in wildlife – 60 per cent in the past 50 years – and finding long term solutions to help nurse the countryside back to health and deliver for nature.
In buying Parc Farm and the grazing rights over most of the headland, the National Trust has taken on the means to ensure the survival of Great Orme’s internationally rare habitats and species.
The NT believe that the special needs of this coastal headland require a nature-first approach which reverses the grain of some modern farming methods.
‘Put simply, to ensure a healthy and beautiful landscape we need the most agriculturally productive pastureland to be grazed less, and the least agriculturally productive grassland to be grazed more.‘ said General Manager William Greenwood.
William added ‘For the benefit of the Orme we’re looking for a tenant who sees a productive farm as one which maintains healthy wildlife and encourages visitors to act for nature, as well as produce good, healthy food. And to give him or her a head start and the best chance of success, we’re taking away the financial pressure of having to cover the rent for the farm, the grazing rights and the farmhouse each year.‘.
Not only will the 10 year Farm Business Tenancy be offered at just a £1 a year to help the new farmer – less than the cost of two second class stamps – but Plantlife has also pledged to buy the new tenant the flock of sheep needed to graze the Great Orme.
Colin Cheeseman, Head of Plantlife Cymru, said: ‘Plantlife is delighted to be working in partnership with The National Trust and Conwy County Borough Council to provide the sheep which will help to revive the special limestone grasslands and heathlands to their former glory by grazing.‘.
John Mercer, Director of National Farmers Union Cymru said: ‘This represents an exciting yet challenging opportunity for somebody to enter farming and balance farming, conservation and public engagement.‘.
The charity took action to buy Parc Farm in May last year not only because some of its key habitats and species were deemed at threat, but because it was being sold with the potential to develop its fragile limestone grasslands into a golf course.
This seems to me to me an excellent initiative – but it also signals very clearly that the economics of modern farming, even with agri-environment schemes in place, do not guarantee, or even offer much hope, for the most important sites for nature conservation. Only dedicated conservation management will protect the finest sites. We need our NGOs to do far more of this.
For more information about how to apply for the tenancy please visit our website at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/find-us-a-farmer
Oh dear not golf again.
Unlike BDGS banning this ‘sport’ is very unlikely to succeed.
The game is a blight on the countryside, an egregious threat to places like The Great Orme and worse, a stain on Scotland’s noble history.
It’s also ridiculous, completely unwatchable and to quote one eminent sociologist:
‘I simply don’t like the way golfers walk.’
Golf can have a negative impact but it is also a leisure pursuit which people enjoy, benefits their health and the economy. Surely the answer isn’t to ban but to regulate.
Especially some of the more garish checked trousers.
Agree. Especially the tight fitting ones.
By the way, even some golfers have had enough and are now switching to cycling.
Lastly, wrt the importance of this debate, I must point out that my memorised Laurie Taylor quote is not quite right. See here:
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/mar/09/tvandradio.radio1
Bit OTT there Murray, too many sweeping generalisations.
I think your last sentence says more about the sociologist than it does about golfers.
I enjoy links golf on wildlife rich courses – I quite enjoy botanising whilst searching for my ball in the rough.
Totally agree. And judging by all the dislikes I’m thinking about taking up the irons, dropping the irony and sloping off from one failure to another.
By the way, I wish I could find the BBC R4 (Thinking Allowed) light hearted debate between Will Hutton and Laurie Taylor who near the end of it, started to lose the thread and came out with that ‘outrageous’ jest about the way golfers walk.
Just found this but not sure where it leads. plus I’d forgotten there are also serous issues discused ….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-27338/Thinking-Allowed.html
I’m pleased with that news having just joined the NT and with me already being a supporter of Plantlife, and I’ve been to look at Great Orme too. I look forward to going back again with renewed interest to see the result of the new plan.
I hope the NT will continue to all the details of this plan public as it unfolds. On another but similar topic Mark have you ever written on the subject of rewilding in the UK?
Gerald – not much. Should I?
This sounds like a great initiative. It would be great to see more of the NT estate managed as a High Nature Value Farming enterprise, with a primary objective to deliver biodiversity and education and the secondary objective as food production.
If the NT wants to adopt a nature first approach then one way of doing that is not to stick sheep on the land.
I’d take it on, remove the sheep and let nature takes its course 😉
Let nature take its course… as in the extinction of Silver-studded Blue due to a lack of grazing? Interesting conservation strategy, I suppose…
Let nature take its course… as in the extinction of Silver-studded Blue due to a lack of grazing? Interesting conservation strategy, I suppose…
I had expected someone by now to have asked whether the NT will permit shooting on the Great Orme?
“… nature cosnervation. Only dedicated cosnervation management …”
One of my favourite words
… but please don’t get involved in rewidling
I think there is an interesting discussion to be had around rewilding. Understanding how natural processes would have worked before human development and trying to replicate them can be a good approach to conservation IMO.
filbert – thanks, corrected! one of my most frequent mistypes. You’ll find a lot of them. A bit of a handicap for me.
The number of times I typed red grosue in writing Inglorious…!
Removing sheep from the great orme would be terrible for the local ecology. It would be the end of chough and many of the local rare plants.
Exactly Pete. Sensitively managed sheep grazing on short-turf limestone grassland can be very beneficial for a whole host of flowering plants and inverts. I think some people may be mistaking the Great Orme for Snowdonia..
Well done to the NT – I’d like to see more of this from them.
Yes. Sheep are vital for this type of habitat.
I believe cattle are import grazers when choughs are being encouraged.
I do hope the NT seriously & urgently change the management of their moorland in the Peak District NP. Driven grouse shooting must be ended for good and only then will NT members & the wider public will be able to enjoy the sight of soaring raptors.
Oh dear, let’s not reduce the amount of sheepwreck eh? There is already already over-grazed wasteland. What we need is more trees, as George Monbiot constantly points out. They are the rarity, not short grass. Re-wilding is the key. Let’s have some areas where ecological processes function naturally and the land isn’t treated like somebody’s back lawn.
Nonsense John.
Of course we need more trees and scrub and yes of course we need rewilding but that doesn’t have to be at the expense of species-rich habitats. Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater! Surely there is room for HNV farmed landscapes as well as rewilded areas – I do despair when rewilding is promoted by the ONLY way to do conservation.
There is an abundance of species-poor, totally sheep-shagged land in Wales – rewild in those places, not on rare and biologically rich limestone grassland.
“International relations will be put to the test next week as the Giro d’Italia moves outside of its home country into southern France for two days, but while the riders will be widely welcomed, the race’s mascot will not. Lupo Wolfie, a fluffy wolf wearing a pink jersey, was introduced to the Giro last season and seemingly just wanders around patting children on the head and posing for photographs with fans. But farmers in the French Alps call the mascot’s potential presence on stages 19 and 20 as “pure provocation”, with shepherds suffering heavy losses to wolves in the region in recent times. In asking the mascot to stay in Italy, the Union of French Farmers said: “The display of such a mascot in our region is a pure provocation that is not humanly acceptable to farmers. While banning a person from wearing a wolf costume may seem an extreme measure, the wolf problem in the region has provoked strong measures to be taken by angry farmers. Last year some farmers effectively held bosses of a national park hostage overnight demanding more to be done to protect their livestock against predators. It’s reported that in 2014, around 8,500 animals have been killed by wolves.”
So you have been warned, rewidlers
Thanks for your useful and clear points.
”And there isn’t one road to God – we can – and need to – do different things in different places,” Agree.
To try to add another illustratrion to your point, take two small fairly old chalk pits here in West Sussex.
One is a fabulous sunlit haven for chalk grassland flora and fauna which have been ‘expelled’ by the surrounding arable monocultures.
The other is adjacent and full of impenetrable scrub.
Why the difference in the two?
Answer: the farmer rents the first one to a motorcycle scrambling club and their activity causes the necessary disturbance and scrub control to create light and bare soil for this floristic and insect rich oasis to survive.
The dirt bikers are in effect acting like wild boars or cattle. In wilderness terms their actions are neither right nor wrong. Both sites have their part to play in the landscape and are equally important. But you could say it’s good that the farmer ‘forgot’ about the other pit and that one day real wild boars, spreading slowly westwards from East Sussex, might seek refuge here.
Conclusion: We need laissez-fair approach alongside the ‘gardening/management’ bit.
An excellent idea and initiative by the National Trust in north Wales. Exactly what is needed – something new and bold. Might signal the start of something across the NT as new land becomes available to a fresh generation of farmers/land managers. 🙂
I do so hope to see lots of those contributors to the comments section on these blogs who reckon farming is a piece of cake with all the subsidies that can be claimed are already rubbing their hands and applying for this tenancy.
At only one pound per annum(only done for legal reasons)then they can fill their boots with all that easy money.
No excuses now,come on show us farmers how good you are and how easy farming and conservation is while picking up loads of money.
The saying “put your money where your mouth” is seems relevant even if it is only one pound.
Are any of our critics brave enough.
“I do so hope”
No need to hold your breath, Dennis – NT bloke in the video said they were looking for a competent farmer.
I’d prefer it if they got a competent conservation manager – ex NNR manager or similar. Managing the sheep could be learnt on the job to some extent.
Well that is disrespectful to shepherds who have spent years learning the job.
Fact is whoever gets the tenancy the conservation part will be a piece of cake.
Why?.–The N T will stipulate everything he has to do to meet their requirements,similar to how the RSPB stipulate rules that their(share farmer who does all the work,my explanation of how it works)just has to follow exactly.
Putting a conservationist in charge of a large flock of sheep would result in loss of lots of sheep lives.Nothing short of cruelty.
Picking up on a range of comments, much of our favourite wildlife is the product of human activity and there is a big and important debate between doing nothing and continuing the management that produced that wildlife. For me, I would not want to see any of our species going extinct and value our semi-natural habitats – but there are really important changes needed, including reducing excessive, subsidy driven grazing pressure.
Doing nothing does not return you to the pre human natural environment – George Peterken has very carefully explained the difference between the primeval wildwood and what he calls ‘future natural’.
And there isn’t one road to God – we can – and need to – do different things in different places, so in woodland there is no conceptual conflict between some places being intensively managed – especially coppicing in ancient woodlands – and others virtually untouched by (forestry) management, such as the Ancient and Ornamental woods of the New Forest.
And, perhaps most importantly, we have sadly created more than sufficient land of low ecological value to do new things on – the conservationist assumption, sold very effectively by the intensive farming lobby, that it all has to be far, far away in the distant uplands is rubbish. As the Natural Capital Committee have demonstrated very clearly, the economic benefits of green space around our towns and cities far exceeds agricultural values, and for me the exemplar re-wilding is in the Weald, on (poor agricultural quality)ex-dairy land at Knepp castle.
Sorry Roderick, posted this in its correct place now:
Thanks for your useful and clear points.
”And there isn’t one road to God – we can – and need to – do different things in different places,” Agree.
To try to add another illustratrion to your point, take two small fairly old chalk pits here in West Sussex.
One is a fabulous sunlit haven for chalk grassland flora and fauna which have been ‘expelled’ by the surrounding arable monocultures.
The other is adjacent and full of impenetrable scrub.
Why the difference in the two?
Answer: the farmer rents the first one to a motorcycle scrambling club and their activity causes the necessary disturbance and scrub control to create light and bare soil for this floristic and insect rich oasis to survive.
The dirt bikers are in effect acting like wild boars or cattle. In wilderness terms their actions are neither right nor wrong. Both sites have their part to play in the landscape and are equally important. But you could say it’s good that the farmer ‘forgot’ about the other pit and that one day real wild boars, spreading slowly westwards from East Sussex, might seek refuge here.
Conclusion: We need laissez-fair approach alongside the ‘gardening/management’ bit.