In this wet period, we are lucky to have a mostly dry evening for our farm walk at Low Beckside Farm, Mungrisdale. The walk is one of a series of events for people who want to be part of the next generation of farmers here. I have organised the event with the Farmer Network and the Lake District National Park Authority as part of my National Trust role as future farming partnership manager.
As well as working on our family farm, both my son Hector and I have full-time jobs elsewhere, meaning our farm work must be done in the early mornings, evenings and weekends. There is a long tradition of farmers with a “side hustle”; looking back in census records I can see many of my ancestors also worked in mines as well as having a farm. Hector works for the Ernest Cook Trust, a charity that owns the farm and provides educational farming opportunities for people in Cumbria.
He leads us out into a large parcel of land that he has subdivided by reinstating relic hedgerows that had been lost over time. The hedgerows were planted up over the last winter by Hector and a group of students, made from hawthorn, bird cherry, dog rose and hazel. It has made the space more productive agriculturally, as he can rotationally graze the farm’s flock of hefted Swaledale sheep when they’re not on the fell. The hedges also act as corridors for wildlife – many birds nested in them this spring, and very soon after their creation there was an explosion of vole activity. There are also hares in the field and curlews nesting in the higher ground.
The walk turns north, and we look over a large area that, twice in the last 30 years, has failed to drain successfully to make it more productive. It is now going into a Countryside Stewardship agreement and will become a new fen, with a large bund protecting it from run-off containing nutrients.
Crucially, this new fen will hold water in the landscape, making it more resilient to flooding. This area has been terribly hit by floods in recent years, most famously Storm Desmond in 2015. Flood walls have been built or started, but we also need to make interventions in the landscape. As we depart, a rainbow appears where the new fen will be.
• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
