Walking this afternoon in the Cheshire sun

I've been offline for a few weeks because we have had a virus in our house, which has left us all out of sorts.  One of the symptoms was a heavy cold - no fun in this heat!  Luckily the allotment I have taken on with two friends is under control and things are looking beautiful at my land share as my annual flowers flourish....but more about those things on another blog post.

I'm off to see the lovely Janet and Tim at Abbey Leys farm on this side of High Legh today.  I visit their farm a lot either for the well-stocked farm shop or the monthly farmer's market.  I visit for a different purpose today. 

Farmstart
Janet and Tim have been working with Farmstart, (www.kindling.org.uk/farmstart).  This involves some volunteers and new growers using land to learn farming with support.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be if I decided I wanted to be a farmer - it is one thing to visit a farm.  However, deciding properly if it was the right thing for me would be really hard.  This project gives budding (excuse the pun!) growers the chance to make a start.  They also use The Greater Manchester Land Army volunteers.  I'm being sketchy on detail here, but that is for a good reason: I don't know any more.  That is going to be rectified today.

Walk on the Wild Side
Farmstart are hosting a walk this afternoon from 1pm.  Meet at Abbey Leys farm (http://www.abbeyleys.co.uk/).  We will have a farm tour, eat some cake and walk about 4 miles through the surrounding countryside to see the Farmstart initiative.  They will ask for a contribution towards the cost of refreshments and the work of the Prince's Countryside Trust Fund.  As well as finding out about the work on the farm, the new initiative and eating some of Janet's tasty cakes, we will be celebrating all that is great about the countryside.  That won't be hard on such a stunning day. 

So, if you fancy getting away from it all and don't want to do battle on a motorway to get to a beach -  I'll see you there.

Lisa Reid