Wine, Orchids and an ancient barn

The group!

A great part of my job is the wonderful places that I get to see! One day I will be on a small mixed farm in Devon and a couple of days later I will be on a 5000 acre estate in Lincolnshire. Last week, I helped to run a Conservation Grade training day for growers which took place on Rebecca Jordan’s farm in Great Bardfield in Essex. What a delightful spot and with so much going on!!

The morning was spent in the beautiful old farmhouse, learning more about being “Fair to Nature”, followed by a delicious lunch that Rebecca had kindly prepared and a glass of the farm’s excellent white wine from the award winning vineyard, situated not a 100 metres from where we were drinking!!

Then a tour of the farm to see all that is been achieved, from wild flower areas to Barn Owl boxes, to tree planting and wild bird seed mixes. We also saw Rebecca’s prized Bee Orchids!

Perhaps the Crème de la crème for me anyway was the most amazing barn, built in the 1540’s and currently being renovated – what a structure!! As you can see from the picture, we were all dwarfed by the sheer scale of this incredibly ancient building.

A wonderful day; only ever so slightly ruined by a tediously slow journey around the M25, on my way back to Hampshire. When I talked to the Duke of Westminster at the Silver Lapwing awards, I told him that the only real minus to my job was the amount of hours spent behind the wheel and that a small helicopter would sort this problem out. Unfortunately he did not “rise to the fly”, so I will have to continue with the Skoda Yeti!!   

   

Wonderful barn built in the 1540s

Bee Orchids grow on the farm