College Calendar: Andrea Witcombe

WE HAD a lecture on the single farm payment just before the Easter break, which didn”t really do much for my understanding on the subject.

The class was shown six or seven different booklets – November update, February update, the handbook, the guide and at least three on cross-compliance – and we were all pretty thankful that we didn”t have to work any of it out for our exams.

Dad was in the same boat, not really understanding which rumours to believe and struggling to find time to read all of the books he was sent. At one point he was considering not even applying at all, so we sat down together to try to work it all out.

We started by looking at the application form question by question. To be honest, most of it was easier than we had first thought, and using old IACSs forms we were able to fill in field records, even when they were split into different sections, which I was quite proud of.

 We discovered that we are entitled to a “horticultural” authorisation because of our potatoes, and because we rent little land and have access to it all year round, the rest was pretty simple.

We had such a good time working it all out, we even sent off for the Entry Level Stewardship stuff, too.

Doing all of that so early makes a nice change because, normally, important papers don”t get sent off till the last minute. So, in theory, we should have lots of time on our hands, but the farm keeps throwing up new problems each day to keep Dad busy and I have gone back to work at the herb factory to run my car. They said if I promised not to talk so much they would have me back anytime.

 After the holidays I have just two weeks of lectures, a field trip, and then a nice break until my three exams in May. This uni lark is a bit of a cop-out really. Mind you, they say that the real work starts in the second year, so I shouldn”t speak too soon.

My housemate, Sam, and I also have to start in the annual house hunt in the summer term, something we should have done in January.

This year we ended up with a funny group of housemates, who moved in and out (eight in total, in a five-bedroom house), all over the place, so it”s just me and Sam in the big search.

 Ideally, we want somewhere with a jacuzzi bath (a friend of a friend has one), a pool and a tennis court, but that might be a little out of our price range.

I bet we end up in a grotty place with nothing but a mouldy old sofa and bean stains on the walls – the traditional cheap student accommodation. So fingers crossed, I”ll keep you posted.