Canny farmers milk rural tourism

28 April 1999

Canny farmers milk rural tourism

By FWi staff

CASH-strapped farmers are milking a boom in rural tourism, according to a feature story in Londons Evening Standard newspaper today.

“Farmers may feel short-changed by Blairs Britain but, instead of twiddling their thumbs, they are diversifying their way out of their various crises,” says the paper.

Fifty per cent of British people want to stay on a farm, but only 5% have done so, reports Oliver Bennett, who stayed on a Cheshire dairy farm.

“There was not a straw-sucking smock-wearer in sight, nor any sign of impoverishment,” he writes, no doubt mindful of his largely urban readership.

Haydn Morris of the Farm Holiday Bureau, says Londoners in particular are sometimes put off staying on farms.

“Theres still this misconception that you have to slip into your wellies, grab an oil lamp and go to the loo in the middle of the night,” he tells the newspaper.

Gina Woodcraft, of Farm Tourism 2000, is quoted as saying that letting a bed was once merely “pin money” for the farmers wife.

“Now it is becoming a major part of the farm income,” she says.

“When people come back from a farm holiday, they feel de-stressed, more centred, inspired and uplifted by life.

“Its a buzz, the architecture is great, and you can meet genuine rural people.”