Hotel breaks for disease-hit

30 April 2001



Hotel breaks for disease-hit

By FWi staff

FARMING families suffering because of foot-and-mouth in Cumbria are being offered free holidays at certain hotels and guesthouses in the county.

A charitable trust has set up a rest and recuperation scheme to allow farmers who can leave their farms without risk of spreading infection take a short break.

The scheme will be funded by 52,000 which has already been raised by the Hadfield Trust which will also be matched by the Countryside Agency.

Michael Hope, secretary of the Hadfield Trust, said the scheme would help those people facing financial disaster as a result of losing their herds or flocks.

It would also help ease tensions among families which were likely to increase as people found themselves with more time on their hands.

“Farmers whose animals have not been infected are also suffering – in some cases they have not left their properties since late February,” added Mr Hope.

“The scheme will allow these families to take a valuable break from it all.”

Margaret Clark, Countryside Agency director, said people in the worst affected areas desperately needed some kind of respite from their daily worries.

“This is an innovative scheme which will not only benefit the farming community but, as the funds are being spent within the county, will also help the wider local economy.”

Anyone wishing to apply to the scheme for a free three-day break should contact Andrew Humphries at Voluntary Action Cumbria on 01768 242130.