The Defra-funded Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme supports farming and land management activities in England’s Protected Landscapes that make improvements for nature, climate, people and place. The programme blends national, regional and local priorities and devolves decision making to local experts. It fills gaps not met by other farming support available, especially for smaller landholders. Contributions to nature recovery and climate resilience, sustainable businesses, social wellbeing and community building, heritage conservation and better access for people to enjoy our nation’s landscapes all feature in programme delivery, coming together to make much more resilient rural places.

Nick and Lucy are passionate about community engagement and run a school visit scheme where they partner with local schools with the aim being for all children to visit their farm on an annual basis.

Lucy says ‘Labour shortages are a real issue in the UK agricultural industry - we believe the only way to change this is through community engagement. We love hosting farm visits, especially school visits - the young people are always so engaged and it’s a great opportunity to showcase the wide variety of roles and opportunities that a career in agriculture has to offer.

'The business has received FiPL funding to purchase a countryside people carrier and toilet block, with hand-washing facilities, as well as funding to build a classroom on the farm, all of which will enhance Nick and Lucy’s farm visits.’

The FiPL funding we have received has been invaluable in ensuring we can offer our visitors the best possible experience when they visit us,’ says Nick, ’To our knowledge, there is no other capital grant funding available for community engagement, which is why it is so important that FiPL funding continues’.