info: industry, agriculture leisure

PENRITH TO SHAP

Leisure: (in and around the site)

• Lowther leisure and wildlife park
• Lowther holiday park
• Lowther horse driving trails and country fair
• Penrith golf club
• Penrith castle 
• lakeland bird of prey centre
• Penrith: football, golf, swimming, caving, walking, cycling, climbing, horse riding, fishing, birdwatching, watersports
• Shap: Bowls, football, cricket, swimming, cycling, running, tennis, netball, fishing
• Centre Parcs whinfell forest
• The national Trust
• Wet Sleddale Reservoir 

Industry:

Penrith:

As a small market town relying quite heavily on the tourist trade Penrith benefits from a mix of some high street chain stores and many small local specialist shops. Though as has happened with many towns of a similar size a lot of shops have given way to business such as banks, building societies and travel agents

Market days are Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesdays there is a small outdoor market in Great Dockray and Cornmarket, once a month this is expanded to include a Farmers' Market in the Market Square as well. On Saturdays at the Auction Mart alongside the M6 motorway Junction 40 takes place Cumbria's largest outdoor market.

Although the main industries in the area are based around tourism and agriculture there are some other industries represented within Penrith for example Greggs have 2 bakeries in the Friargate area formerly belonging to the Penrith based Birketts firm; Dominos Pizza have a dough manufacturing site at Gilwilly.

Agricultural based industries include BOCM Pauls who have a large animal feed mill on the Penrith Industrial Estate and until 2005 there was another Feed Mill at Gilwilly.

Shap:

Although the shap granite works itself closed down a few years ago the pink and blue quarries remain and can be seen off the A6 as you come down from shap fell towards Shap. Shap would not be the village it is today without the quarrying industry,as well as the granite quarries you will find corus (the kilns you see at the south end of shap) and hansens who both quarry limestone and are major employers in the area.

Agriculture:

• Pastoral - hill sheep farming and low land cattle farming
• Arable

The uplands we see today have been shaped by the hand of man over millennia with the evidence of mans interaction with the land all around.  These cultural landscapes comprise an intricate mix of terrestrial habitats including upland heath, blanket bog, broadleaf woodlands, valley bottom meadows and pastures and aquatic habitats (lakes and rivers).  

Our uplands support a variety of wildlife of biodiversity importance including birds like twite, ring ouzel, curlew and hen harrier.  Many of the most special places for wildlife have been protected and some of the most special landscapes designated as National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  Despite their wild appearance, these places are of considerable importance to society.  Much of the water we drink is sourced in the uplands and deep peat soils formed over thousands of years store vast amounts of carbon.  The landscapes themselves which have inspired so many great works of art and literature are also important as play grounds and as a place where people can get closer to nature.  

These are of course living landscapes where some people strive to make a living of the land and in so doing have shaped the land we see today.  Hill farming has evolved over the last several hundred years with increases in stock, typically characterised by more sheep and less cattle. Changed farming practices have been driven by post-war support to produce food (e.g. The Less Favoured Area) and the more recent Common Agriculture Policy.  

Despite continued public support for hill farming, the remoteness of many hill farmers from the market place has meant that hill farmers continue to struggle with low incomes and no clear message about the future for the industry.

The future of our uplands hangs in the balance.  Land managers, especially farmers, are critical to the future management of the uplands and are ideally placed to secure the sort of upland landscape and wider public benefits that society wants.  The maintenance of livestock, both cattle and sheep, at appropriate stocking densities, represents one of the best means of maintaining habitats that are more diverse in structure and composition.  Whilst we accept that food production will continue to be a key driver for many hill farmers, we want the industry to help secure a wide range of other goods and services for society as a whole.   

Future public support for hill farmers is more likely to be targeted at those farmers who deliver a wider range of outcomes including protection of drinking water supplies and the conservation of sensitive soils, especially carbon-rich peat.  Delivering the right sort of habitat management is critical to restoring degraded habitats and their associated species.

Headline Issues for the Future of Upland Farming

• A sufficient critical mass of upland farmers needs to be maintained.
• There is a need for positive policies from key landowners.
• Upland farming has the potential to make a significant contribution to a low carbon economy through a depth of experience in developing and maintaining low input systems.
• The challenge is to build and sustain new ways of collaborating so that the cultural landscape is protected, biodiversity is strengthened, and the support and engagement of visitors to the uplands is enlarged and enlivened.

North West Upland farmers provide a huge range of benefits alongside their production of some of the best quality livestock in the UK. They:

• Commit to farming in the fells including the grazing of hill, moorland and common land by heafed native breeds of sheep.
• Conserve the land to protect natural resources and biodiversity.
• Collaborate with other upland farmers and relevant agencies.
• Communicate actively with local communities and visitors to increase public understanding of the countryside through shows, guided walks and farm open days.
• Maintain the landscape through enhancing historic countryside features such as vernacular buildings and dry stone walls.
• Produce quality local food.

Two case studies which are in or just on the boarder of our site which give an idea of some of the agriculture in the area:

Case study 1:  Low Hullock Howe

LOW HULLOCK HOWE is run by Carl and Ruth Walters. Carl and Ruth are full time and get help and support from both their fathers and their two children.

Carl is Chairman of the Bampton Commoners Association. He has also been Chair and is currently vice-chair of the Federation of Cumbria Commoners. He attended a national gathering of Commoners associations 6/7th August 2007 and this was very worthwhile and encouraging. He is a Director of The Cumbria Farmers Network (previously Rural Futures). He has been a Parish Councillor, and is Chairman of  the Village Hall Commitee and Chairman of the Youth Club.

On average he gives one day a week to social and community work.

Ruth is Chair of the Bampton Trust; a registered charity which has raised £60K.

HISTORY

The farmhouse was built in 1693. Low Hullock Howe was originally a smallholding; it was made into a farm in the 1960’s.

All of the land was a compulsory purchase as water catchment by United Utilities (then Manchester Corporation) in the 1930’s. The Walters family moved here in 1991.

TERRAIN

Rising to over a 1000 feet, Low Hullock Howe is a typical upland fell farm; north east facing on very steep ground, with rights on Bampton Common.

SIZE OF THE FARM

The total area of the farm is 107 hectares.

LIVESTOCK & NUMBERS

The Livestock is made up of:

65 suckler cows; mainly pure limousin crossed with a Belgian Blue
800 sheep; swaledales
Pure Blue faced Leicesters flock (18)

Chickens, cats and dogs.

GRAZING & CONSERVATION

There is an ESA scheme on the fell. The Bampton Commoners Association are working towards a Higher Level Entry scheme and have just completed an environment management plan for the common.

Carl and Ruth have rights on Bampton Common for:
1638 sheep
82 cows
18 horses
6 geese

Case study 2: Gaythorne Hall Farm 

GAYTHORNE HALL, paired with Forest Hall Farm is managed by Stephen Lord, with two full time employees, and is part of Levens Hall Farming Partnership.

HISTORY

Gaythorne Hall once formed part of the extensive lands belonging to the monks of Byland Abbey, Yorkshire. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries (1538, it was purchased by Alan Bellingham of Levens Hall, along with Forest Hall Farm, Selside.

By 1690 Colonel James Grahme would have lived here part-time. His Coat of Arms and the date are still to be seen on one of the down pipes on the Grade 1 listed farmhouse. When James Graham lived at Levens Hall, Gaythorne Hall was let until the Cleasby family relinquished the tenancy in 1987. It was then decided to farm Gaythorne as an in-hand farm, and Stephen Lord became farm manager.

The parish boundaries of Asby and Crosby Ravensworth follow sections of Gaythorne boundary walls, reflecting historic importance of the farm.

SIZE OF THE FARM

The farm extends to 400.59 ha. of which 352.51 is inbye.

TERRAIN

Upland fell and grassland. Gaythorne Hall has grazing rights for 300 ewes and their followers, and 25 cattle to the fell (Crosby Ravensworth Fell and Bank Moor).

The land rises up to 340 metres and the majority of the land is rough pasture around the south and west, with large fields taken for silage towards the north. There are also three areas of heather and some limestone pavement in the south-west allotment.

LIVESTOCK & NUMBERS

In 1579 Alan Bellingham is recorded as in possession of:
4224 Sheep and lambs; value: £573.11.6
223 cattle; value: £286. 13. 4
35+ horses; value: £67.6.8

Now at Gaythorne Hall there are:
110 suckler cows (Limousin X)
15 heifers 1140 ewes (300 mules to the texel;
200 pure swaledales;
670 swale ewes to blue faced Leicester to produce N.England mules).

GRAZING & CONSERVATION

Traditional grazing system using inbye and fell
More fertilizer is used at Gaythorne Hall (than Forest Hall Farm); more stock per acre.

Two areas of heather have been fenced off, and the areas of land to the west of the road to Great Asby have restrictions to help their status as limestone pavements (BAP habitat adjacent to Great Asby Scar SSSI and Asby Scar National Nature Reserve).

Upland rough grazing managed under CSS for ground nesting birds.

Fell rights include agreement to restrict sheep numbers to 160 between May and November.

Rotational soil testing is carried out through the Crosby Ravensworth Graziers scheme.