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Meet your local: Round Chimneys Farm

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Editorial team
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This month Rachael Rowe visited the Rich family at their new farm shop and cafe at Round Chimneys, their historic farm at Glanville Wootton

“A lot of people find us when they are lost,” says 27-year-old Alec Rich as he talks about the shop at Round Chimneys Farm. The farm, dating from 1590, has been home to a highwayman and the Churchill family and is tucked away in the Blackmore Vale countryside, just outside Glanvilles Wootton. The Rich family has farmed here since the 1960s, and a new farm shop and cafe have recently opened.

Alec Rich and his mother Rachel Rich at Round Chimneys Farm Cafe
Image: Rachael Rowe

How did you start?
“The cafe and shop are new. We started just eight weeks ago! The way farming is going, we are always looking at ways of diversifying. We started with holiday lets 20 years ago.
Then just before lockdown, we began selling our beef privately. Before that, it had simply gone straight to market. We got such good feedback from people saying they were the ‘best steaks they had ever had’, that we just started selling to the customer directly. It’s great to have a place where people can buy from us. We also wanted a reason for people to come here, so we started the cafe too.
“My grandfather bought the farm in the 1960s, and it was originally a dairy farm. I grew up here. I went away to work and came back ten months ago, so I have brought back my experience to make a living here. It’s nice to be able to engage with the local community a bit more. We’re not in the village centre and people don’t know their neighbours like they used to. We also love meeting people who you wouldn’t normally meet. It’s a great stop for walkers too.”

Inside the Round Chimneys Farm Cafe
Image: Rachael Rowe

How many are in the team?
Alec and his mother, Rachel, run the business and have a thriving holiday lets enterprise. They are helped by their other team member, Connie. The holiday lets allow them to show guests the farm and how farming works. “We love sharing our slice of Dorset with others,” says Alec.

What’s flying out of the door at the moment?
Alec laughs. “The coffee and cake. The brownies! All our cakes are homemade. Our coffee is roasted in Sherborne by Reads. Nine out of ten people will have a coffee here. Our meat is popular – especially burgers at this time of year. People often take them to try – and then return for more. Our pasties are made using our own beef.
“We also like promoting the lesser-known cuts such as brisket. If you cook a brisket just right, you can’t beat it. People often ask for our advice on cooking. Guests in the holiday lets buy the cheeses, especially local ones. We stock as much Dorset produce as possible.”

Tell us about local suppliers.
We use Woodbridge Farm for supplies of Dorset Blue Vinny, and our bread comes from Oxfords in Alweston.

And your Angus herd?
(Two gorgeous twin calves born a week ago were grazing in a nearby field.)
“The farm was originally dairy, and in 2007 we changed to beef. We have 100 suckler cows and calve twice a year. The herd is mainly Aberdeen Angus, but we have some British Blue. All our bulls are Angus. We also have 100 sheep and lamb early in December.”

Tell us your biggest challenge?
“At the moment, getting to grips with managing the cafe and shop – but I’m loving it. We’re working to bring more people in, with advertising. Most people come off the back of someone telling them about it. We’re also juggling farm jobs with running the shop and cafe. Each day is a challenge, but that’s something we relish.”

A Round Chimneys week-old Aberdeen Angus calf
Image: Rachael Rowe

What are you most proud of?
“I think the feedback we have had. They say the proof is in the pudding, and people keep coming back for more. That’s something we have seen in the past eight weeks.”

What’s next for the business?
We will continue to promote our meat and its quality. We’ll encourage people to try it and see where their food comes from. Our food mileage is minimal. We’re looking at introducing meat boxes as well. All our meat is sold frozen, so it stays as fresh as possible and cuts down on waste. And we can use all parts of the animal, either in the cafe or selling it.”

Round Chimneys Farm, Glanvilles Wootton, Sherborne, DT9 5QQ
roundchimneysfarm.co.uk
Cafe and shop open Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.

“The best guitarist that I have ever seen live” – Dorset Island Discs

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Editorial team
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Philip Coward is chairman of Hillbrush, sits on the Royal Warrant Holders Association executive committee and has been a Mere councillor for 46 years
Philip Coward Chairman of Hillbrush

I grew up in Mere, right across the road from our family’s brush-making business which was started by my grandfather and great-uncle in 1922. I always had an interest in building things and in anything mechanical. My father was an engineer and I followed in his footsteps, gaining a degree in mechanical engineering from Brunel University in 1974.
I married Pammy just after graduating and joined the family company a few months later – after failing to obtain a permit to work in the USA. I managed the production at Hillbrush (then the Hill Brush Company) for several years before taking over the management of the company.
Five years ago we built a new factory on the western side of Mere, which enabled the company to address sustainability issues and be far more efficient. I handed over the running of the company to my son Charlie and nephew Andy, and I am now chairman. This year the company is celebrating its 100th anniversary which is a testimony to the amazing employees past and present.
Over the years I have been involved in our industry manufacturer associations and I’m still a board member of the European Brush Manufacturers Federation, based in the Netherlands.
Our company has held a Royal Warrant to HM the Queen for more than 40 years, and last year I became Honorary Treasurer of the Royal Warrant Holders Association. I sit on the Executive Committee, and I am a trustee of its charity fund.
I have always been interested in the town where our business is located, and I am now in my 46th year as a Mere town councillor, which may be a record!
Since passing on the day-to-day running of the company, I naturally have more time to devote to my interests outside of brushmaking, including maintaining the farm where we live, boating in Poole Harbour and travelling. As well as Charlie, we have a daughter, Clare, who lives not far away, and four grandchildren, who we obviously love seeing regularly.

And so to Philip’s eight music choices, along with how and why they stuck in his life:

We Can Work It Out
The Beatles
I had to have a Beatles song! They were so influential during my schooldays and their songs still stand the test of time. Who would have thought that Paul McCartney would have headlined at Glastonbury at the age of 80!

All Along the Watchtower
Jimi Hendrix
I am a great Hendrix fan – I think he was the best guitarist that I have ever seen live. I just wish that I could have played as well as him!

A Whiter Shade of Pale
Procul Harum
This has to be one of the most amazing pop records ever produced and brings back so many memories of my later school days.

25 or 6 to 4
Chicago
Just a great record, released when I was at university.
Laudate Dominum
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
… but specifically performed by the Sherborne Chamber Choir with my wife Pammy as soloist. If I had this on my desert island, I could listen to her amazing voice and it would make me determined to escape!

Symphony No 2 in D. Op 43 – I Allegretto
Sibelius
Quite simply, this is a magical piece of music and I love Sibelius.

Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor. Op 18 – III Allegro Scherzando
Rachmaninov
This is such a moving piece of music, and one which I would never tire of on the island.

If you could see me now
The Script
This record would make me dance around the island!

And if the waves were to wash all your records away but you had time to save just one, which would it be?
It would have to be the Laudate Dominum

My Book
I would be bored re-reading any of my favourite novels, and instead I would like the Complete DIY manual by Readers Digest. Although I am very practical, there is always another skill to learn which might help me to escape from the island.

Luxury
For my luxury, I would like to have a toolbox, but I suspect that’s not allowed (No! – Ed). So I would like to ask for my choice of pillows, so that could at least have a good night’s sleep.

Perfect summer baking – berry and vanilla cake

By
Editorial team
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We are right in the heart of our British summer, with Wimbledon season in full swing, and sparkling wine and strawberries as far as the eye can see. As I am writing this, the sun is shining, my twitter feed is glowing with the promise of high temperatures and my garden is ablaze with all kinds of colour …
I really hope that that is still the case come July!
If you are looking for a bottle of English wine, Dorset hosts a number of sparkling wine producers, thanks mostly to our favourable weather, and I recommend seeking out a bottle of some of our finest. Not only can you visit places like Langham Wine Estate and Bride Valley for a vineyard tour, you can also stop in at your nearest wine shop for some local wisdom on the best tipple to match your occasion – like the award-winning Vineyards in Sherborne which recently celebrated their 17th birthday. Heather x

Image: Heather Brown
Ingredients
  • For the Cake
  • 8oz/225g butter
  • 8oz/225g soft brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 8oz/225g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 punnet (usually 450g) of fresh strawberries or raspberries
  • strawberry or raspberry jam
  • For the icing
  • 4oz/110g softened butter
  • 10oz/285g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Heather Brown is on the committee of the Guild of Food Writers; a home economist with a passion for Dorset’s brilliant foodie scene. She runs Dorset Foodie Feed, championing Dorset’s food and drink businesses, as well as working with her food industry clients.
  • Smear some butter around the base and sides of two eight inch round baking tins, then line the bottoms with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to GM 5 or 170º fan. 
  • Wash and dry your strawberries, remove the green stalks and cut into quarters.
  • Either in a stand mixer, with an electric whisk or with a wooden spoon, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl really well. The mixture will change to be light and fluffy and the colour will turn pale. 
  • Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg. If the mixture curdles slightly, you can add one spoonful of the flour and then beat well.
  • Slowly stir in the flour. Take care not to beat hard and knock out all of the air that you have just worked into the mix. 
  • Using a spoon, gently fold half of the strawberries into the cake batter until just mixed.
  • Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared tins and gently level the tops so they are mostly flat. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. The cakes will be done when they have come away slightly from the edges of the tins and the top is springy to the touch. 
  • Leave the cakes to cool.
  • Remove the sponges from the baking tins.
  • Make a simple buttercream icing by combining the butter with the icing sugar and vanilla extract in a stand mixer or bowl and beat well together. At this stage the mixture will be too stiff. Add a few of the remaining fresh berries in and keep mixing gently – the juice from the berries will loosen the icing. If the mixture becomes too soft you can just add some more icing sugar. 
  • Place one sponge onto a large plate. Spoon on some jam and smooth over. Then add a little of the buttercream and smooth over. Place the next sponge on top. Add the remaining buttercream onto the top of the cake and smooth over. Finish with the remaining fresh berries.

Here comes summer!

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Editorial team
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On Monday 11th July, at 3pm, we are lucky to be welcoming best-selling author (and former Sherborne school girl) Santa Montefiore back to Sherborne for an afternoon tea at the beautiful Butterfly Rooms in Castle Gardens, where she will be talking about her new book.
Give us a call on 01935 816128 to buy tickets. Wayne

An Italian Girl in Brooklyn by Santa Montefiore

New York, 1979.
It is Thanksgiving and Evelina has her close family and beloved friends gathered around, her heart weighted with gratitude for what she has and regret for what she has given up. She has lived in America for more than 30 years, but she is still Italian in her soul.

Northern Italy, 1934.
Evelina leads a sheltered life with her parents and siblings in a villa of fading grandeur. When her elder sister Benedetta marries a banker, to suit her father’s wishes rather than her own, Evelina swears that she will never marry out of duty. She knows nothing of romantic love, but when she meets Ezra, son of the local dressmaker, her heart recognises it like an old friend.
Evelina wants these carefree days to last forever. She wants to bask in sunshine, beauty and love and pay no heed to the grey clouds gathering on the horizon. But nothing lasts forever. The shadows of war are darkening over Europe and precious lives are under threat …

In 2022 Winstone’s celebrates ten years as Sherborne’s independent bookseller.
Winstone’s has won the British Book Awards South West Bookseller of the Year four times and was winner of the Independent Bookseller of the Year national award in 2016. Owner Wayne Winstone was previously one of the three judges for the Costa Prize for Fiction, and in 2018 Wayne was selected as one of the top 100 people in the Bookseller’s Most Influential Figures listing.

We noisily protest

By
Editorial team
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The right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of liberal democracy, says Labour’s Pat Osborne

Labour Pat Osborne
Labour Pat Osborne

Last month I wrote about the inadequacy of the government’s response to a cost-of-living crisis caused largely by 12 years of Tory economic policy – designed to deliver super-profits for millionaires at the expense of ordinary working people. On the 18 June I joined tens of thousands of trade unionists from up and down the country at the TUC’s march and rally in London to demand better.
Despite a justifiable underlying anger towards a Government that is clearly letting us down, the protest was conducted peacefully and in a carnival-like atmosphere. Protestors showed their solidarity with other working people devastated by the cost-of-living crisis by adding to a soundscape of drums, whistles, music and chants as we marched two miles from Portland Place to Parliament Square.
Just 10 days later, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act came into effect, effectively banning ‘noisy protest’. Within 10 hours, anti-Brexit protestor Steve Bray was the Act’s first scalp when police swooped to confiscate his speakers.
Whether or not we agree with Mr Bray’s King Canute-like position on Brexit is beside the point. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of any liberal democracy and Mr Bray should have the right to engage in it. It is worrying therefore – though entirely foreseeable – that the police should move so quickly to enforce Priti Patel’s hard line anti-protest laws in such a heavy-handed way.
With the promise of a summer of discontent ahead of us, it is likely that these draconian powers and other anti-trade union instruments will be exercised repeatedly in order to mute a growing choir of dissenting voices. By Autumn this could reveal a country with more in common with Putin’s autocratic Russia than the liberal democracies of Western Europe.

The world of trade unions has changed

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Editorial team
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Workplaces have moved on from archaic trade union power, forging a more productive way to work together, says North Dorset Lib Dems’ Mike Chapman

Mike Chapman Lib Dems
Mike Chapman Lib Dems

The second amendment to the US Constitution dates from 1791. It was about preventing central government wielding excessive power: people might bear arms to be equipped to stop those in authority from exceeding themselves. Fortunately, we have developed the more modern approach – with less collateral damage – of the ballot box plus a wholly independent judiciary.
This government is over-reaching, over-reacting and bullying. What mandate is there for tearing up the Northern Ireland protocol? The migrant export deal with Rwanda? For acknowledging the European Court of Human Rights only when convenient, and for their mission to dumb down and commercialise the BBC? What is to be done with a government whose response to the crisis on the railways has been a resounding “bring it on, if you are hard enough”? It is earnestly to be hoped that our education system, the very essence – and already undervalued – of our future prosperity, does not end up in a similar stand-off.
These strikes are ridiculous and wholly contrary to individual, corporate and societal best interests. The best performing enterprises work as partnerships; together, for mutual benefit. Us v Them, Theory X (more stick than carrot) and other such confrontational practices went out with the ark. Trade Union membership has become a marginal factor outside the public sector. Employee share-ownership is growing strongly.
Today, modern organisational imperatives and internal cultures are directed towards balancing the interests of all stakeholders; boards are supported by non-executives specifically there to find balanced positions; employee engagement in continuous improvement is becoming the norm.
I note our campaign in Tiverton and Honiton was dubbed the coming of the ‘The Yellow Peril’. If that means old orders, old school ties and out-dated, self-centred attitudes, left and right, are under threat from people with the passion, standards, experience and up-to-date understanding to make a better fist of it, then caveat Boris. Let Boris and all who ride with him beware. Now is a good time to join in, to bring your own understanding to bear, to make your own positive, constructive voice be heard. Thank goodness we don’t have the 2nd Amendment here.

A personal reckoning

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Editorial team
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The Tory byelection defeat had everything to do with Mr Johnson, says North Dorset Green Party’s Ken Huggins

Boris Johnson has just claimed that his government’s record is ‘exceptional’.
He has never spoken a truer word. He blames the crushing Tory defeats in the Wakefield and Tiverton/Honiton byelections on the media, for focussing more on his personal conduct than on his policies. That he considers his personal conduct to be of no consequence says it all.
There has been plenty of media focus on his policies, many of which do not stand up to close scrutiny. And whilst Government spokespeople take every opportunity to remind us of the speed of the vaccine rollout, they deliberately ignore the massive failings elsewhere in dealing with the covid pandemic. For example, the Government claim that a ‘protective ring’ had been thrown around care homes. Not true. My mother caught covid in Yeovil hospital, but was promptly discharged right back into her care home. Tens of thousands of vulnerable care home residents caught covid and died.
Then there was the debacle of PPE procurement, with eye watering profits, commissions being paid without proper scrutiny and billions spent on unusable items.
Wasted taxpayers’ money that could have been profitably used to increase supplies of renewable energy, and reduce energy consumption by insulating homes.
For us to have such a Prime Minister at this time is more than just an embarrassment, it’s a disaster. With the enormity and urgency of the environmental crisis ever more apparent, now more than ever we need strong, compassionate and caring leadership, with recognition that we are all in the same boat. Accepting that everyone has to be taken care of, regardless of which school they went to, or how wealthy they may be.
For any conservatives pondering their next steps, as an ex Conservative voter myself I can confirm the warm welcome that awaits in the Green Party.

Original Elizabethan kitchen is revealed at Athelhampton House

By
Laura
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The kitchen’s open! A beautiful Elizabethan kitchen has been revealed at Athelhampton House, hidden and forgotten despite the room’s continuous use for half a millennia.

The revealed Elizabethan kitchen range at Athelhampton House. Image: Courtenay Hitchcock

Giles Keating, owner of Athelhampton, today invited Chris Loder MP to formally open the ‘new’ kitchen in the famous Tudor house. It is believed to be one of the oldest kitchens in the country in continuous use — for the last 500 years. Over time the Elizabethan origins were hidden behind thick white paint, substantial brickwork and plaster, and a range of rough modern cabinets.

How the Athelhampton kitchen looked until recently, with the top of the filled-in arch apparent. Image: Giles Keating

“The ‘cabinets’ were awful – when we took off the rather nice doors we revealed a really rough DIY 3”x2” framework, clearly homemade, with barely a shelf inside!” said Giles “We knew there was probably something there because we could see the shape of it. But of course, we had no idea what sort of condition it was in, or what was underneath. So we stripped off the modern surfacing, and revealed that beautiful arch. But there was also a vast amount of more modern brickwork which had been used to fill it in, almost entirely, with just a central space left for the Aga, and a gap to one side. We’re not sure why that was left, possibly because the builders were aware of the presence of the bread oven behind, and left access to it.
“We were keen to find the fireplace behind all the brickwork, but we were genuinely worried the whole building would fall down! So we had to put structural underpinning in place first, and then knock out the modern brickwork piece by piece.”

“They used the biggest drill bit I had ever seen!” Giles described the work to support the wide Elizabethan arch. “Originally the arch would have been self-supporting, of course, but at that time there weren’t two floors above it. We presume it was filled in and supported at the time those extra floors were created. Removing those supports would have been dangerous without the structural engineering work”
Matthew Ellis, head of Ellis & Co, specialists in conserving and repairing historic buildings, explained “The arch had been supported by brick pillars, so we needed to use cintec anchors: a long hole was drilled through the arch itself from the outside walls on each end, filled with a special ‘sock’ (a porous fabric sleeve) into which non-shrink cementitious grout was injected under controlled pressure. The result is invisible from inside the kitchen, but provides the necessary arch support and allowed the more modern ‘filler’ brickwork to be removed”

This bread oven had been entirely covered and hidden by a sink – forgotten and unknown to the Athelhampton team until the restoration works began. Image: Courtenay Hitchcock

The team slowly revealed a stunning Elizabethan fireplace and bread oven, complete with soot-blackened bricks. The removal of the modern kitchen units and sink also revealed an unkown bread oven hidden in the wall – now revealed and restored, too.

The archway is wide enough for perhaps a dozen cooks to work at simultaneously (provided the outside ones ducked their heads!), and on the opposite wall is ‘an Elizabethan hob’ – a stone platform with holes to allow pots to be placed over the fires beneath; effectively allowing Tudor ‘hob cooking’ away from the naked flame in the main fireplace under the arch. With an eye on modern standards, however, there are now electric hotplates hidden inside the stonework – a testament to Athelhampton’s drive towards the removal of all fossil fuels on site, and the estate’s aim to become carbon neutral.

Chris Loder MP and Athelhampton owner Giles Keating celebrate the cutting of the ribbon and the official opening of the kitchen. Image: Courtenay Hitchcock

Athelhampton House and its 29 acres of formal and informal gardens was built by the Martyn family – the ending of the Martyn male line in 1596 is marked by a tombstone in the Athelhampton chapel of St Mary Magdalene at Puddletown, in an inscription of brutal – but amusing – honesty: ‘Nicholas the First and Martyn the Last,/Good night, Nicholas!’

Thomas Hardy, who lived at nearby Bockhampton, loved Athelhampton, and thinly disguised it as Athelhall in his short story The Waiting Supper, and in the poems The Dame of Athelhall and The Children and Sir Nameless.

From L-R Matthew Ellis, head of Ellis & Co in charge of the restoration project, with his foreman, Chris Loder MP, Giles Keating owner of Athelhampton, project surveyor Stefan Pitman of SPASE Design, Owen Davies, head of the commercial team at Athelhampton and Claire Poulter, specialist decorator

The Tudor kitchens have not been open to visitors previously, as they were part of the private living apartments within the house; Giles Keating in fact still uses them to enjoy his breakfast. However he explained that they will now form an essential part of the visitor experience, with regular demonstrations, and a large living history re-enactment already planned for October.

Both Giles Keating and Chris Loder were quick to praise the team of craftsmen who have removed all trace of the modern facings and revealed the beautiful Tudor bones of the building.

The panelling restoration – of the two biggest panels above, the left hand one is original oak, the one on the right is a more modern pine replacement, painted by Claire Poulter. Around the window itself, work is still underway. Image: Laura Hitchcock

Thanks to Ellis & Co, Claire Poulter has also been working to restore the panelling in the adjacent dining room “Honestly, I’ve even been dreaming in squares for months. There are over 1,100 of them in here – and I’ve sanded back every single one!”
Claire has worked to repair the original oak panelling, and when the stripping revealed that some of the panels were in fact pine and marine ply, she used her specialist decorator skills to paint it – “It’s a bit like stage dressing – hopefully a casual visitor would be hard-pressed to spot the difference.”

The complete Elizabethan cooking range under the arch, complete with a new spit from a local blacksmith

MP Chris Loder, cutting the ribbon at the official opening ceremony, explained why he was keen to be part of the project:
“It’s no secret that the economy of rural Dorset has a huge dependency on tourism. The work Giles has done at Athelhampton brings people into the area and money into the local economy, which is absolutely vital. I’ve been coming to Athelhampton for over eight years. I have actually eaten in this very kitchen – not realising that behind the aga was this wonderful arch, which is so beautiful to see.”

The revealed Elizabethan range, with serving hatch through to the dining room where the panelling has also been restored. Juliet Ferguson is a living historian with a specialism in the Tudor period. Image: Courtenay Hitchcock

He added
“We have recently had an issue with Thomas Hardy being removed from University syllabus. I am aware that Nadim Zahawi – former education secretary, now chancellor – perhaps wants to be Prime Minister. I shall be very clear that I’m open to negotiation, and if he wants my support then we’ll have to sort out the Thomas Hardy issue …
“I’d like to congratulate the whole team who have achieved this today – it’s terrific to see the work come to fruition. Thank you all.”

Athelhampton House & Gardens has summer opening hours until 8th October:
10am to 5pm, Sunday-Friday (CLOSED on Saturdays).
The House opens 11am daily, last admissions at 4pm

​

Embracing FarmTok

By
Editorial team
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0
The disconnect between comsumers and the food on their plates has arguably never been wider – Andrew Livingston suggests that social media can help
One of the free-range Westleaze hens. Image: Andrew Livingston

Twenty years ago, if someone had had said that social media would be a vital tool for farmers, quite honestly, you would have thought they were mad. Farmer Giles down the road really wasn’t updating his Myspace or Bebo pages.
Today, however, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are all useful and engaging platforms for farmers.
I’m not saying your average farmer needs to know how to do an Instagram story to be a good stockman, or that a decent TikTok will help them know about their cereals. But it really does help in other ways.
When I started at Westleaze Farm, I was quick to set up Facebook and Instagram pages for our farms in both Beaminster and Weymouth. I wouldn’t call myself an influencer, but social media has undoubtedly helped us engage and sell our produce to our local communities.

It’s an education
But the real reason that farmers need to be on the socials is education – people outside farming need to learn about what’s really happening on-farm.
After LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Open Farm Sundays, social media is the best way to try to educate the public about the truth about farming – because they currently have no idea.
Recently, in Weymouth, we had new birds placed for our next flock of free range layer hens and, as we always do, we put out a post promoting the girls.
With the post, we published pictures inside the shed (opposite) – a rare and moderately brave thing for a chicken farm to do, as it always opens you up for scrutiny from those who seem to have no conception of where their food really comes from.
The Facebook post was swiftly deluged with comments, mostly untrue and misinformed, as the people of Weymouth decided to tell us that actually our birds weren’t free-range – “These aren’t free-range then,” and “Poor hens locked inside.”
One user did respond and put it perfectly: “I swear we’re so out of touch with where our food comes from … You can drive past this particular farm and see the hens out in the field.”
You can see the other side of that shed wall in the video above.

Inside the hen shed
Image: Andrew Livingston

Eco-aware generations
I don’t blame the public for having no idea where their food comes from. Frankly, they have never been taught the truth. I wouldn’t advocate for agriculture and the environment being a compulsory subject in schools, but kids do need to be taught at a young age what has to happen for their turkey dinosaurs to reach their plate.
Unfortunately, Countryfile and similar programmes don’t show what true farming is like – lambing season isn’t always in warm, perfectly lit barns. For smaller farms, it’s a case of chasing the lambing ewes in the middle of the night across open fields through sideways rain.
Millennials, Gen Y and Gen Z are all growing up with a greater understanding of the environment and of their own carbon footprint. Farmers need to fight to teach these eco-aware generations that farming is more than just a methane statistic.
Apparenmtly the mainstream news media isn’t interested in showing farming in a good light, but thankfully for us the new generations don’t watch old news media – they scroll on phones and watch silly dances. And with that comes the opportunity to get seen and teach them something new.

Where the hens spend their days
Image: Andrew Livingston

Dip into FarmTok (farming videos on TikTok) here. Careful – it just might surprise you.

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