Dalmore smallholder open once again

Angus smallholder Rosemary Champion has already played host to a successful event and is registered to take part again this year.

Visitors will get the opportunity to tour Dalmore, her 12-acre property in Barry, feed the laying hens and collect eggs, see the pigs, ewes, lambs and rare Shetland cattle, as well as the orchard, vegetable and fruit garden.

She said: “With increasingly urban lives and the reduction in the number of folk employed in agriculture many folk don’t have any opportunity to visit a farm or smallholding to see and get some understanding and appreciation of the reality of food production. And if they don’t understand it, it’s much harder for them to value it.”

Dalmore is running two free bookable tours which means they know in advance how many people are arriving and when.

“I think that’s a good way to start – at least you feel a bit more in control,” she said. “And Open Farm Sunday provide really good materials both to help hosts prepare – like a preprinted risk assessment – and to give to visitors to take away. For us, the risk assessment isn’t onerous because we’re very small but most of it is common sense.”

And the bonus of taking part? “Seeing folk having a good time – kids feeding lambs, collecting eggs and giving the pony a brush. That’s priceless.”