REMOTE FARMHOUSE
Jane Barker, 59, an environmental scientist, lives with her husband Simon and their daughter Arabella, 14, in Heltondale, Cumbria.
My HoMe We live in a 1700’s stone house on a traditional hill farm. We’re tenant farmers, so we don’t own it, but simon’s family have tended sheep here for five generations. We’re tucked into the fell, surrounded by bracken and peat bogs, and the nearest house is three-quarters of a mile away. i’m from Cumbria but moved away to study and work. Coming here was like coming home. My work My year has two highlights. lambing is a 24/7 job but incredibly rewarding. and in the winter, i ride up the fell on my quad bike to feed the sheep. Hill farming isn’t profitable, so we’ve had to diversify. We’ve used my scientific background to start a business making sustainable compost from bracken and wool. We also restore precious peat bogs for Natural England and scottish Natural Heritage. i’m also vice-chair of the lake District National Park authority, so that feeds my intellectual brain.
My CoMMute it’s a 30-second hop across the yard to my Portakabin office, shooing away the hens who want to come inside.
My fAvourite plACe i love it on top of the fell with my flock. the views are amazing and i can hear the birds. the friendlier sheep come and nibble my hair. BeSt tHing ABout living Here it’s quiet, beautiful and i like the juggle of my life and its seasonality. lambing in the spring, harvesting bracken in the summer, and restoring the bogs in winter. tHe downSide i found it isolating when arabella was a toddler. We’re so remote, it was hard to take her out to playgroups. Now she’s at school, she has more of a social life.
My CoMMunity i don’t have time to go to the village pub, so there isn’t the rural idyll you might imagine. some great women work in the office but my community is really simon and arabella. wHAt i do in My downtiMe there’s a walk arabella and i go on, along the stream and through the woods, foraging for wild sorrel and greenery to decorate the house. and i have fell ponies that i love. Nothing looks better than seeing them out on the hillside.
How i treAt MySelf i don’t really – when you’re farming it’s difficult to carve out time for yourself.
“I forage for wild sorrel and greenery”