MEMBERS of the Tamar Valley AONB team went to visit some of the recipients of the grant funding provided under Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme at the start of the month.

The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FIPL) programme is a grant scheme developed by Defra for farmers and land managers in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty given to make improvements to the natural environment, cultural heritage and public access on their land. Through the programme, the AONB team support farmers, land managers and people who live and work in the Tamar Valley AONB to help protect and enhance the landscape and support local communities.

Dan Cooke, AONB manager and Alice Lewthwaite, officer for FIPL visited two of the farms that they support under the project. They visited Jeans Family Farm in Bohetherick where the FIPL grant has supported new shelters to support their education visits work, new cherry trees in their Tamar local variety cherry orchard, fencing along permissive paths to make them more walker and dog friendly and wildflower meadow edges around parts of the farm.

The group also visited Harewood Farm where Jo Tytherleigh and Ken Finn are working to enhance their wildflower meadows through careful conservation grazing. The FIPL grant supported fencing to enable this grazing and a 35-species hedge being planted.

These are just two projects approved under FIPL that are delivering outcomes relating to climate, nature, people and place within the Tamar Valley AONB.

Dan said: ‘Our Farming in Protected Landscapes funding scheme has been a great success, and we’re pleased to have been able to support nearly 40 farms from all corners of the Tamar Valley AONB.

‘Farming and horticulture remains at the heart of our Tamar Valley communities. We continue to be inspired by farmers and growers across the AONB, and these projects showed exactly what FIPL is designed to achieve – incorporating aspects of nature recovery, improved awareness and access to our landscape, and strengthening local farming and horticultural businesses.’