NSA Marches Region 'Cotswold Seeds and FarmEd' farm walk
Date: 16th September 2020
Time: 4.30pm
Location: Honeydale Farm, Shipton Under Wychwood, Chipping Norton, Oxon, OX7 6BJ
NSA Marches Region was pleased to be able to continue with a long-awaited visit to Cotswold Seed’s new FarmEd visitor site on Wednesday 16th September.
Despite current Covid-19 guidelines restricting some gatherings once again, advice was given that the visit could proceed as a business event but with limited numbers.
Organisation at the site could not have been safer with social distancing encouraged at every point of the visit and hand sanitizers, face coverings etc all plentifully supplied to ensure the safety of the group.
The visit began with a talk from Cotswold Seeds and FarmEd Director Ian Wilkinson who gave an introduction to the farm site that the company acquired in 2014. It is now run as a demonstration farm with a mix of arable, wildflower meadows, orchards and herbal leys mob grazed by a small flock of sheep, owned by a local young farmer who they are happy to encourage as a new entrant to sheep farming. The sheep are managed carefully to enhance the return of nutrients to the soil whilst allowing different grass and herbal ley mixes to be trialled on farm for the Cotswold Seeds business.
Making the most of the September early evening sunshine the visit was enjoyed by an extremely engaged group of members who viewed the grazing plots with interest and were grateful for a farm tour to be permitted once again.
