THE ARCHERS COME TO GRANGE VILLAGE.
RUTH ARCHER recently left behind husband David at Brookfield Farm to take an opportunity to see for herself a different type of farming in a Gloucestershire community which includes and offers opportunities to people with learning disabilities
Actress Felicity Finch, who plays dairy farmer Ruth Archer in the long-running radio soap, The Archers, visited Grange Village Camphill Community, Newnham-on-Severn, to officialy open its new farmyard on Sunday October 5th. The farm is one of the village's projects creating opportunities for people of all abilities to live and work with each other in an atmosphere of equality and respect.
The Grange Village Farm is considerably different from the intensive agriculture practiced at Brookfield, the Archers' fictional farm where Felicity's character, Ruth, manages the dairy herd. Community members at Grange are proud of the registered Demeter biodynamic and organic status of their small farm which includes a beef herd, Golden Guernsey dairy goats, traditional Gloucester Old Spot pigs and free-range poultry.
A team of five community members works with farmer David Herman and a farm apprentice to provide wholesome, naturally-produced food for the Grange Village Community. Before the new farmyard was built, the farm has had a motley collection of buildings built over the years, often on a shoestring budget.
The new farmyard has been created following generous donations, large and small, to the Camphill Village Trust, the national charity of which Grange Village is a part. Traditional architectural style and building methods have been employed to meet the needs of a modern small organic farm. The development provides improved accommodation for livestock and feed storage. This, and the more comfortable working environment, will allow the farm team to manage their stock and store their crops more efficiently while maintaining high biodynamic and organic standards. A new dairy for cheesemaking is included in the farm buildings.
The development has made the farm, once again, a focal point for the village, invigorating the whole community. Now villagers collecting produce from the farm and will not have to negotiate mud and fences to reach the farmyard.
The Grange Village community and their special guest from Ambridge were joined by families and friends from the locality and other Camphill communities at the official opening which was followed by a ceilidh.
Felicity Finch is no stranger to the work of Camphill in supporting people with special needs. In her native North East, her parents were members of the Friends group for the Larchfield Camphill Community, Middlesbrough, another of the Camphill Village Trust's support centres. In 1993 she opened Larchfield's reed bed sewage treatment system which is part of that community's commitment to sustainable living, as is the new farmyard for the Grange community.
Our picture shows 'Ruth Archer' cuttubg the baler twine to officially open the new farmyard. Phot by Pete Mernagh.