Northumbria Smallholders Association

On a raw February afternoon a group of Smallholders made their way to a Newcastle primary school. We had been invited to put on a display of country crafts to a class of 6-7 year olds who had spent the previous week exploring the use of natural materials. Neither group in this arrangement knew quite what to expect, but as soon as we walked into the school it was sunshine and smiles all round.

The excited children were ushered outside while the Smallholders set up their displays for spinning, wool and woodcraft, complimented by posters of sheep and other wool producing creatures. Ros commandeered one corner with her spinning wheel, while Billy and Dave squeezed behind tiny desks at another with their fine array of wood turning, sticks, horn and tools. Margaret and Eve were the back-up team.

When they came in the children were given a brief introduction to the crafts, then they were free to ask questions and investigate the samples. This produced much fun and amusement. The children were fascinated by a Lazy Kate and a wool-winding umbrella, and impressed by the spinning and wonderfully wrought sticks.

Although there were one or two anxious moments for the Smallholders (stick pole vaulting springs to mind), the children behaved well and showed a happy, intelligent interNeedless to say the highlight was when they were given hands on experience of the woodworking tools.

After a big thank-you from the children and staff, the Smallholders came back to Eve’s for tea where they could relax quietly and discuss the session. We agreed it had been a heart-warming experience, and although we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, there was absolutely no way we could spend 5 days a week confined to a small classroom with all its demands and noise. Hats off to those dedicated teachers who do!

When the children came back to school after half-term they produced a lovely card to thank us for our visit.

Eve Morgan

On Sunday 22nd June we visited Steve Ramshaw at Monkridge Farm who showed us around his premises where he runs his business Northumbria Quality Meat

He sells his meats at farmers markets several shops around the area and they have their own butchers shop in Fenwicks

Monkridge is an organic farm of about 750 acres of hill land and is managed on a traditional basis as it would have been centuries ago.

We had a walk around the farm(the weather wasn’t very kind to us) and saw his sheep, Scottish Blackface and his cattle Aberdeen Angus and Galloway.

We thanked Steve for a great afternoon and headed off to George and Ina Dents for our usual pool tea.

Friday 13th was not at all unlucky. Not only was it another visit for the smallholders but it was to a brewery!!

Mr and Mrs Urwin provided us with a warm welcome, a fascinating tour and a tasty supper. High House Farm is a traditional non intensive farm with a mixture of arable and livestock. Following the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 the family decided to diversify into brewing. It is now perhaps unique in the area for growing barley specifically for the beers it produces.

During our visit we saw and smelled the process of brewing. We soon realised that the secret of the taste of a beer is in the production and processing of the malt and hops as well as a sound knowledge of chemistry or alchemy production and processing of the malt and hops as well as a sound knowledge of chemistry or alchemy.

The Urwins have won awards from CAMRA for the quality of their beers which impressed those of us who were ‘persuaded’ to taste them. Auld Hemp had a fine amber colour and fresh malty flavour and contrasts dramatically with with Black Moss which is a red porter style ale and has a roasted malt flavour.

The brewery has a coffee shop and visitors’ centre selling the beers and local arts and crafts. It is not surprising it has won a Countryside Alliance Best Diversification Award in 2006.

An enjoyable evening with everyone leaving with all drivers sober!!

Bob Morgan

We watched the weather forecast the night before this event and a large black cloud moved slowly north and descended on Ashington at about 2pm with some lightning flashes just above Hawthorn Cottage (which could be clearly seen on the weather map on account of the gleaming new shed roof). It was therefore with wellies macs and brollies that we and 20 others rolled in on Sunday 15th July (St Swithin’s day), our worst fears being confirmed by Stuart our resident weather man who had also come prepared for the worst.

Philip Bull from ADAS welcomed us all and (whilst being loudly heckled by the caged birds) gave an overview of the Entry level stewardship scheme. The scheme has the aim of ecouraging good farming practice whilst minimising impact on the environment and encouraging wildlife. Each hectare of land (they use hectares to make those of us with postage stamp holdings feel even smaller) is capable of earning points from a list of features including properly managed hedgerows & walls, field margins and archeological features. Alas an elderly International tractor does not count as an archeological feature. Reaching the magical 30 points per hectare means a chance of financial reward which will at least go some way towards managing the land in the way Defra would like.

We then set off on our walk – what is this? – bright sunshine! Dave showed us the fields that had been reclaimed from the pit heap and Mr Bull explained how the maintenance of the hedge, if cut no more frequently than once every two years, would provide points for the scheme. Some of the original land still had rig & furrow and this, if left unploughed and away from intesive feeding, would also attract points. The SSSI (Site of special scientific interest) lay outside the scheme but it was certainly interesting to hear about its history and the problems of maintaining it. Dave also told us about a rare form of wildlife that he had encountered that very morning – after long observation it turned out to have two legs and a smoker’s cough.

As we made our way back to the farmhouse you could not help feeling that the land, which had so recently been wasteland, was a credit to the Jobsons and the small herd of very contented shorthorns came across to let us know of their approval.

Arriving back at the house what had been a Defra event suddenly revealed its true colours as the groaning tea table proclaimed that it was a Smallholder event after all.

Many thanks to Mr Bull for his talk and to Margaret & Dave for their generous hospitality.

As we drove home the first spots of rain appeared on the window. Apparently the weather front moving up from the south had been delayed by the postal strike. Nice one.

On a glorious afternoon in May we had an opportunity to step back in time and experience life in the Anglo Saxon village of Gyrwe –Jarrow for those of you not fluent in Old English.

Billy and Betty organised this fascinating visit which provided an opportunity to see two of their Dexters settling in to life on the farm in preparation to take over from the established oxen, Edwin and Oswin. In traditional style the cattle are trained to work as a pair in harness and we were lucky to watch a display of their intricate manoeuvres around the paddock.

In addition to the Dexters there are rare breeds of sheep including Hebridean, Ronaldsay, Manx and Soay varieties, and pigs, cross bred from Tamworth, Berkshires and wild boar.

Away from the animals we walked through the farm to the vegetable plots. Among the vegetables, peas leaks and onions are grown. There were black beans known as Celtic Bean and wild cabbage. Fruit grown at the farm includes gooseberry, currents, raspberries and strawberries. Looking at the quality of produce growing in the shelter of the hawthorned walled garden it would certainly make a good showing at our annual show.

Given that the site of the farm is only metres away from the busy commerce of the River Tyne it is difficult to adjust to the sight of simple buildings  sometimes no more than a timber roof over a pit excavated into the ground, such a short distance from the  cranes and ferries at the Honda dockyard.

In completing the trail around the farm we were able to get refreshment from the café and begin to adjust to the 21st century.