A Farming Connect mentor has supported the contestants in a Channel 4 programme with an on-farm workshop.
The second series of Our Dream Farm is currently being aired. The prize is a 15-year-long tenancy of a 248-hectare farm in Eryri – Snowdonia – which includes a house and numerous outbuildings, which is owned and managed by National Trust Wales.
The series is hosted by Matt Baker, and seven candidates are competing for the prize.
Farming Connect mentor and Agrisgôp Caroline Dawson was invited to mentor and tutor the finalists in an on-farm workshop she designed and led. Caroline, a specialist diversification and agri-food expert from North Wales, began her day with an ice-breaker activity.
“I asked each member of the group to sketch a picture of themselves and list their strengths.
“There were lots of incredulous laughs at first but they all quickly realised the real challenge had started, because it’s not easy to describe yourself in a way that demonstrates what makes you more knowledgeable, more focused, more tenacious and more able – in other words the best tenant – to manage this amazing farm,” said Caroline.
Throughout the duration of Caroline’s day-long workshop, which took place in one of the farm’s specially re-purposed ‘picture perfect’ barns, judges Giles Hunt, Land and Estates Director for the National Trust, and Trystan Edwards, General Manager for Eryri National Trust Cymru, joined Matt Baker to observe the whole process as Caroline put the final seven – whittled down from the original 11 applicants – through a series of exercises.
National Trust Cymru purchased this farm in 2012, following a successful public appeal. Until 2020 they ran it in partnership with Wales YFC, after which it was managed by five YFC scholars through subsequent shorter-term tenancies.
The conservation charity now wants to hand over the reins longer term, giving the new tenants sufficient time to combine sustainable land management and conservation principles with developing a resilient, profitable, diversified farm business. In addition to managing the farm’s sheep flocks, they will need to implement a new business plan which capitalises on the high number of tourists who visit Eryri each year.
The steep surrounding land is insufficiently productive for large stock numbers but there is significant potential to diversify. Caroline, an experienced facilitator, devised activities that required each contestant to explain how they planned to capitalise on the opportunities to attract, accommodate and manage revenue-earning activities for the nature lovers, walkers, climbers, cyclists and water-sports enthusiasts who flock to the area every year. Each candidate had to demonstrate their vision, showing they had the confidence and ability to produce and implement the best business plan to preserve the heritage of the farm with its unique biodiversity, while safeguarding its long-term viability through tourism.
Each programme in the current series will feature various challenges and practical exercises with applicants eliminated one at a time until the names of the winner are revealed in the final episode.
“Tenancies of this calibre are extremely rare. I feel hugely privileged to have met each of the brilliant candidates and played some small part in a process that will lead to a life-changing opportunity for the ultimate winner or winners,” said Caroline.
