Back in October, our members from the Lakes area were invited to participate in a farm walk, kindly hosted by Tom & Anna Stable at Bolton Manor Farm.

As always, the day started with tea and coffee all round, offering our members a chance to catch up with each other, as well as group secretary Natalie Edmondson.

Tom began the tour by telling us how his family had bought the farm in 1981, where his father and grandfather had farmed their Holstein dairy herd.

They had discussed upgrading the parlour in the late nineties, managing to get a Dairy Master installed in the early 2000s.

In 2021, his parents Mike and Denise tenanted Edgehill, now the home of their very successful ice cream farm, the well-loved “Cumbrian Cow” which opened in 2016.

This allowed Tom and Anna to take over Bolton Manor in 2013, the same year they were married. Since then, they’ve made some significant improvements to the farm, such as erecting a new cattle shed with sand mattresses, allowing them to successfully manage their 300 strong dairy herd.

Michael Oakes, NFU Dairy Board Chairman, joined the meeting afterwards for an update on current NFU matters, discussing the need for education on food and farming in schools, the current protests against dairy production and exports to Canada and the USA.

Our members had plenty of opinions on these matters, providing everyone with food for thought.