Archived News

26th November 2007

Laurence and I had a really interesting visit to meet Virginia Deradour an organic farmer in the Chilterns. 

I first met Virginia at the Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) seminar earlier in the month when Virginia and her neighbour Ian Waller gave an excellent presentation on the school visits they hold on their respective farms.

Sadly we ran out of time to visit Ian's farm today, but hope to visit his LEAF demonstration farm (Linking Environment and Farming) in the near future.

Virginia has a practical attitude about organic farming and doesn't claim that it is the be all and end all to food production, Virginia and Ian's neighbouring farms compliment each other in the countryside.

Ian and Virginia may have differing backgrounds and some differences in farming techniques but they support each other with educational visits and Ian undertakes the combining on Virginia's farm, their teamwork benefits the countryside, education and promoting excellent British produce.

It was encouraging and reassuring to see Virginia's down to earth approach to schools visits, she hasn't gone crazy with signs and fancy classrooms, instead the children get a real feel for the working farm and if it rains they go into a simple barn which is bursting with character and history.  Virginia has enthusiasm for all aspects of farming, flour production, farmers markets and education and this is what matters when it comes to schools visits.