James Rebanks, of Penruddock, Cumbria, was awarded the Bursary to help develop his family’s Sheep farm and Sheep School project. James’ family- run farm business is very traditional and runs the native local breeds – the Herdwick and the Swaledale. It is operated in an environmentally friendly manner with various conservation projects on the land. The farm has a huge following on Twitter with 1000’s of followers from around the world. James and his wife, Helen, are currently in the midst of developing ‘The Herdwick Sheep School,’ which aims to bring school groups, and small groups of visitors on to the farm to learn about the ancient traditions and farming techniques of the Lake District. The family have just completed a ‘sheep shed classroom’.
James applied to the Land Rover Bursary scheme to help both with the day-to-day farm business and to make the farm accessible for visitors to the Sheep School. James needs a suitable vehicle for tackling the varied rural terrain and one that will go on to help in his quest to educate visitors about farming and food. The new Bursary Freelander 2 he will now receive will help him to do just that.
James commented, “We are genuinely excited to be one of the first ever candidates to receive The Prince’s Countryside Fund Land Rover Bursary.
We have recently invested in one of the notable flocks of Herdwick sheep in the Lake District, taking on the responsibility for farming them on their mountain range home. This unique landscape requires a tough all-terrain vehicle and a Freelander 2 is the perfect answer. We plan on using it to help us do our bit to continue the skills, traditions and way of life that is farming in Cumbria and to take our business forwards. We think that the way the Lake District is farmed by a few dozen families is really important and we want to do our bit to explain it to the wider world and the next generation.”