TheHerdwickShepherd

Come on holiday to places like ours, but hunt out accommodation provided by farming families - pester the tourism industry to get access to what we do, and to buy/support out products, pester your supermarket to sell local products and shame them when they sell cheaper commodity stuff from elsewhere, write to your MP and ask them to support local farming and food production, and to the greatest extent possible in your busy life try and target your £ at things that are produced in ways you approve of - often the best way is to buy as direct as you can from producers online etc - I am sorry this is rather hard work - but if we don't then we get a countryside we don't really want.

My family have been farmers (of sheep and cattle) for as far back as we can trace (600+ years) - they were in the neighbouring parish in 1420... Ours isn't really a world in which you choose your profession... it is kind of older, and it feels like no choice at all... I would hate to not have kept our family's farm going - also, it takes so long to learn how to be useful in this way of life that you would be mostly useless if you arrived in your twenties - my kids already know loads and they are between 3-9 - you would take ages to catch up with my kids

I think they have more class than that. Suspicion of change is not the same as bigotry and ignorance. Preferring being with your own kind isn't the same thing as racism. IMHO. I think you can be conservative with a small 'c' and still tolerant, open, decent, and kind. But whether Herdwicks agree I can only speculate.

Yes. I read those books as a kid. Some literary authors might be a bit snooty about such popular titles, but I'm not one of those... James Herriot shared the Yorkshire Dales with millions of readers and made people laugh, cry, learn and care... I admire that. They are not among my absolute favourites - but they are good books that capture a moment in time. To make so many people happy, or entertain them is not to be sniffed at.

We use Border Collies. The smartest herding dogs in the world. Mine are called Floss and Tan. And Floss just had 10 puppies.