A farming couple who make ice cream and keep a herd of Jersey cows at 1,000 feet above sea level in Cumbria is set to star in a new television farming programme this autumn.
Claire and Steven Bland at Abbott Lodge Farm, Clifton near Penrith are the subject of a farm profile in the autumn series of Farming Sunday. This is a new weekly half-hour programme about farming and agri-business being broadcast by Information TV on Sky Digital channel 181 starting Sunday 15 October.
In May 2001, their previous Holstein Friesian herd was culled due to foot and mouth disease. They re-stocked with Jersey cows in February 2002 and started making ice cream four months later. The farm is also open to the public and welcomes several thousand visitors a year.
A television crew visited last month to film what goes on all over the farm and visitor centre and interview Claire and Steven. A key point was that diversification was neither easy nor low cost, and that patience and determination were needed in equal good measure.
The farm profile is scheduled for transmission on Sunday 19 November at 1200 noon. Access to channel 181 is free of charge to all Sky Digital subscribers. According to Farming Sunday producer Dr Alan Powell, nearly 60% of all farmers now have satellite TV.
