Creating a ‘conservation farm’: from dream to reality

Leonie Martin visits Ravensnest Cottage Farm in Ashover to find out how one dedicated couple are turning the clocks back to a kinder time – and sowing the seeds for a better future.

THE ‘MATERNITY WING’ at Ravensnest Cottage Farm in Ashover is a hub of activity this spring. Early every morning, tenant farmer James Frith sets off across the fields on his ‘ward round’ eager to discover if there have been any new arrivals during the night. Meanwhile, his wife, Sarah exercises the ponies in an adjoining field, before the couple finally sit down to breakfast by a glowing fire in the simple, 18th century farm cottage that has become their home…