The Elms Farm
H M & P J Gibson, The Elms Farm, Church Lane, Swaby, Alford, Lincolnshire, LN13 0BQ
“The Countryside Stewardship Scheme has allowed me to implement my environmental management plan for the Farm to the direct benefit of local biodiversity, landscape attractiveness and public enjoyment”
Phil Gibson, H M & P J Gibson
H M & P J Gibson’s initial 10-year Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreement awarded a total grant of £16,315 to facilitate sympathetic grassland management and on-farm permissive access. Two years later the farm business was awarded an additional £1,533 towards hedgerow management. The Farm’s current CSS agreement will award a grant of at least £30,935 by 2011.
Situated within the nationally protected Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), The Elms Farm is traditionally a mixed farm of 205 acres (83 hectares). It has been owned and farmed by the Gibson Family since 1912. For such a small farm The Elms supports a remarkable number of landscape and habitat features. Perhaps most noteworthy is the steep-sided glacial overflow valley, with its unimproved chalk grassland and lime-rich marsh, that is nationally recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
After reviewing existing on-farm habitats and management practices, Phil Gibson carefully considered a variety of potential habitat creation projects to directly enhance on-farm biodiversity and landscape attractiveness. Armed with this whole farm management plan he investigated available funding sources.
Having secured grant support towards on-farm tree planting projects from both Lincolnshire County Council and the Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service, and drawn down funds through the Department’s former farm diversification grant scheme to support additional pond construction, H M & P J Gibson turned to the CSS to seek longer term financial support. The application process was relatively straightforward and on agreement renewal various revisions and significant additions were sought, including educational access.
Through sympathetic management and sensitive habitat re-creation all semi-natural habitats on-farm are now interconnected, facilitating species migration and colonisation. The success of this whole farm approach to environmental management is tangible. However, The Elms Farm has become so much more than an environmental resource. On-farm permissive access is daily enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. Indeed, local tourism accommodation operators use their proximity to farm walks as a highly successful marketing tool. This award-winning conservation farm is a working commercial unit which in respecting economic, environmental and social need is embracing the concept of sustainable agriculture.
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Page last modified:
19 May, 2005
Page published: 10 December, 2002