Anna Louise Claydon visits a farm in Lowestoft which is opening up a barn as a warm room this winter. Pathways Care Farm was once part of 130 acres of arable land. It's now just thirteen acres tucked away at the back of a housing estate. The farm gives vulnerable people the opportunity to learn through hands-on farming activities - including planting, cultivation, building restoration, animal husbandry and the basics of machinery maintenance. This winter, its doors have opened to the public for the first time. In 2020, director Geoff Stevens converted what used to be the coldest building on the farm into a fully insulated space with a kitchen and a log burner, in the hope of opening it as a cafe after the pandemic. Little did he know that he'd just created a community space for a problem he didn't yet know was coming: the cost of living crisis.
Anna Louise joins Geoff by the fire to find out more about the new farmyard warm room. She finds members of the team out with the animals and hears how working on the farm has transformed their lives and helped them to re-build after difficult experiences. She also meets farmer Geoffrey Cooper, to hear about the original farm before most of the land was sold off for housing. He tells Anna Louise about his memories of working on the land with his father decades ago.
Presented and produced by Anna Louise Claydon
SilverNicktail on January 10th, 2023 at 17:22 UTC »
One of those "uplifting" stories that's people trying to get along in a country the Tories have brought to its fucking knees. Good to see decent people, can't believe we have to put up with this shit for at least another year (the Tories are hard at work trying to rig that election too). Even then, FPTP means we're gonna end up with Tories Lite.
PhantomTroupe-2 on January 10th, 2023 at 17:18 UTC »
Good for the farmer but that’s not very uplifting. The article is actually quite sad lol
whatatwit on January 10th, 2023 at 17:10 UTC »
Farmyard Warm Room
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gwsm
What's going on in the UK?
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https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9428/
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https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/society/958436/warm-banks-a-worrying-winter-necessity