Being part of the farming community

I'm not a farmer, neither is Chris, but we are a part of the local farming community because we attend a monthly farmers' group. They have a speaker - that's how we came to be involved because Chris was one of the speakers. We loved the experience so much that we kept going back and are now, what we call, honorary farmers. Chris has just been voted in as Vice Chairman! Next year he's Chairman!!

I have a variety of farmers who have invited me to visit their cows. I will be taking up every invitation!

I'm certainly no expert but I can come up with some talking points and know enough to drum up a conversation about cows or sheep.

Our farming connections have put us in touch with farmers who supply wood or meat. It's great to be able to buy local.

Where we used to live, we weren't made welcome at all. People didn't know how to communicate with Chris because he's blind. We had few friends and weren't part of the community at all, which was run by a couple of longstanding families who didn't welcome outsiders. Here in Derbyshire, it's a completely different story. We have been made welcome since the outset, everywhere we've gone we've been treated as friends. We slotted right in when we arrived in Derbyshire and have never looked back.