Video: National Trust offer £1 million farm for just £1 rent a year

The National Trust is offering the tenancy of a £1 million farm for just £1 a year to a farmer who will help protect its rare and fragile landscape.
National Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA WireNational Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA Wire
National Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA Wire

Last year the organisation bought land on Great Orme in north Wales, including the 145-acre Parc Farm, with its views of Anglesey and the coast, and grazing rights to 720-acres of headland.

The move aimed to protect the habitats of unique and rare plants and animals and save fragile grasslands from being turned into a golf course.

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Now, as part of its 10-year vision to reverse declines in wildlife, the Trust is looking for a farmer who is willing to take on the "nature-first" approach to grazing the coastal headland which may go against the grain of modern farming.

National Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA WireNational Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA Wire
National Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA Wire

General manager William Greenwood said: "Unless we implement a very specific grazing regime we will not see these most fragile habitats recover.

"Put simply, to ensure a healthy and beautiful landscape we need the most agriculturally productive pasture land to be grazed less, and the least agriculturally productive grassland to be grazed more."

The unconventional farming method of regularly moving the grazing sheep around will mean long hours shepherding on often difficult terrain and working round the Great Orme's 600,000 annual visitors, the Trust said.

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But the successful candidate will get a 10-year farm business tenancy for just £1 a year, while conservation charity Plantlife has pledged to buy the new tenant the flock of sheep needed.

National Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA WireNational Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA Wire
National Trust Images/Richard Williams/PA Wire

The headland is designated as a protected area for nature, and its fragile limestone grasslands are home to sub-species of silver-studded blue and grayling butterflies and a plant, the wild cotoneaster, found nowhere else on earth.

It is also home to other rare plants including the Goldilock's aster and the spiked seedwell and has a growing herd of Kashmiri goats descended from some gifted to Lord Mostyn by Queen Victoria.

Mr Greenwood said: "For the benefit of the Orme we're looking for a tenant who sees a productive farm as one which maintains healthy wildlife and encourages visitors to act for nature, as well as producing good, healthy food.

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"And to give him or her a head start and the best chance of success, we're taking away the financial pressure of having to cover the rent for the farm, the grazing rights and the farmhouse each year."

John Mercer, director of the National Farmers' Union Cymru, said: "This represents an exciting yet challenging opportunity for somebody to enter farming and balance farming, conservation and public engagement."

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