Farm of the Week: Walk on the wildlife side keeps farm in the black

"We did that by the skin of our teeth, with six months to spare," says Mr Clark. That was five years ago.

Now they make money not just from the sheep and cattle they rear on 420 acres of Upper Wharfedale, but also from guided tours of the farm and its associated wildlife.

Mr and Mrs Clark came to Upper Wharfedale after a variety of farm-related jobs, including producing several thousand fully-outdoor pigs every year on the Loseley Park estate in Surrey. The pigs were partly fed on the waste from the vats which produced the Loseley Park yoghurt.

The farmhouse at Nethergill, built in 1871, and once owned by a relative of Charles Darwin, is palatial compared with many upland farms nearby, which meant it was ideal for a bed and breakfast business. And the track in front of the house is part of the Dales Way, the walkers' path running from Ilkley to Windermere.

"On the size of farm that we have here, there isn't enough good land for us to run the quantity of sheep or beef animals needed to survive, so one of the reasons we came here was because of the other opportunities it gave us," says Mr Clark.

"The walks came out of the bed and breakfast, from one of the guests saying, 'Would you take us round?'.

"That was two-and-a-half years ago and they were so excited by it that we then offered it to other people, to other guests.

"The first two or three were uncharged, but it then became apparent that there was a demand and we have now done 30 or so walks in the last nine months and we're now charging a reasonable amount of money for them in farming terms."

That price is 50 for a group of up to six people, for a walk lasting more than two hours – half the value of a fat lamb.

The Clarks have set themselves an average target of two walks a week over a year.

"That will generate something in the region of four and a half, five thousand quid. That isn't huge amounts of money, but actually for the time you put into it, the margins are quite good," says Chris Clark.

The route depends on the season During lambing, guests would be taken to see the young lambs and would have a chance to feed orphans with a bottle.

The farm also has a 12-year-old Dales pony, called Bracken, used for "snigging" (dragging logs out of the wood) who features when he is working.

Down at nearby Outhershaw Beck, Mr Clark spots a worm-shaped deposit on one of the rocks in the water – an otter "spraint", or dropping. He points to the bones from fish and small mammals.

On the other side of the beck are blocks of freshly-planted woodland, designed to encourage endangered wildlife back.

As well as otters, red squirrels and black grouse are making a return. The squirrels in particular are a target for the conservation work being carried out here.

"We're in the middle of two different colonies of 'reds' run by the Forestry Commission – one at Snaizeholme, between Hawes and Ribblehead, and the other at Greenfields," says Chris Clark.

"We think we're getting them down into our Scots pines from Greenfields, which borders our land.

"Although we haven't seen one for two years, we're finding the stripped pine cones.

"That's partly why we planted feathered Scots pine up towards Greenfields.

"The planting of the trees has also attracted Black Grouse. We can stand in the kitchen and see them. Last October we had four males and three females."

Mr Clark says intensive forestation drove the bird away and the more extensive plantations he grows suit them better: "They like a mix of grassland, moorland and shrubs and different ages of trees."

At the moment, they are paying for conservation work, but are applying for funding under the new Upland Entry Level stewardship scheme, and the work to encourage red squirrels is part of that application.

They have plans to set up a joint ticketing arrangement with the Yorkshire Dales Countryside Museum, six miles away in Hawes. A field centre is also planned which will allow them to host school visits and provide classroom facilities. This would be funded through Natural England as a part of the Higher Level Stewardship scheme.

Chris Clark says: "We are bringing a different business model here. It's all about managing the land to its full potential, not just managing it for food production.

"Traditional farmers don't want other people on their land. We are quite happy to have them, under guidance.

"We had a schoolteacher here who understood that milk came from a cow, but either had forgotten, or never knew, that actually that cow had to be pregnant, and you had to go through pregnancy to give you milk.

"It's a bit frightening. But it is rewarding when you make some progress."

Nethergill is open for tours weekdays, weekends and evenings, during the summer, with two or three days notice.

See www.nethergill.co.uk or call 01756 761126.

CW 5/6/10