Entry Level Stewardship

The day of the course turned out to be about the first dry and sunny day West Devon has seen for a month. So it was perhaps understandable that some of those booked onto the course found the lure of a sunny day more appealing than pouring over DEFRA forms and regulations. Those that did attend were able to get very personalised help with enough spare time to sneak over to the incubator to watch chicks hatch.

Gillian started by giving a very professional PowerPoint presentation covering the necessary background and general information you need to know before filling in your application. This was followed by a short farm walk which very usefully showed how a smallholding or small farm set up can comply with the scheme as well as how to fill out your environmental map.

Following on from this we then looked in detail about our own situations and Gillian was able to answer any questions we had about our own applications. Whilst knowing all the ins and outs of the ELS requirements she is also a very practical farmer. This meant that she was able to show each of us the easiest way we could comply. It can be quite easy to get bogged down in all the detail so being able to cut through all that makes the whole thing so much easier. We finished the day (with 5 chicks hatched) and all our applications checked: one of which was ready to be posted the next day. For that alone the day was well worth it and I would encourage anyone thinking of applying to the scheme to get their application and go on the course.