[Maggie] On 22nd we had 35 people from some of Devon’s greenest tourism businesses here at Wheatland Farm…
… it was a meeting for the Devon Green Tourism Buisness Network. The topic was wildlife for economic gain, with presentations on the upcoming Wild about Devon project, how a nature trail can add value to a business, and our own case study – asking visitors to choose us for their self catering ‘eco’ holiday because we run the whole farm for wildlife.
Speaking in front of a crowd isn’t one of my natural strengths, so the best bit for me was taking people on a walk and chatting about dormouse boxes, minimizing the mowing, greening the lodges, sowing yellow rattle so as to encourage the wildflowers, creating new habitats and laying hedges etc, ending up in the nature reserve, which is always my favourite place to be.
Fiona’s Farm Fayre – the shop from the farm that also loans us the cows to graze our nature reserve – did a lovely lunch with far too many cakes…(great!). The village hall loaned us chairs for free (because we’re helping fund raise for them by hosting a hedge laying demo – more later) and we gathered all the cups in the house and the mismatched crocks saved from when the lodges need new plates. It was a squeeze, but we rarely use that big room for anything else so there wasn’t much furniture to push aside…
It was lovely meeting like minded people from other parts of Devon and sharing encouragement!
The Devon Green Tourism Busines Network was set up by Devon County Council to support sustainable tourism businesses. It provides a forum for the 165 Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) accredited members in the County.