NFU stall presents rural skills message to County Show visitors

The NFU's stand at the show, staged in Corbridge on Bank Holiday Monday, was devoted to the region's uplands. The show attracts a high number of urban visitors and provides the chance to highlight countryside issues to a wider audience.

"The beauty of Northumberland show is that we do get a lot of rural people, but we also get people from Newcastle," said the NFU's Rachael Gillbanks (pictured).

"They're maybe not making the link between food and the countryside and the sequence of events with farming and the contribution it makes. It's a great showcase for us in that way.

"The contribution the uplands make is fundamental in this part of the world to the landscape. The tourists, they think it's natural, but it's created by farming.

"They've got a role to play in terms of the economy and obviously tourism is a huge industry that wouldn't be there without them. Then there's the wildlife habitats that farmers maintain. All of this isn't there by chance."

The average age of hill farmers is now 59 and there are concerns that the industry may die out unless more young people are attracted to the traditional lifestyle. That would also have repercussions on our landscape.

"We are losing a number of farmers and animals. Under-grazing is a concern," said Ms Gillbanks. "It is an industry with detailed knowledge and in future if that's threatened, people need to think about it."

Dry stone walls are a fundamental part of the region's uplands but the number of practitioners of this ancient craft is also plummeting.

Marc Adams, pictured above, from Allendale in Northumberland, trained in the trade after retiring from the RAF and recently set up his own dry stone walling business.

"This is one of the most ancient farming trades," he said. "In this part of the world, it's been going since the mid-1700s when the big estates had to enclose their fields. Up here, there was a need to break up large fields. There were hundreds of dry stone wallers at one time."

He spent a year training through Northumberland National Park and because the skill is also considered a craft, he was able to attract sponsorship from the Arts Council.

"I have been covering the Hadrian's Wall corridor since December on my own. Before that, I did a course for a year with the National Park on traditional boundaries," he said.

"I use bits of Hadrian's Wall - genuine dressed Roman stone - every day. It's really quite exciting, it's tangible history. It keeps me outside. It's a skill, it's quite satisfying.

"I'm busy now until September on a lot of hill stewardship schemes. I don't advertise, its generally by recommendation and the National Park helps."

Much of his work is on upland farms, where dry stone walls are the traditional type of boundary. Their environmental benefits are also important for farmers signed up to agri-environment stewardship schemes, which provide a guaranteed income in return for land management that benefits wildlife or plants. Mr Adams said: "It's on farms mainly - gapping mainly.

"A lot of the farmers are in stewardship schemes and it's good for the environment. They [dry stone walls] are a wildlife haven. A lot of people think they're barren but they are full of flora and fauna - mosses, lichens, insects, bees, wrens' nests - they are good for small songbirds - they are not a sterile environment."

The Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, says there has been an upsurge in interest in the craft in recent years because of its environmental value.

In the uplands, the walls perform many of the same functions for wildlife as hedges do on lower ground, such as providing shelter for farm animals, to nesting sites for a variety of birds - including little owls in higher walls - and even a roost for bats. Lizards, toads, mice and voles are also often found living in or along the line of the wall.