We had set a side a day – yesterday – to go for a walk. We’d like to do a long distance walk some day, and keep reminding ourselves that we need to get out more often to build up our stamina.
We’d decided on Ross-On-Wye, around 40 minutes drive away, and a short walk, 5 miles, setting off from the town and doing a loop that started off by the river Wye.
As we were driving out of Gloucester, we saw a group of about 50 people standing on Over Bridge – over the river Severn.
We realised quickly that they were likely waiting for the Severn Bore .. a wave that comes on the incoming tide of the river, and is worth seeing when there is an especially high tide. We have never seen the Severn Bore, so we parked up and joined the waiting crowd, now numbering about one hundred.
We did an internet search to see what time it was expected … according to the timetable, it was 10.42 … by now it’s already a few minutes late ! But I guess like love, you can’t hurry nature.
Eventually, it did arrive. There were about 10 people on paddle boards and kayaks, eagerly waiting to ‘ride the wave.’ In the end, the wave was a bit like the wash from a small boat. A bit underwhelming.
Never mind, we can now say that we’ve seen the Severn Bore.
That’s all by the way, because I came here to write about the walk!
The walk was perfect. We found it on the visit Ross-On-Wye website – the Bridstow walk. Mostly level, with one gentle uphill bit and a short steeper climb near the end. When we started out it was quite chilly, but the sun came out towards the end. It’s wonderful to be able to feel the warmth of the sun on your body in late February.
But the reason I wanted to do a post on this walk is what we saw in the farm we walked through. Townsend Farm is the name, and what they are trying to do here is what is called ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ At various points around the walk, we have noticed some interpretative boards explaining a bit about the landscape.
For example, one board told us about the field in front of us, where they are employing farming methods aimed at increasing the bio-diversity. Most farming in this country is still using pesticides and fertilisers that increase yield but discourage wild life. Regenerative farming is about trying to reverse that trend.
I took a picture of a mural on the side of a barn in the farmyard… the centre of the mural represents intensive farming and the consequent effects on the environment, while the outer parts show what can happen when there is a focus on bio diversity.
The CAP – Common Agricultural Policy – was a policy that encouraged farmers to maximise production, with subsidies based on that production. The effect of that was to deplete the land of wildlife and species of flowers. There is now, thankfully, a realisation that this must change, which means supporting what farmers like this one are doing.
Link to this farm
There’s a wonderful little cafe on the farm with an honesty box. It’s open from 6 am – 10 pm ! We had brought our picnic with us, but supplemented it with a cup of tea and some amazing chocolate brownies. There’s even a loo !
Then back into Ross for a wander round … worth a visit.
I think one of the points of this post is to revel in the surprises that often come on a walk. To come across that farm made the walk special …
In Little Space 
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