Agricultural Tourism

Unique Niches - Agritourism in Britain and New England

Section 1 Study Organization continued

In Britain

The majority of my time was spent in England, so most of my references are to English farms. However, I did visit and interview farmers in Wales and Scotland, part of Britain and in the Republic of Ireland. Abbreviations used repeatedly are listed for the readers convenience in Appendix G.

My style for collecting information varied. I usually stayed 7-12 days in each study area except when traveling from place to place. The greater the familiarity with a given area, the more information I found I could glean. Each park had set up a long itinerary of places and farms for me to visit. After arriving at a location I called several farms in the area to schedule my visits. I did not use a tape recorder as I thought it would be too formal and intrusive. Each interview lasted about one hour; sometimes they went on for half the day if the farmer was enthusiastic. We generally walked the farm and toured the agritourism venture if feasible.

I brought a small photo booklet describing the West Marin area in pictures that I used to introduce the topic as well as a copy of the Sonoma County Farm Trails map and the Select Sonoma County magazine. I also brought a small map of the Bay Area showing West Marin's proximity to it as well as a brochure of the Point Reyes National Seashore. I carried black and white photo notecards of Marin agriculture that the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) sells and theme bandanna which I gave to people who had spent time assisting me. They were surprised at how similar our area looked to theirs and how rural it was. Note: most foreigner's stereotypes of California include Baywatch, Southern California beaches, and Disneyland.

I tried to meet with farmers who were well connected in the community and highly regarded. Usually they were the local committee contact for the National Farmers Union or the Countryside Landowners Association. Some of my best experiences were completely unplanned such as meeting the top dairy producer in the Peak District area at the Monday cattle market in Bakewell or participating in the drive and shearing of 300 sheep on the Flower's farm in Alstonefield. Many of these opportunities simply occurred because I had decided to stay exclusively on farms.

My free time was spent walking through the countryside which led to more farmer contacts and great experiences since the "countryside" is composed of farms which are accessible to the public along a 35,000 mile system of paths and bridleways.

My husband, Patrick Laherty, accompanied me and was a great asset. He was especially adept as cook, driver and computer support. Many small farms are using computers either for their businesses and/or children and in some cases Patrick's expertise and willingness to help was our invitation back for dinner.

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