Working with Tom Newbury from Brackenhill Farm near Tebay we hosted the second Living Lab Co-design workshop at the Agroforestry Show in September. Tom and his partner Charlie have recently taken on management of 30 hectares of Permanent pasture on the edge of Shap Fells in the Lake District National Park.
They are looking to plant trees across the farm to provide a number of functions for animal health, welfare and biodiversity whilst supporting a resilient farm business. The farm currently has minimal tree cover with open fields and some wet boggy areas Their ethos is that the health of the livestock of the land is at the heart and the rest will follow.
Their key objectives are to create shelter particularly for winter grazing as the animals are wintered outside. They’re also looking to create access to browse for minerals and tannins, the potential for wood products and enhancing habitat connectivity. Over the course of the two days participants were invited to consider future agroforestry opportunities for Brackenhill and draw them onto maps.
On day two we hosted a workshop with farmers, advisors and researchers from across the show. Tom shared some of his potential ideas for the future as a starting point and this opened into a discussion. The map below shows some of the ideas discussed include wood shelter blocks which could be rotationally coppiced, shelterbelts, wood pasture and orchards.
An interesting innovation is Toms idea of a ‘Tree Stell’. Based on sheepfolds/stells the traditional stone animal shelters found in the uplands to create circle, star or spiral formations of trees which could also be laid. The idea is that stock could find shelter within the ‘tree stells’ regardless of the wind direction. Tom is interested to trial different designs and assess the pros and cons.
The audience provided practical feedback and new ideas including thoughts on species selection, planting design and fencing. The next step is that Tom will be working with Emma Walker from the Forestry Commission to develop these ideas into an Agroforestry Plan (PA4).
We are now looking to host the final Codesign workshop as part of the ReForest Living Lab. If you are a farmer in the North of England looking to plant agroforestry and would like to invite the ideas and experience of farmers, researchers and advisors on farm in Spring 26 – get in touch!
