Liz Fletcher has truly found a home in the farming community. In this week's Farmers Guardian podcast episode, online editor Emily Ashworth talks to Liz about how she has truly become embedded in the rural community, and how all of a sudden, 10 sheep quickly became 240.
Coming from a non-farming background, the idea when moving to their 240-acre farm in the Peak District was only ever meant to be a lifestyle move, but three years later, along with her husband, Kelvin, and their four young children, they have seriously fallen in love with the industry and hope to inspire others - inside and out the sector - to celebrate it.
Liz Fletcher has truly found a home in the farming community. In this week's Farmers Guardian podcast episode, online editor Emily Ashworth talks to Liz about how she has truly become embedded in the rural community, and how all of a sudden, 10 sheep quickly became 240.
Coming from a non-farming background, the idea when moving to their 240-acre farm in the Peak District was only ever meant to be a lifestyle move, but three years later, along with her husband, Kelvin, and their four young children, they have seriously fallen in love with the industry and hope to inspire others - inside and out the sector - to celebrate it.
You're listening to the Farmers Guardian podcast. Lee Fletcher's On the Farm became one of the country's favorite farming programs, and in this episode of the Farmers Guardian podcast with me, Emily Ashworth, FGS online editor I catch up with the wonderful Liz Fletcher winning the farm with her husband Kelvin. They won 240 sheep along with other various animals and even though she has fallen unexpectedly into this world, Liz is truly found her farming feat. We talk about her love of shows, sharing her passion for farming with the kids, diversification and something every farmer can relate to. All consuming thoughts about grass. It was fab to sit down with Liz in the farmhouse, so I really, really hope you enjoy the episode. Liz, thank you so much for having me here. I'm so excited to. Well, we've obviously spoken before, but we've never actually, I don't think, sat down and had a proper conversation. And so it's really, really nice to be here first though. I want to kind of start. I don't want to I don't want to go right back to the beginning. I want to start now. You know how how's life on the farm going? You've been here for a good couple of years. Now you're in the full swing of it. How? How is it all going? How do you feel about it? That you're a fully fledged. You're fully fledged farm? Oh, my God, it's officially you know. Do you know what it's going? It's going good. It's been a huge, huge learning curve. And we've been here three years now and it's yeah, it's it's it's been the most amazing journey so far because this was never what we sort of set out to do. We were originally meant to go to America and that all fell through because of oh, did you not know that? I knew that. So yeah. So we were, planning on moving to America and that all of that, we only had one child at a time, and we decided, we thought, let's sell. Let's just go to actors like, you know, let's just see what happens. And and then lockdown happened. So all the visas got stopped. We, you know, and we had that mindset then where look, we're ready to move. We're ready for a new adventure. What what can we do? And within that time we found the farm. And that's how we ended up on the farm. And it wasn't even a farm, actually. It was just to kind of live here and have a new life, see what happened. And and then slowly you realize and and speaking to people, oh, you should get some sheep. Oh you should get some pigs. Oh you should. And as we did, we learned that we really fell in love with it. And you start off with small numbers. Beside that we tend sheep. Yeah, yeah. You know, we've gone up to like 240 sheep. And we started out with four pigs. We ended up with 35 pigs and so yeah, yeah, it was and so loving it and really happy and just every day is different. And I think although we, I always say I know nothing compared to people that have been doing this for years and years, there's things there's paperwork, there's things you need to know about animals. There's things about the markets, the fluctuation of prices, all that that I'm still very much learning, but it's a subject that I'm absolutely obsessed with and something that I never get bored of speaking to people about and finding out where they started and what they do differently. And, you know, you can ask ten farmers questions about how they farm and you'll get ten different answers. And I love that because everyone finds their own little way of doing it. And I think that's a really relatable point, actually. You know, I don't think, you know, even if you have been doing it years and years, that's what this industry is. It's learning every day, isn't it, because you actually don't know what's coming around the corner. So you have to be adaptable and you have to be open to learn. And so I think that's quite kind of general. It should be a general view anyway. I know no matter how long you've been in the industry, everyone has to keep learning. So I think that's really nice. well actually so hearing that then do you not sometimes sit here and think, oh my God, I could have been, you know, what you could have been doing if that could be how you could better be. Yeah. Shameless piglets. Oh, we blow it out of my mouth. Yeah, I would, I would do nothing escaping this thing. Yeah.
Not going out of my sleep because 11:00 at night, trying to catch a sheep. I think I wouldn't I people be. This is I, I think life is chaotic. We've got four children. Yeah. and farming, I always say plan for the unexpected because you never know what's going to happen. but I love it. I absolutely love it. And that's. I think that's the whole part of the excitement and and, you know, I never get bored of it. I never, although sometimes I might, you know, roll my eyes at having to go out late at night when it's freezing cold and you've got to do something. But really then when you're outside, you look up and you see the stars and there's always a positive to go with the negative, I think. So just out of interest, have have you ever had any connection to farming at all like before you came here? Had you experienced it at all? Had you been on a friend's farm? Anything? The only thing I've done in farming was visit. Yes. Okay. Yeah. It was the only thing. Yeah. Other than that, absolutely nothing. I didn't know anything about farming. I didn't know what farmers had to do. I thought, if you live on a farm, you've made it. Wow. Look at you on a farm with all that land. That is amazing. I had no realization how hard it is and how much work goes into it, and what it takes to keep that going. Yeah. So yeah, you know, me turning up, pay my admin my admission fee to get in and see these lovely animals in a pen and yet to feed a lamb that's a lovely, you know, entertainment side of it. Yeah. what actually goes on is huge. And I've got just so much respect for what farmers do. We do a couple of seasonal events here now, and even that I have so much respect for farmers that diversify and do events at their farm, because what goes into it is huge. It's not just about putting your animals out for people to say there's health and safety checks, there's staff that you've got to provide. There's, you know, hot water people to wash their hands. There's just so much stuff that you have to do before you've even started thinking of the event. Yeah. And for me, when I think about, you know, me as a as a performer, as entertainer, I feel like my forte is to know how to entertain people. When I think of a farmer doing that who's probably spent 40 years on his own in field, then having to think, right, I've got to invite the public to the farm to keep this running. I'm like, wow, that's amazing that you've pulled that off. Just unbelievable. And we still visit all the farms, to kind of support and celebrate that. People have done that because I think it's incredible. So in terms, I think actually as well, on that point, you know, all that, then it's just one side and then you've still got, you know, you still got that farm inside to concentrate on as well, haven't you. So it's, it's it's quite a unique industry in terms of there's not many of the jobs where you have to do so many where so many hats. I know that sounds like a cliche, but you really you really do. If you're going to diversify. Yeah, you've got your farming hat, you've got your, event hat, you've got your kind of health and safety hat. It's, it's it's all encompassing, isn't it? Intensive? Just like you say. You coming in and not realizing. What do you feel like? The biggest misconception then is from what you know now to what you kind of thought about farming before, what was the biggest sort of, oh my God, I didn't know this. And I really want other people to know that. I think, like I said, just how hard farmers work and how you realize that, What they, you kind of think that they've absolutely made it, and they might have 400, 500 sheep, a thousand cows, and you think, wow, wow. You know, you must have a lovely day on the farm. And it's all ticking over smoothly and it never is. And you realize that actually the process of everything, it's the farmers that get undercut, undercut by the supermarkets undercut, and it's them doing all the work, and they are not getting the rewards. And I think that is what the biggest misconception was. And that, you know, I realize now the more and more I've been in this farming industry, what a struggle it is. Yes, there's absolute amazing moments. It's an amazing lifestyle. It is just something that is, hearts feel full living on a farm and trying to be farmers. But the results and the rewards, it's an absolute slog sometimes, and I can see why some people that might be stuck in the ways or might not know how to get out of the same routine that they've been doing, I finding it difficult and finding it hard to put money back into the farm. Yeah, and I think that is my biggest misconception, just how hard they work. I think it's nice as well, because you can actually now take people on that journey. Can you you have these seasonal, events that happen. You obviously had a really successful, TV program and a like when we spoke last time, you said that one of the things that you really enjoyed was that people actually come along on that journey with you. Yeah. Does that feel do you almost feel a bit of a responsibility now to say to people, this is actually what being a farmer is? Yeah. And we want to celebrate farm. And yes, there are, you know, struggles and a lot of negativity going around farming for we can also I feel like we can find a way to celebrate and find a way to bring us back. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to work out right. We've got this. What can we do to put money back into the farm, make some money, live here? And I think that we want to share that we've got 120 acres. There's only so much we can do with that. but we're doing our absolute best to make that happen and find new ways of do. We haven't got anyone in our generational wine to say, this is how you do it, we're just going to do it how we think it works. And I think that that is we want to celebrate that. And I think because we started filming from day one, people have seen us come in, you know, we turned up on day one and our flip flops. That's what that's where we were at. And we slowly look like now I never leave it out. I've always got fleece on. This is the uniform. Now. And I feel like, you know, people have seen that and so many people have said, I've learned so much from your show. My kids have learned so much from your show. Their kids are learning through our kids. And this is still very new to us. And I almost want to share that and be like, look, you can join us on this. And we do these events that you can come and celebrate this with us, and you can come on to our farm and get the kids out. Come and be in nature. If you've never been in nature, if you have nowhere to go, you don't know where the national park is. Come to us and we'll we'll show you a taste of that farm in life. And that's absolutely what we're trying to do. We're trying to share that out. And we've got ideas for the, you know, the rest of the year where we can give families that opportunity. And for us, it's about giving them the chance to learn, have a taste of it and be part of it. And I love that. And the response that we get from people and the interest that kids have now in being outdoors, that is the best response we could ever have. And that's why we also keep doing it. Yeah, I can vouch for that as well. We had a fantastic time at Christmas and obviously it was made even more magical by the snow. So I mean that wasn't it. So yeah, it was fantastic. let's just quickly talk about that while we're on that diversification, theme, obviously you well, number one, you've renovated the cottage. It's been a little bit like your baby, I guess, in terms of your project, which is nice again, to welcome people, onto the farm and let them experience it in whatever way they wish to. And then we were just talking about wool. You are now creating rugs from blankets. Yeah. Called blankets. Yeah, yeah. So the farmhouse, the original farmhouse was, it's like an 18th century cottage. So you can imagine what stay was in. And we were, you know, foolish enough to think that it was probably a six week paint job, a lick of paint. It's nice furniture. You'll do the job. How wrong we were. Because when you start chipping away, you realize the whole thing. If you're going to do it, you have to do it properly. And I said, you know, one of the things was, look, I really want to invest in this. I feel like this could be a great way to, drive money back into the farm, a great business for us. So we went to town and it was literally blood, sweat and tears. And it took about 18 months, two years to finish off. Oh, wow. Okay. so it was a huge job, a huge operation, and it was just me and Calvin, you know, doing it. I wrote my dad into it. If you saw the first, series we did on the BBC, we actually roped everyone into doing a job and now it's finished and it's so nice for people to come have that. You know, we've got so many people coming from the city to come for a nice, peaceful weekend or a week away with the kids, get out onto the public footpaths and do their walks and just have some peace and quiet. And that is they love it. And that is just I'm so glad that we put that effort in to to see people enjoying it now. Yeah, yeah. And then as for wool, yeah, one of the hardest things is when you have to share the sheep. it's going to cost you. And as a farmer now, I do not like things costing me. Yeah, I won't say hi. I am so sorry. Why are you always meant to be lazy? I, I found the phrase, you know, and you think like it's 1 pound. I think it's 1.22 pound sheared sheep which sells nothing. It's a it's an ongoing battle. Exactly. It's never but when you've got 300 sheep or whatever, it's actually a lot of money. And I think you if you might get 75 fleece. So for me, not many people know I used to work in the fashion industry in on a buying team. And it's like, there's got to be something we can do. This amazing fabric is it's luxury. Why? Why have we not got this? so I looked into it, and there's a mill in Oldham where they will turn your wool into whatever you want. So we've side with these blankets. I'll have to get you want to show you, we'll start with these blankets, because who doesn't want a blanket in their front room or on the bed? So, yes, we've we've created these blankets. And although our numbers are small because we only have a certain amount of wool. Yeah. I'm so proud of it, I love it. So at Christmas, everyone got a blanket. Obviously. Everyone get a blanket. Whatever it is, no matter what age you get in a blanket, you know as well as well. I think this whole sustainability conversation, like it just feels like it's very surface level. This conversation, doesn't it? Because actually, why are we being in one of the more sustainable products we've got? one, we've got massive opportunities to create, you know, a multitude of things for me. So, it's it's nice to hear that you've been able to actually find an outlet, but also something that connects you to where you came from as well, which is, Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I think as well I think that's the other thing we want to share that if if farmers want to go into that, it's not actually rocket science. If you have, you know, wherever you are in the country, you can do this as well. And in I think that's what it's all about, showing people what you're doing and seeing if it can work for someone else. That's how we've learned about farming, or the farmers have shown us how they do it, and we bring it back to the farm as if we can apply it. Yeah, we all like to look over the fence. Don't wait and see what someone else is going in yet. we are coming into a short season. I know that you guys like to visit as a family. Will you be heading out this year to various shows? Will you be showing any animals are. Absolutely. We might be showing an animal that you may never have seen as with before, but I can't tell you too much. I can't tell you too much generally. But yeah, we love the shows. Just that whole family day out. Yeah. What you say, you know, every show is different. I'm fascinated by every show and I just. Yeah, it's it's something we really look forward to. The sun is finally shining and you get to be out and seeing animals that we haven't got on the farm seeing, you know, cows looking, you know, they've had a bigger glow up. They look more impressive than me at the hairdressers. I'm like, wow, look at that cow is getting a blow dry at the salon, isn't it? He's like, yeah, just they're amazing. The kids love it. It is one of our favorite times of the year where you, Because I always imagine if, you know, if you step foot into it, especially like maybe a smaller agricultural show. It's so it's so communal and sometimes very historic. And, you know, actually, if you've never seen, like, someone, you know, who told to turn their animal and walked it around the show ring, it's actually quite a unique thing when you first, you know, kind of went to visit a show like that. What were your thoughts about this? Because it's quite old world, isn't it? Yeah it is, and I like that. The tradition, you know, we're keeping hold of it. Yeah. I do love that. I love the, the tradition of it all. And the first show we went to, we actually showed our sheep and, my sheep was just the most embarrassing sheep ever. It I didn't realize which sheep are very good at pretending to be dead, and that is what mine did. And I completely embarrassed the whole family and the. I remember the judge actually said to me, ten out of ten for behavior, but nothing had happened. I was just standing still at that point, and as soon as she went to look at the sheep teeth, he was just going like jumping up, lay flat and she went, it doesn't matter. She politely just said, that isn't this is my son. I was like, I'm out of the competition. And you can see everyone looking on. well, that's what you say. It's all lighting, kids. It's all lighting. What can you do? You know, they just do whatever they want. So. Yeah. But, Marnie actually won at that at the show, so she got fourth place places, and I was crying my eyes out, you know, just the sense of pride. My daughter stood there with a sheep. She. I think she was 4 or 3 at the time. And. Yeah, just to have that and and we took that, we took that little award home with absolute pride. I think that's what gives you a real pride of your. Absolutely. Have your head. Yeah. Maybe you'll flock. Yeah. Spider-Man. Are you are you. Did you wait? You were asleep for the whole time in the show? Yeah. You were too young then. what you after? What do you want? I want you to get me some, which is definitely a snack. Tap. Right. Give me two minutes and I'll get it with both. Give me two minutes. What do you think? I mean, what do you think about farming? Yeah. Do you love it? Oh, in on the Spider-Man thing. It's nice. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. A whole new question itself. Yes I did, yeah. What are they going to do with the farm? That's why I can't wait before of passing the farm down to them. What are they going to do. Yeah. I'm like, look, you can be whatever you want. You don't have to be farmers. This is a bit like you're going to be fighting anything. Farmers. Yeah, but I can't wait to see what what they do. And I hope that they can create something. I'll do something here that makes them happy. It's actually, you know, when you when you really do think about it, you know, whatever you do in life, obviously you kind of do it for yourself. And because you can passionate about it. But farming, you are actually creating some sort of legacy that is then able to pass down, which you don't really have that with many other kind of job roles, if that makes sense. So that that's quite kind of a it's quite an emotional thing actually, isn't it. Yeah. Because they're learning from us now. And the thought of them taking into account what we do now and maybe applying it and then putting their own such it you know, I hope that when we're older, I mean, who knows where will be in ten, 20 years time. But I hope that they have the strength and, and the, the knowledge to apply what they need to apply to fit in the world that they're in at that time. And they can change things up and and we're all open for that. I don't ever want them to feel that they have to do it just because we did it that way. I want them to think out of the box. Who knows? My family will be in ten years. Well, exactly ten exactly. That is true. I do just want to talk about the kids, actually, because, you know, they kind of say that bringing kids up on a farm, it's one of the best childhoods that they could ever have. Yeah. You've got all this kind of freedom. They've got that access to. Just looking at how life works, really is. That's something that's, you know, quite important to you in terms of letting them have this. Yeah, yeah. I think, that's one of my favorite things, actually, seeing how they have adapted to this life and letting you know, giving them enough kind of responsibility to know how important it is that we now have to take care of this. And they know a lot about life and death. Now they know a lot about the responsibility that's on them. They've got to alert people if they see something that doesn't look right, like we've got lambing season coming up. Unfortunately, lambs do die and we don't shy away from them. Seeing that I've got friends that would not be able to look at a dead animal and would probably, you know, I've got one friend that will probably cry over it. My kids that are four, five, six, seven know that they have to be mature about that and they have to alert you. And we have to do something about that. And I love that. I love that they've got that strength and understanding. And it's not something to be squeamish about. It's something that you need to know about. Because this happens. It's common. We need to have the knowledge and responsibility to solve the problem. And and I love that. And although it might be like what is that for kids? It's not young. They need to know about life. And that's our job as farmers. So I remember, we've got an amazing neighbor up the road, Jilly. She rang me when we first moved in and said, I've got a cow evidence area near. Do you want to come and see it? I was in the car with nanny. I think she was four in the cow, straight up. So we wanted to watch it and she was fascinated and seeing that and giving her the chance to see that, it was unbelievable. She wasn't squeamish. She just watched the whole thing and was like, wow, mum, that's amazing. And I want help me. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I'm totally open to letting kids see that. And I think more kids should understand that. More kitchen, the same way food comes from more than some. What goes on in this farming world and why should we shy away from it? It's it's how the world works. Yeah, yeah. The and the so open that I think was it was quite scared as a society aren't we to expose them to things that actually just will live your life. It's obviously a lot. Yeah. Where but yeah. yeah. I completely agree that getting outside and closer to nature can only be a good, positive thing. So. Yeah. just out of interest then if you out of all if if, I mean, the twins are still very young, but is the one in particular that has a real affinity for farming, who would you say would be the farmer out with the kids? Yeah, I think it has limits. Yes. Oh really? Oh my God. He. If he comes inside, he goes ballistic. He's like big big. You are outside old no matter what. Sometimes you know you've got to get the wellies on quick enough. Otherwise you'd be out there barefoot and he is. And everyone says he is a farmer because he could just be out all day, every day. I wasn't expecting you to say, yeah, say the two year old. This is the babies of the farmers. Love that. So I mean, Marnie is she is a tough girl. She gets fully stuck in. You could do you could have a sheep rounded up her and Kelvin at the back of the sheep. You the day and and you know that she's covered in sheep and milk and all sorts of. She's not bothered. She's straight in there. Dad, what can I do next? She loves it. But, Matthias is. He does not want to be inside. Is definitely an outdoor kid. Yeah. So, yeah. so just I mean, we kind of started this way. I thought, let's finish this way. how, you know, if you were to describe your life now, you know, in, in a sentence and what you love about it, what what would you say you got in a sentence? Or what do you truly, you know, love about the way that you want that living? Because like we said before, it could have been so different had, you know, circumstances kind of not. Yeah. That's hard to put in a sentence. Paragraph. Yeah. Do you want I mean, we've farming aside, we've still got four kids. So we're in the absolute thick of chaos and then farming thrown in the mix of that adds a bit more chaos. But just the lifestyle, the being outdoors, the adventure, just, just a sense as cliche as it is to be at one with nature, I think fills you with, a sense of calm. So it is chaotic. But when we get outside, there is a sense of calm. You, you use your brain, you know, you can just the smells, the sounds, the fresh air. It does something to me. And it does something for the kids as well. someone at a great saying. I'm going off for one of my books. I can't put in a census. But someone said to me the other day, when things get overwhelming, just go outside. And it is so true. There's something about being here. And, you know, in family life we're trying to fit like five full time jobs into the day. And there's something about being outside and it does help you just think straight, clear, mind reset and be like, right, what's the priority? Let's start there. Yeah. And that's what I love about coming to the farm. That's what I love about living here and just the absolute fascination of the subject. Yeah, it's it's like at night I go to bed thinking about my grass. Yeah. I say, yeah, it's been like that. You've ever thought you it. I go for the game. I'm worried about that. Yeah, I'm really worried. Can we. What could we go? This is what I do. Yeah, well, the worry, the problem solving is, I know the thing that I love, right? That's the problem. How can we solve it? And then I'm into a whole new subject to trying to work out to fix that paddock. Yeah, that's what I love. I love it there's there's, The stuff I know now is unbelievable. That's the headline. I'm going to go with this Chad. I have nightmares about going. And living history, though I'm honestly, it's a regular quote. I love it. Ashwell head I think Liz has well and truly caught the farming book, and we can't wait to see what she gets up to next, but also what animal they might be showing at this year's shows. Thanks again for listening, and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, because we'll be back again with another fantastic episode next week.