How ‘green lairds’ are ousting Britain’s tenant farmers
Across the UK, farming land is being lost to solar farms, wind turbines, new housing, land-hungry infrastructure like HS2; and to meet English, Welsh and Scottish government tree planting targets. Image: Getty
It was the first time I had ever seen eight men carry a coffin, and what really made such an impression was that they were all sons of the dead man and each one was a farmer. I don’t think I will ever witness such a sight again.
It was 1998 and a huge crowd of farming folk was there to bury Colin Carruthers, ‘senior tenant’ on the Lowther Estates near Penrith in Cumbria, where five of his sons were also tenants. Colin senior farmed at Winder Hall with sons Colin, Jack and Tony. Six miles away near Shap was Peter at Rawfoot and Geoff at Towcett.
