{"id":2817,"date":"2013-08-27T06:45:22","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T20:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2017-06-30T20:07:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T10:07:57","slug":"agricultural-travel-to-ireland-scotland-wales-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fionalake.com.au\/blog\/agricultural-travel-to-ireland-scotland-wales-england\/","title":{"rendered":"Agricultural Travel to Ireland, Scotland, Wales & England"},"content":{"rendered":"

*UPDATE* <\/strong><\/p>\n

The July-August 2018 ‘Paddock to Plate’ farm (& photography) tour of Ireland & the UK details can be found on this blog page<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2013 tour details:<\/p>\n

Kerry Moss and I are taking\u00a0a Quadrant Agricultural Tour to the British Isles in late August, until late September.\u00a0 We’ll be zig-zagging over farms and memorable sites in Ireland, Scotland, England & Wales, for almost a whole month.<\/p>\n

This farm tour includes<\/strong> visits to a range of beef, dairy, sheep and cropping farms in various locations. Plus an Irish horse stud, woollen mill and much spectacular scenery in between visiting places of historic significance – castles, grand houses and gardens, ancient ruins etc. Plus\u00a0a farmers market or two.<\/p>\n

We’ve\u00a0lucky our London visit coincides with the Summer Opening of\u00a0the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace<\/a>.\u00a0 And as a truly special treat on this tour, with luck we’ll be able to swap some stories and laughs over dinner with a couple of special\u00a0locals associated with agriculture in Ireland and the UK.\u00a0 These are really interesting people I’ve met via twitter, such as the driving force behind the Farmers On Film project<\/a>, livewire Sarah Gayton.\u00a0 I’ve already got a raft of questions to ask local ag-associated people!<\/p>\n

One of my jobs is to not just take lots of photographs, but to help fellow travellers do likewise (more on that, below).\u00a0 I’m so excited my suitcase packing was almost complete 2 months beforehand (whereas it’s usually a night-before job).<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I am continuing my *cough* essential research, which fortunately I started years in advance.<\/strong>\u00a0 I recommend other tour participants continue to do likewise!\u00a0 Currently this vital “work” involves watching period dramas such as: “Downton Abbey” and “Midsomer Murders”, plus contemporary ‘reality’ programmes such as Kevin McLeod’s “Grand Designs”, “Restoration Home”, “Escape to the Country” and “A Farmers Life for Me”<\/a>, featuring Jimmy Doherty<\/a> (rare pig breeder, amongst other things). Plus “The Farm Fixer<\/a>“. \u00a0Previous compulsory ‘education’ included watching every royal wedding and programmes such as “James Herriott” (Yorkshire Dales), “Upstairs\/Downstairs”, “Ballykissangel” (filmed at Ballykissane, close to the ‘Ring of Kerry’ route we take), all films based on Jane Austen and Agatha Christie’s\u00a0 books (“Pride & Prejudice”, “Sense & Sensibility”, Miss Marple, Poirot etc), plus James Bond (“Skyfall” was fabulous for London sky-scapes and evocative Scottish landscape).\u00a0 The Irish and British realised years ago that featuring beautiful landscapes, expansive gardens and historic homes etc in TV and big-screen films encouraged tourist visitation!<\/p>\n

Photography in Ireland and the United Kingdom:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m especially looking forward to visiting farms and meeting Irish and UK farmers, because this is of course something most independent travellers are simply unable to arrange.\u00a0 Already I have lots of questions to ask and – of course – many photographs already in mind to take.\u00a0 I’m also really looking forward to meeting fellow travellers, and helping anyone who would like a hand to capture the best images they can.<\/p>\n

Of course there’s a few challenges with taking photographs in Ireland and the United Kingdom.\u00a0<\/em> Even though we’ll be there during a fabulous time of year, late summer, we’re unlikely to strike a month of solid sunshine.<\/p>\n