Landowner offers the chance to rear cattle

8:50am Monday 1st December 2008

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LANDOWNER Miles Morgan is offering up a slice of The Good Life at his farm near Yate.

Mr Morgan is giving people the chance to rear cattle or grow crops for free on his 150 acres of arable farmland, running along the River Frome from Nibley to Iron Acton.

The businessman, who runs his housebuilding company Beaumont Homes from Frome Mill Farm on Nibley Lane, will not accept any financial payment but would like meat or vegetables in return.

"I suppose it would be a bit like the feudal system where the Lord of the Manor was paid a tithe fee by the people who worked the land," said Mr Morgan.

The father-of-three and his wife Victoria have run their housebuilding firm for two decades but also breed pedigree Highland longhorns and have a herd of 50 cows on the farm.

They split the land into numerous paddocks to keep the animals separated.

"We have lots of very valuable land that we cannot use all of the time," said Mr Morgan.

"At the moment farming is not economically viable so this would be a mutually-beneficial situation.

"For instance, if someone wanted to keep cattle on the land they could pay by giving me half a cow once a year.

"If they wanted to grow potatoes in a field they could pay me with a bag of spuds.

"I am not trying to earn any money out of this but during the current downturn, it could really help people."

He said the family was open to suggestions but there would be a proper vetting procedure and any farming must maintain the beauty of the land.

"Everything would be organic and it would help me to reduce my living costs," he added.

"There is a lot of interest at the moment in self-sufficiency and a lot of cooking programmes around where chefs breed their own animals and grow their own vegetables so hopefully this will prove popular."

To contact Mr Morgan call him on 01454 325845.