Alison Park, Low Sizergh Barn

Farming in the Lake District is different depending on whether the farm is in the uplands, fells or the rolling hills of South Lakes. World Heritage status would be part of that change, but it’s also part of long-standing recognition of the living and farmed landscape, the people, the food and the culture.

Farmers rear stock and produce food that is most suited to their conditions. The way that is done changes all the time, not only from season to season, but from generation to generation.

A string of coveted national awards, 100,000 visitors a year, copious accolades and achievements - welcome to Low Sizergh Barn on the Lake District’s southern fringe.

This is the 341-acre dairy farm near Kendal where necessity became the mother of invention, turning swingeing EU milk quotas into opportunities and a blueprint for Diversification with a capital D.

Not that John and Marjorie Park, along with their children Alison and Richard, could ever in their wildest dreams have imagined that three decades down the line that modest survival strategies would become an unparalleled success story.

The couple, both from farming families stretching back over centuries, were perfectly placed to reassess their initial ambition to build a grand herd of Holsteins at National Trust-owned Low Sizergh.

They had only recently moved to the prime site next to the National Park’s busiest arterial road at the time. Determined to make the best possible business, alongside premier cows an unforeseen evolution beckoned.

Combing skills and using Marjorie’s aesthetic prowess, ideas became plans and the great Low Sizergh experience emerged.

Read the rest of Alison’s story here

Article by Karen Barden