Darent Valley - a Changing Farming Landscape
From Hops to Lavender The Darent Valley - a changing farming landscape 1. A Farming Family Shoreham railway station Hello, welcome to the Darent Valley. I’m William Alexander and I was born and grew up on Castle Farm, a couple of miles north of here. In 1892 my ancestors relocated from Scotland, arriving in the valley by train much as you have just done, but they were accompanied throughout the journey by a herd of 17 Ayrshire dairy cows! During the late 19th century, cheap and plentiful wheat was being imported into England, particularly from the USA, driving down the wheat price to levels that forced Farmer William Alexander in his lavender field many farmers to give up renting their © Thomas Alexander farms because of financial despair. Landowners struggled to find replacement tenants prepared to farm on their estates. Many a hardy Scottish farmer, often a younger son, like my great-grandfather who would not inherit the family acres, spotted an opportunity to move south, enjoy the kinder weather, benefit from the better soils and all this at reasonable rents. 1 Instead of growing wheat these Scots brought their herds of cows, then fed them on the cheap wheat and barley. They could easily sell all the milk they could produce into the London markets that were on their doorstep. My ancestors, like many of these Scottish farmers, prospered, grew and over the decades changed the farm to respond to the latest technology and new opportunities. Here on the station forecourt the view is rather limited, let’s move on and take a Castle Farm has a herd of 240 native breeds cattle closer look at some of the countryside.
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