Lizzie Mitchell
Brought up by music teacher parents in a seaside town in Lancashire, it’s safe to say that I never saw agriculture in my future as a youngster. Cut to Autumn 2023 and getting the email to say I had been successful in my application for the under 35’s Agritourism Development Programme, things couldn’t be more different.
Since moving to Scotland 13 years ago, my life has been entwined with both farming and tourism through a variety of jobs, a rural business management degree and moving to a farm with my husband working as a dairyman, but for the last two years I’ve been working as Events & Marketing Manager at Ernespie Farm Centre in Dumfries & Galloway.
Pulling up to day one of the development course I was a bag of nerves, imposter syndrome was really starting to kick in. I don’t own a farming business and I haven’t been brought up on a farm, so why was I there? As an employee rather than an owner I wasn’t sure how much I would be able to contribute having read the impressive profiles of the other members on the course, but what a fascinating 2 days it turned out to be, and a great group of likeminded people. I was welcomed into conversations regarding succession, planning challenges and communication and was even pushed forward to present to the group. I took a lot of inspiration from Caroline’s ability to stand up, have a conversation with a group of strangers and make big things happen, something that seems so simple on paper but often daunting in reality.
The highpoint must be day 2 – visiting Scottish Parliament. Having the opportunity to be there, to meet politicians and hear their take on the topics that are so important within agritourism was eye opening. Asking the same 3 questions to politicians was a great way to quickly become accustomed to the political art of avoiding the question!
This felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity but taught me how you can go about making changes, and how vital the support of these politicians really is to rural areas and agritourism businesses.
The programme came to its conclusion at the Agritourism Conference in Perth. Again, the nerves built up, but this time because Ernespie was shortlisted for Scotland’s Monitor Farm programme, which was being announced on day 2. Despite it being my first time attending the conference, it was a very welcoming experience, and I was very relieved to be reunited with my fellow U35’s to see how everyone had been progressing. Without a doubt the most memorable part of the 2 days was listening (and laughing) to Tim Parsons, Ulisse Brandli and Sandra Schmidig visiting from Tasmania and Tuscany. It highlighted that despite the vast differences in location and business type there will always be similarities within agritourism. Hearing about their agritourism experiences, the importance of being individual and confident was really inspiring. As an employee, I also found it so nice to hear them talk about the confidence they have in their teams’ running things whilst they are travelling, a valuable insight.
Agritourism is driven by passion, it doesn’t happen overnight, and it will constantly evolve. Being part of this development programme has inspired me and I’m so excited for what’s to come for Scottish Agritourism.