If you have a smallholding and no one else keeps bees in the area, you might want to consider beekeeping to generate smallholding profits. Not only can you generate profits from the sale of honey, you can also generate sales from the wax they produce.

You might think that it takes a calm personality to work around bees. This isn’t always the case. My very nervous father-in-law enjoyed keeping several hives on the family’s half hectare (1-1/4 acre) property. Something about working with the bees calmed him.

Even a compact smallholding can support bees if there are no other hives around the area. Some avid beekeepers say they have kept healthy hives in the city, so if you are out in the country, you have it made. While bees have their preferences, they will gather pollen from any flowers that are available.

Once you get past the initial set-up costs, beekeeping isn’t that difficult. Many people find it addicting. For the most part, if you are patient, the bees will do most of the work for you. Prepare to invest an hour or two every month checking on the health of your hive(s).

While you will have some ongoing expenses, beekeeping can be very profitable. The primary expenses involve extraction equipment, medications and feed for the cold months.

To learn how to keep your beehives healthy and producing the maximum profits for your smallholding look out for our next article on BEEKEEPING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Keeping the Hive Healthy. This article will go into how to prevent an unhealthy hive from draining all of your profits.

Sources of Beekeeping Profits

The most obvious source of profits is honey. If your smallholding is in a tourist destination there are ways to add value to the honey your bees produce. For example, the dark rich honey made by bees that forage on heather should be packaged attractively for the tourist trade. Take advantage of its reputed health benefits and market your honey for more than it sells for in local trade.

Attractive packaging is important no matter what type of flowers your honey comes from. With the options available in paper and printers, you can experiment with producing your own labels. Design labels that fit the type of customer you want to attract. If you are placing your honey in an upscale shop, make sure the labels look upscale. This may require commercial printing. If you are a selling the honey out of your own smallholding shop, then commercial printing becomes optional. Often a handmade feel sells products.

If you have already experimented with cider making, you may want to experiment with making mead. This alcoholic beverage has an ancient history and is mentioned in the earliest literature of England and Scotland. Once again it is a product easily marketed to tourists. Make sure you meet all regulations before selling the product.

When looking at profits, don’t forget the value of the beeswax. Beeswax finds its way into everything from candles to lip balm. Purifying the beeswax for use is very simple. Wrap the wax in a jute/burlap bag. Just place it in a kettle of boiling water and weigh it down so the wax filters through the jute and rises to the surface. This method leaves most of the impurities in the comb behind.

Once all the combs have melted, allow the pot to cool slowly. Don’t accelerate the process. This allows impurities to settle to the bottom of the wax. Some impurities usually show up on the bottom side of the block. Just scrape them away. If you want to sell the beeswax in small blocks, you can melt it again in a double boiler. Pour the wax off into plastic containers. Market your beeswax on the internet if the local interest is inadequate.

Beeswax candles are a potential source of income both locally and on the internet. Add essential oils and market the candles for the healing properties of the essential oils used.

You can also use beeswax as a base for your own brand of healing lip balms, lotion bars, lotions and skin creams. Majestic Mountain Sage offers many recipes that will get you started. Beeswax is also useful in soap making.

Finally, there are profits to be made renting out your hives. Other smallholders may need bees to pollinate their fruit trees and gardens. You deliver the hive and let your bees do their job. Many beekeepers move their hives from spring through autumn. Not only do the bees generate income by making honey. They bring you income by pollinating.

Keeping the Peace with Your Neighbours

When you start setting up your hives, you may meet resistance from your neighbours. If there are other cottages nearby, make sure you place a solid fence around your beehives. This encourages the bees to fly higher so they are less likely to collide into someone passing by. A fence provides other advantages as well. Protecting the hives from the wind prevents excessive chilling in the winter or drying out in the summer. It can also keep nosy children from poking around the hive. In general, something that is out of sight of your neighbours will quickly be out of mind as well.

Bees tend to be less aggressive when there are plenty of flowering plants in the area. When nectar is flowing, bees are contented. Let clover blossom in your lawn. Plant succulent flowers, such as sweet peas. Any member of the legume family will provide nectar and pollen for your bees and the flavor will be good.

As a beekeeper you can also condition your bees to be less anxious by placing the hives near bushes. Because the wind constantly moves the branches, the bees become accustomed to movement around their hives.

When a queen is over a year old, the bees may have a tendency to swarm. Keep a bait hive nearby. Tack a small piece of honeycomb inside. If this baited hive is positioned about 10 to 30 feet away from the existing hives, and about 10 feet above the ground it will be very attractive to a swarm. Your bait hive may prevent the bees from taking up residence at your neighbour’s home.

Many smallholders have discovered that beekeeping creates smallholding profits. To learn how to get started in beekeeping on a smallholding look out for our forthcoming article SMALLHOLDING PROFITS: Getting Started in Beekeeping.

Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange. ]]> http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/smallholding-news-features-smallholding-profits-from-beekeeping/feed/ 0 http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/smallholding-properties/3-bed-detached-cottage-with-4-acres-of-land-to-rent-in-snowdonia-wales-2/ http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/smallholding-properties/3-bed-detached-cottage-with-4-acres-of-land-to-rent-in-snowdonia-wales-2/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:05:29 +0000 Rural Smallholdings http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/?p=2517

This 3 bedroomed detached fully modernized stone built cottage with the option of 4 Acres of land is currently for rent in Llanuwchllyn, Gwynedd in Snowdonia, North Wales. The property is located in a glorious rural position, with views towards Bala Lake, and 3 mountain ranges, the Arenig, the Arans and the Berwyns.

The property is totally refurbished throughout and accommodation comprises a large open plan sitting/dining room with wood burning stove, part ceramic tiled floor and part oak floor with spiral staircase to studio. There is a fully fitted oak kitchen and seperate utility room, 3 double bedrooms with an ensuite wet room to the master bedroom. The property is heated by under floor heating.

The property is surrounded by 15 acres of land with the option of taking 4 acres or just the garden and plenty of off road parking. It is ideal for someone who would like to be ‘far from the madding crowd’. The location of the property enjoys an abundance of wildlife, birds, golf and outdoor activities, and is in an area of rural beauty and tranquility.

The property would be ideal for those seeking to live a more rural lifestyle and is currently being marketed by Lifestyle Lets Letting Agents, for more information please Click Here.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Talk of supporting local producers and British growers is widespread, but when it comes to finding ways to sell their goods many market gardeners and smallholders still face major challenges. Sarah Irving finds out about Carshalton Lavender and how this revival of an old agricultural tradition has survived.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the chalky, gently undulating hills now covered by South London suburbs like Carshalton, Wallington and Waddon was blue with lavender – Lavendula Vera. The area was known as the ‘lavender capital of the world’ and the industry supported hundreds if not thousands of jobs, albeit low-waged manual ones.

Every August, the harvesters cut carried bundles of cut lavender to distilling rooms and the resulting essential oil was shipped to perfumers and toiletry manufacturers across Europe. Lavender wasn’t just used for cosmetic purposes – it went into household detergents, disinfectants, insect repellants and food. With around 150 to 200 pounds of the cut plants needed to yield a pound of oil, huge areas were needed to meet demand. Forget Provence – since the sixteenth Carshalton had been the place to go for this versatile herb.

The idea of growing lavender on a commercial scale in the UK is not as unusual as many might think. Existing lavender-growing projects around the UK stretch from Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Kent in the south to North Yorkshire and even Scotland.

But with the growth of artificial replacements for many of lavender’s uses, and increasingly available exotic scents for cosmetic use, the lavender industry declined and the fields fell victim to the urban sprawl of London – although the legacy survived in road names like Lavender Vale in Wallington.

But in the late 1990s BioRegional, the South London social enterprise which was responsible for the BedZed eco-home development, teamed up with local organisations and volunteers to revive the lavender industry. They picked a site at Stanley Road allotments which had become a problem area of derelict land and fly-tipping.

Determined to benefit all sections of the community, BioRegional teamed up with a local prison, Downview, to create a nursery where cuttings from local varieties, often collected from gardens on land where lavender fields had grown, were tended by prisoners being trained in horticultural skills. Prisoners on day release also helped to clear the allotment site and ready it for planting.

Since 1999 the lavender field has been a summer attraction in the area. Community access days engage local people, who can visit the site, learn about the local varieties grown there, help weed the rows and pick their fill of the flowers to take home. In April 2009, Carshalton Lavender also held London’s first eco-dating event, pairing up local singles in ten-minute weeding sessions – a useful variation on speed dating!

Making it pay

Although much of the work at Carshalton Lavender is still done by volunteers, the project increasingly aims to cover its costs. It has teamed up with Naturally Thinking, a local manufacturer of toiletries and cosmetics, to market pure lavender essential oil as well as a range of Carshalton Lavender branded bath and body products.

Because Naturally Thinking is an established business it can offer Carshalton Lavender access to distillation equipment without the project having to invest in expensive machinery, and it also provides a market for Carshalton lavender oil as a raw material. Naturally Thinking’s sells its products via a local shop and online retail, and wholesales to the local heritage centre. The essential oil is sold by BioRegional itself, in local wholefood shops and from stalls at Carshalton Lavender open days at the Stanley Road site.

Maintaining and marketing Carshalton Lavender demands the time and effort of dozens of local people, from the volunteers on the committee which manages the field to the local people who help out in myriad ways and the workers who distill the oil and make it into luxury products. Replanting the rows – which have lasted for ten years, three more than customary for commercial lavender production in Provence – will be a major task. But having drawn together a diverse range of people and engaged both the not-for-profit and business sectors, the project looks to have a good chance of success.

Click on the links below to find out more:
Click here to visit the Carshalton Lavender not-for-profit Community Project website.
Click here to visit the Bioregional website.
Click here to visit the Naturally Thinking website.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Sarah Irving for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

The 2011 Edible Garden Show is being staged from this Friday 18th March to Sunday 20th March at Britain’s most famous agricultural venue, Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

Billed as ‘THE Ultimate Grow Your Own event for visitors and exhibitors alike’, The Edible Garden Show 2011 will provide a unique opportunity for people from all walks of life, whether town or country dweller, realist or dreamer, novice or experienced gardener to unite with like minded individuals, learn from the professionals and purchase from the wide range of gardening essentials on show.

Whether your interest lies in growing your own fruit and vegetables, running a smallholding, poultry keeping, organic herbs, sausage making, bee keeping, home baking, home brewing, or you just have a general interest in being self sufficient, the Edible Garden Show is the place to visit for all those with an interest in growing your own.

As well as exhibitors, the event will include a host of seminars and a packed programme of practical demonstrations. The British Beekeepers’ Association and The Poultry Club of Great Britain are both supporting this years show and experts from both will be on hand to give demonstrations and advice. The event also has the support of the Women’s Institute. Rachel Green – one of the UK’s foremost authorities on food – has signed up to front the WI Cookery School at the show.

She will join experts from the Women’s Institute’s famous National Cookery School at Denman College, Abingdon, who will be providing cookery demonstrations and offering advice to visitors on everything from preserving, jam-making and pickling to baking your own bread and getting the best out of your home produce.

Diarmuid Gavin, the Mirror’s new gardening correspondent and TV presenter, will be at The Edible Garden Show 2011 on the opening day of the show on Friday 18th March. The popular 46-year-old garden designer fronted a number of BBC programmes including “I Want a Garden,” “Planet Patio” and Home Front with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

His inspirational designs have won him accolades at the Chelsea Flower Show and he is the author of a number of bestselling gardening books including Diarmuid Gavin’s Big Ideas and Outer Spaces. The celebrity gardener who launched his new Daily Mirror column on Saturday March 5 will join the Mirror team on the opening day of the show on Friday 18th March.

Garden Gurus Pippa Greenwood and Paul Peacock will be on hand for help, tips and advice at the show’s Miracle-Gro sponsored ‘Experts Theatre.’ Both renowned for their newspaper and magazine columns and specialist gardening books.

TV Presenter Botanist James Wong, renowned for his award winning “Grow Your Own Drugs” BBC TV series will be talking about Incredible Edibles on Friday March 18th – Offering a light-hearted, dynamic and innovative alternative to conventional ‘spuds and sprouts’ gardening talks, James will be revealing how growing your own can be so much more cutting edge than you might think.

Incredible Edibles reveals the astonishing array of rare, exotic and luxury foods that can be grown by even the most ardent gardening phobic. From Himalayan goji berries and cocktail-sized kiwi fruit, to fragrant saffron and oh-so-trendy wasabi, an enormous range of fruit and veg are not only hardy in our blustery North Atlantic Island, but can unbelievably be easier to grow and more productive than a grow bag of tomatoes.

Visitors to the show can also enjoy a 15% discount for advance booking with current discounted ticket prices being £11 for adults, £9 for children aged 6 and above/Senior Citizens, whilst children under 6 go free. Book now to get your early bird discount.

Tickets may also be purchased at the gate on the day of the event (subject to availability).
Gate Prices: – Adults – £13, Child age 6 – 16 – £11, Child Under 6 – Go free – 1 Free with a paying adult, Senior citizen 60+ – £11

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Derek and Jeannie

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the publishing of the book ‘A Gull On The Roof’ by Derek Tangye. Who is Derek Tangye you may well ask and what has he to do with smallholding? You may not have previously heard of him as Derek and his Wife Jeannie long ago fulfilled their smallholding dreams and are no longer with us. However they live on in Derek’s many books which often complete with illustrations by Jeannie, chronicle the fulfilment of their dream to move to Cornwall and live a humbler more self sufficient lifestyle and work the land. The books may have been written a generation ago but the dream remains the same.

Derek and Jeannie both left high paying jobs in London to rent a small cottage and some land in Cornwall and to try and fulfil their dream. They started as most of us do as dreamers with no real experience and learnt from their mistakes. They had simply holidayed in Cornwall and fallen in love with the idea of living a simpler life closer to nature, but they lived out their lives there in a way that most of us would envy.

The books are full of their trials and tribulations as they try to make their new life work, but they are also full of the joys of living and fulfilling a dream and of their obvious love of nature. Their previous lives working in London are a stark contrast to their simple life in Cornwall, away from the trappings of money and success. But their love for their new home and their new life shines through in every book, even when things are not running quite so smoothly as they had hoped.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the very first instalment of what have now become known as the ‘Minack Chronicles’, the Friends of Minack Society , a group of people brought together by their common love of Derek’s books, are launching a new book to recelebrate the books and to introduce them to a whole new generation of readers.

‘The Minack Chronicles Revisited’ not only includes a special 50th Anniversary edition of the very first book ‘A Gull On The Roof’, but tells the story of Derek and Jeannie Tangye themselves. With well over 200 pages, it includes the fascinating background story of Derek and Jeannie, of how they met and came to Minack, interviews with their friends and characters that featured in the Chronicles, together with an appreciation of the beautiful part of West Cornwall that became their home and later Oliver Lane Nature Reserve.

So if you are like many of us just waiting for the right time to fulfil your own dream of owning or renting a smallholding, why not take inspiration from The Minack Chronicles and immerse yourself in the world of Minack.

‘The Minack Chronicles Revisited’ is due to be released in March, but you can pre order your copy now by visiting the Friends of Minack Society website and registering to obtain your copy.

For most of us the dream of self sufficiency, owning and running a smallholding or even a small piece of our own land takes years to achieve. There are financial commitments to consider and often family commitments prevent us from living our dream until the timing is somewhere near ‘perfect’. Another factor for many people and one that stops them taking that bold leap to self sufficiency is the basic fear of it not working out. It can be hard to find people who have taken the leap and succeeded to ask them about their experiences or ask the sort of in depth questions we’d love to ask.

There is nothing more inspiring than reading about people who share our dreams and have taken the leap of faith to make them possible and succeeded. Reading about their day to day lives and the difference the change in lifestyle has made to them can be the deciding factor in deciding whether you make the move or not. It can also be a relief to find you are not just a ‘dreamer’ but are among many who fully intend to one day make that life change to owning a little piece of heaven and trying at least if only partly to work for yourself.

We thoroughly recommend The Minack Chronicles having been inspired by them decades ago ourselves, to anyone looking to start a life of self sufficiency and away from the madding crowd.

Click here to visit the Friends of Minack Society website – a website and forum filled with information about Derek and Jeannie, their books and their lives at Minack and to register and pre order the new book.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

If you’re planning a renovation, extension or homebuilding project, don’t miss the first big show of 2011 – the National Self Build & Renovation Show, at the National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon, 25th – 27th February 2011. With everything you’ll ever need to know, see, learn and hear, this is the place where your ideas and plans will come to life and all tickets booked in advance are FREE.

Whether you want to convert a an existing building, add on an extension, want to build your dream home from scratch, or like the idea of a truly eco friendly home to help you save on your energy bills, you will need all the advice, inspiration and knowledge you can get. There is only one place to be this month – the National Self Build & Renovation Show is brimming with helpful tips, a refreshing and entertaining mix of experts, seminars, exhibitors, educational exhibits, life-size houses and audio tours. And what’s more, entry is completely free if you book your tickets online in advance.

Don’t miss this opportunity to pick the brains of the industry experts; quiz the product specialists at the Technical Product Help Desk; browse more than two hundred exhibitor displays in the Trade Village, investigate your options whilst on a tour of the Self Build or Renovation exhibits; understand how to source finance, materials and tradesmen or learn more during a seminar in one of the three theatres. The informative seminars cover a variety of topics – from Project Management and Design & Planning to Understanding Renovation Surveys and Eco Retrofit, amongst many others – as well as featuring Case Studies from everyday folk that have already finished their projects. Whether you want hard facts, inspiration or a confidence boost to encourage you to start the process, you’ll find it all here.

A visit to the Show promises to save you time – and money – every step of the way, to help you build ideas and lay the foundations to a successful project.

- ‘How to…’ seminars on the basics about finding & funding your project as well as how to manage the project yourself along with top tips and new tricks for old bricks, including eco retrofit solutions.
- Free appointments with more than 20 industry professionals covering a range of topics: architects, project managers, building control, eco experts, materials specialists, planning, finance and plot-searching, as well as representatives from the National Self Build Association.
- Tours of the full-sized renovation house and real-life examples in the Self Build Educational Journey
- More than 200 companies in the Exhibitor Area

The National Self Build & Renovation Show (25th – 27th February 2011) is hosted by the unique National Self Build & Renovation Centre in Swindon, just off Junction 16 of the M4.

Tickets booked in advance are free – visit www.buildstore.co.uk/show or call 0845 223 4455. Alternatively, tickets on the door cost £10 per adult or £15 per couple.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange. ]]> http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/news-and-features/smallholder-news-and-features-the-national-self-build-renovation-show/feed/ 0 http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/smallholding-jobs-for-december-time-to-start-laying-plans-for-the-new-year/ http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/smallholding-jobs-for-december-time-to-start-laying-plans-for-the-new-year/#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:14:19 +0000 Rural Smallholdings http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/?p=2135

Once winter chill sets in, you start looking for things that you can do around the smallholding that don’t require you to work out in the damp and wind. At the same time, temperatures are usually mild enough in most of the UK for smallholders in the drier English counties of Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk to take advantage of dry spells to plant out winter hardy seedlings of spinach, cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower.

If you live in the wetter areas of the UK or are plagued with the snow this year, December is best left to laying plans for the next year. Unless you get an unexpected break in the weather, many building projects just don’t make sense, unless they involve refurbishing the indoors.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Before you start laying plans for the coming year, take a look back at the year drawing to a close. What worked? What didn’t? Did you have a budget? If you did, how well did your expenditures agree with that budget?

Now, look at the coming year. Make a list of things you would like to do in the next year.

 Do you plan on a selling produce at market? Then go through the seed catalogues and select the crops you want to grow. If a certain variety has done well for you in the past, stick with it. For example, the tomato Early Girl does well in areas where summers are short and cool. You want to place your seed order this month so you have seed in time to start seedlings in January and February for the cold-weather crops and February and March for warmer weather crops.

 Do you plan on selling eggs? Then work up a budget that includes all the costs you will have, chicken coop repairs, feed, ground oyster shells or other calcium source, etc. Make sure you will be able to turn a profit.

 Develop a garden layout for the produce you plan to grow. This includes planning crop rotations and succession plantings.

 Start looking for new marketing ideas, especially if you want to expand your market. Maybe you have products that you can produce on your small holding that could become value added products—fresh strawberries can become jam, syrup, dried nuggets, blueberries can become jam, syrup, dried berries and frozen pies, apples can become chunky applesauce, butter, dried rings, fruit leather and frozen pies. If you develop flavour intense recipes using wholesome ingredients, you can ask higher prices than the grocery stores.

 Develop some definite marketing plans based on your goals.

 Develop an action plan. Schedule when each task needs to be done and assign someone to do it. Now is the time to develop the general overview for the year and then break everything down into jobs that need to be completed within certain time frames.

 Most importantly, make sure you draft a budget that includes all of your overhead. Remember to include all the business costs—petrol for the small tractor and/or rototiller, seeds and seedlings, bedding for the animals, mulch for the fruit trees, etc. Only by taking the time to look at your real costs can you develop a plan that turns your smallholding into a profit-making venture.

December is the perfect time to look back over the previous year. And it is the best time to look toward the coming year. You will never regret taking the time during this holiday centered month to start preparing for the coming prosperous year.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

This 3 bedroomed detached bungalow in a rural setting with approx 1 acre of land, plus use of adjoining paddock is currently for rent in Llanharry, Wales.

The property is newly painted and carpeted and comprises 3 bedrooms, fitted kitchen, bathroom with seperate shower, spacious lounge, huge gardens and also benefites from LPG gas central heating.

The property would be ideal for those with equestrian interests and/or those seeking to live a more rural lifestyle and is currently being marketed by Just Lettings Letting Agents, for more information please Click Here.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

For all those harvesting the crops on their smallholdings, allotments and in their gardens this month, we’d just like to wish you all a Happy Halloween. We decided to try growing squashes for the first time this year and have had great success. We were put off in the past because we thought they would be hard work, need too much watering and so have been putting off growing them for a few years, but they really were easy and very productive.

We’d also like to share this inspiring video from Ecoworks Nottingham which shows their amazing squash harvest this year, all 2.5 tonnes of them! Ecoworks activities are based on Community Gardens and the FRESH Market Garden and Training Centre, both on the Hungerhill Gardens Allotment Site in St. Ann’s, Nottingham.

Ecoworks is a community organisation with the interests of people and the environment at its heart. They exist to promote the interests and personal development of people who are socially disadvantaged by delivering activities connected with the conservation, restoration and enhancement of the environment.

Click here to visit the Ecoworks website to find out more about:

• Organic vegetable and fruit growing
• Healthy eating courses
• Accredited horticulture training
• Craft workshops including strawbale building and willow weaving
• Chemical-free veg boxes
• Harvest Cafe (vegetarian and vegan catering van)
• Volunteering opportunities (growing, IT, cooking, admin, catering, stalls and festival events)
• Mental Health Support on their community gardens. Also the home of Straw Bale Building.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

With the debut of the Edible Garden Show being postponed until 2011, the planning for next years show is well underway and they are currently offering early bird rates to exhibitors.

Billed as ‘THE Ultimate Grow Your Own event for visitors and exhibitors alike’, the Edible Garden Show will provide a unique opportunity for exhibitors to present their products and services to the buying public and stands are available to book now. Exhibitors can currently enjoy up to 25% discount but this offer ends on the 30th of September 2010 so book now to avoid disappointment.

The 2011 Edible Garden Show is being staged from Friday 18th March to Sunday 20th March at Britain’s most famous agricultural venue, Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

The Edible Garden Show 2011 will provide a unique opportunity for people from all walks of life, whether town or country dweller, realist or dreamer, novice or experienced gardener to unite with like minded individuals, learn from the professionals and purchase from the wide range of gardening essentials on show.

Whether your interest lies in growing your own fruit and vegetables, running a smallholding, poultry keeping, organic herbs, sausage making, bee keeping, home baking, home brewing, or you just have a general interest in being self sufficient, the Edible Garden Show is the place to visit for all those with an interest in growing your own.

As well as exhibitors, the event will include a host of seminars and a packed programme of practical demonstrations. The British Beekeepers’ Association and The Poultry Club of Great Britain are both supporting this years show and experts from both will be on hand to give demonstrations and advice. The event also has the support of the Women’s Institute. Experts from the WI’s famous National Cookery School at Denman College, Abingdon, will be providing cookery demonstrations and offering advice to visitors on everything from preserving, jam-making and pickling to baking your own bread.

Visitors to the show can also enjoy a 15% discount for advance booking with current discounted ticket prices being £11 for adults, £9 for children aged 6 and above/Senior Citizens, whilst children under 6 go free. Book now to get your early bird discount.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine