Tim Relf
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Debut poetry collection out with Salt Publishing in November 2026. Penguin-published novelist. www.timrelf.co.uk
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Articles by Tim Relf
FW Awards: 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award
Margaret Dalton, Farmers Weekly 2025 Awards Lifetime Achievement Award winner © John Dalton A farmer all her life, a fantastic advocate for agriculture and a role model for young people, Margaret Dalton is the winner of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. In her late 80s and still as passionate as ever about farming, she continues to produce top-quality livestock on her West Wales farm. It’s a spot she came to more than 60 years ago with her husband Don, who passed away in 1976, aged just 40.
Forget Cotswolds, Welland Valley is England's hidden travel gem
A road diversion in 2022 changed Paul McKeown’s life. He was driving home to a town near Leicester, but an accident on the A14 sent him on unfamiliar roads down to Welland Valley. “I ended up in a village called Great Easton,” he recalls. “The sun was shining and I got out of the car and walked around.
the area offering commutable Cotswolds charm without the price tag
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Welcome to the Notswolds: the area offering commutable Cotswolds charm without the price tag
Welcome to the Notswolds: the area offering commutable Cotswolds charm without the price tag A five-bedroom former rectory with landscaped gardens, paddock and stabling in Welham, on sale for £1.6 million through Kingwest (Supplied) The Welland Valley is part of an area often dubbed ‘the Notswolds’ on account of it being as beautiful as the Cotswolds, but without the price tag.
Pigs, pubs, and pints provide farmer with new opportunity - Farmers Weekly
A farmer is taking the concept of “local” to a whole new level in an initiative involving pigs, pubs, and pints. Ellie Uppal, who farms 80ha at Great Easton in Leicestershire, has partnered with the nearby Langton Brewery, feeding her Oxford Sandy and Black pigs with the grain generated as by-product of the brewing process.
Farmers Weekly Awards 2024: Lifetime Achievement
Jeremy Moody is the Farmers Weekly 2024 Awards Lifetime Achievement winner. Jeremy has played a key role in shaping agricultural policy and law for over 30 years. In his role as secretary and adviser to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), he has influenced governments at all levels. Everything from agricultural tenancies and CAP reform to taxation, planning, climate change, environmental issues and the development of post-Basic Payment Scheme support.
Farmers Weekly Awards 2024: Farming Champion of the Year
Nigel Owens, Farmers Weekly Farming Champion of the Year 2024 © Robbie Stephenson/JMP/Shutterstock Nigel Owens is Farmers Weekly Awards 2024 Farming Champion of the Year. Nigel Owens became a household name as one of the most respected rugby referees in the world – and now he’s winning respect for speaking up for farming.
Could you be one of Farmers Weekly's columnists?
Farmers Weekly is looking for new contributors to add to its stable of columnists – so if you can articulate your opinions clearly and concisely, this could be a great opportunity. To be in with a shot, all you’ve got to do is choose one of the 10 titles below and send us a 500-word piece on it. See also: Read more from our Opinion columnists They are deliberately provocative titles – so obviously feel free to argue against the premise if you would like to.
Nominations open for FW's 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award
Farmers Weekly’s Lifetime Achievement Award is one of the highest accolades in agriculture – and you can help us find a worthy winner for 2024. This award, made to just one person each year, goes to someone who has made a unique and special contribution to farming over a prolonged period.
FW Awards: Nominate your 2024 Farming Champion
Do you know someone who has worked selflessly to help British farming in the past 12 months? If so, we’d like to hear from you, because Farmers Weekly is looking for potential winners of this year’s Farming Champion Award.
Comment: People with drug addictions need help — but not this way
A commentary by a retired anesthesiologist who lives in Victoria. To quote Richard Rowland, “the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.” Several recent stories have been published about the continued use of illicit drugs in hospitals within Island Health (and presumably other health authorities in British Columbia), and the directives given to hospital staff in dealing with this problem.
U.K. Publishing Spotlight: DK Celebrates 50 Years
Knowledge is adventure,” says Paul Kelly, CEO of DK. Sharing such knowledge is central to the mission of the illustrated reference publisher, which was founded in 1974 in London by Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley as a book packaging business and is now part of Penguin Random House. DK’s list for children covers everything from animals and the human body to homework help and craft activities. The books make learning accessible, visual, and enjoyable, Kelly says.
Opinion: The recruiting rules are changing for farmers
© Lukasz Szczepanski/Adobe Stock Work has been in the news a lot lately. There have been stories about disenchanted employees “quiet quitting” — disengaging from their job while still ostensibly going through the motions. The online #lazygirljob trend promotes the goal of stress-free but well-paid employment. A survey showed that people in the UK are less likely than in many other countries to think work should be prioritised over spare time.
Farmers Weekly Awards 2023: Lifetime Achievement
John Thorley from Worcestershire has been involved in virtually every sector of farming, but it’s his contribution to the sheep industry that will be most enduring. He dedicated nearly four decades of his life to the National Sheep Association, ensuring the voice of sheep farmers was heard across the UK, Europe and the world.
Farmers Weekly Awards 2023: Farming Champion of the Year
Andy and Lynda Eadon © NFU/Eadons Andy and Lynda Eadon of Napton, Warwickshire, are the 2023 Farmers Weekly Farming Champion of the Year. Andy and Lynda have made a profound difference to the way people in the countryside think about mental health and have raised a vast amount for charity. The Warwickshire farming couple began this work after their son Len – a talented and popular 22-year-old – took his own life on New Year’s Day 2022.
Opinion: Time to act if your village pub is worth fighting for
The sad saga of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire piqued my curiosity. It’s the sort of situation on which I would have been asked to give advice in my former role as a local government lawyer. This unusual building had very quickly gone from local landmark to heap of bricks, causing great anger that events unfolded with such speed there was no time to save it for the community.
Opinion: Footpath 'horror stories' simply stoke division
© Rich Higgins/Adobe Stock Horror stories about people being trampled by cows are not what you want to read just before a holiday which will almost certainly involve encounters with cattle. Unfortunately, the press was recently full of just such alarming reports, prompted by the prosecution of a landowner, after cows which had already injured one group of walkers were put back in the same field and attacked another group.
‘I dread to think what they’d make of it on Dragons’ Den’: how poetry journals survive
Butcher’s Dog magazine was set to close this year, but readers have rallied to fund a year’s reprieve. It’s one of many to get by with few resources but love Earlier this year, one of the country’s most-lauded poetry magazines announced on Twitter it was in trouble. Having been a stalwart of the scene for a decade, Butcher’s Dog was facing a cash shortfall that threatened to close it. Editor Jo Clement shared the news “with a heavy heart” and appealed to the poetry community for help.
Farmers Weekly's Lifetime Achievement Award open for nominations
George Dunn was last year's recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award © Telling Photography Those in the farming industry dedicating themselves to the greater good will have the spotlight shone on them as Farmers Weekly’s Lifetime Achievement Award opens for nominations. Farmers Weekly’s Lifetime Achievement Award is a once-a-year accolade given to someone who has made a huge difference to agriculture or the countryside over a prolonged period.
Nominate your 2023 Farming Champion Original
Lots of people in agriculture make a difference, but do you know someone who really goes the extra mile? We’re launching the hunt for the 2023 Farmers Weekly Farming Champion of the Year, so we want to hear about people whose work has made a real difference over the past 12 months. See also: Farmers Weekly Awards 2022: Farming Champion of the Year How they’ve done it could be varied.
Opinion: I (mostly) trust the food supply chain
© Sergey Ryzhov/Adobe Stock I was in Sainsbury’s chiller aisle, loitering with intent to buy mince. As usual I checked the packs for weight, fat content and country of origin and was about to put one bearing a Union Jack in the trolley when I decided to take a closer look at the label. There was no Red Tractor logo, but the beef had been “reared by our trusted farmers” so I bought it.
Comment: It will take many years to end the health-care crisis
A commentary by a retired physician who lives in Victoria. I worked initially as a general practitioner for nine years, and then after four more years of training, as a specialist anesthesiologist for 30 years, almost all of my career spent on Vancouver Island.
Tips for young farmers on making media appearances
Ben Chilman © MAG/Colin Miller Ben Chilman has received a raft of requests to appear on TV and radio since he won the coveted Farmers Weekly Ag Student Award last autumn. The most recent was from BBC Midlands Today, which spoke to him about phosphate levels in the River Wye. “They wanted a farmer’s point of view and the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye, flows through our land,” says the 23-year-old, who’s back on the mixed family farm in Herefordshire.
12 things I learnt as a WEM mentee
1. Why am I doing this? I’d always been so busy actually writing, I’d never given much thought to why I did it. Helen really made me think about my motivations. Which parts of the process did I enjoy most? How much did getting published matter? What was my ultimate aim? Answering such questions helped me understand what compels me to put pen to paper. 2. That all-important first line You only get one chance to make a good impression, right?
Opinion: Ill-informed views threaten cattle species survival
© Anne Coatsey/Adobe Stock When I was young, my mother had various reasons for denying me a pet, but she evidently thought this was the clincher: “You’ll only get upset when the flipping thing dies.” Several decades and numerous deceased cats and dogs later, I can confirm that Mam was right, but only about the getting upset bit – they were never “flipping things”.
Deep Lane [June 23rd, evening of the first fireflies]
Photo credit: Paola Valenzuela | Interview by Tim Relf “I have always felt that risk could energise a poem and that the reader might feel the heat being generated” Deep Lane [June 23rd, evening of the first fireflies] June 23rd, evening of the first fireflies, we're walking in the cemetery down the road, and I look up from my distracted study of whatever, an unfocused gaze somewhere a few feet in front of my shoes, and see that Ned has run on ahead with the champagne plume of his tail held...
Could you be one of Farmers Weekly's regular columnists?
Do you have a good sense of the issues that matter to farmers? Do you have strong opinions? Can you articulate them clearly and concisely? If so, you could be who we’re looking for, because Farmers Weekly is on the hunt for new contributors to join its stable of regular writers.
Farmers Weekly Photo Competition 2022 – the three winning shots - Farmers Weekly
Here are the top three pictures in the 2022 Farmers Weekly Photography Competition. The winner gets £300 and each of the two runners-up take home £100. See also: View all the entries in the Farmers Weekly 2022 Photography Competition Winner Kirstie Duncan’s winning shot, which topped the Black-and-white category, was taken near Selkirk in the Scottish borders. She was sorting ewes into groups at Wester Deloraine Farm, ready for the tups to go out, when she grabbed this lovely, atmospheric image.
Young farmer columnists: 'Our hopes for 2023'
© thekopmylife/Adobe Stock There are never dull times in the farming world, and the past 12 months have had their share of challenges and triumphs. At this time of reflection, we ask our young farmer columnists how they’re feeling about the future. From implementing new ideas to managing risk and remembering to make time for themselves, they reveal their hopes and personal aspirations for the year to come.
Farmers Weekly Photography Competition 2022 - the top shots
Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s Photography Competition. We’ve really enjoyed looking at your photos – they provide a fantastic snapshot of farming, the countryside and rural life. Here are the winners and two highly commended entries in each of the eight categories. We will be announcing the overall winner and two runners-up, which share the £500 prize money, in the 6 January issue of Farmers Weekly.
A Psalm for the Scaffolders
Photo credit: Lorna Elizabeth | Interview by Tim Relf I always write in prose first, longhand in my notebook, like I’m talking to someone A Psalm for the Scaffolders who balanced like tightrope walkers, who could run up the bracing faster than you or I could climb a ladder, who wore red shorts and worked bare-chested, who cut their safety vests in half, a psalm for the scaffolders and their vans, their steel toe-capped boots, their coffee mugs, a psalm for those who learnt to put up a...
Horticulture business has ambitions for tea diversification
© Supplied by Lucy George Peterson Tea in the Vale of Glamorgan was the brainchild of Lucy George, who was looking for a new enterprise for the small family farm, which had traditionally focused on growing soft fruit. The first tea leaves were picked in 2019, yielding just a few hundred grams of tea, but the endeavour is now expanding, with products sold via its website and in a few shops. It’s even stocked in London retailer Fortnum & Mason.
Truffle orchard 'bit of fun' now serious business venture
© Supplied by Mike Collison One-time farmworker Mike Collison, and his partner Michelle, bought a 2.8ha field in which to establish a tree seed business and nursery, and ended up running a truffle supply business. The venture began when a business contact, a French nursery inoculating trees with truffle spores, enquired if they would like to be its UK distributor.
12 great affordable Christmas gifts for farming families
© Pasko Maksim/Adobe Stock It’s not always simple, picking the perfect pressie for your nearest and dearest – especially at a time when we’re all mindful of money. So in a bid to provide a little inspiration, we’ve come up with a selection of gifts to suit family and friends. Hopefully they’ll take a little bit of the stress out of shopping and help ensure you put a smile on your loved ones’ faces this Christmas. See also: Christmas on the farm photo gallery 2021 Make it personal What3words?
Young farmer podcast proves a hit
FW‘s Ag Student of the Year 2022, Ben Chilman, co-presents the popular podcast EweTurn. Here, he explains why he does it, what’s involved and how it even has shades of Top Gear. See also: FW Awards 2022 – Ag Student of the Year 1. Why did you launch the podcast? The idea was suggested to me and my two mates, Ted and Nog, a few years ago (needless to say in a pub) to record some of the nonsense we had been talking about because it had amused someone sat nearby.
What the Doorman Says
Interview by Tim Relf I’m after the truth in my poems… not some misguided loyalty to ‘what actually happened’. I don’t believe any of us are reliable narrators of events, even to ourselves What the Doorman Says With a nod to C.R. That he could kill for a smoke. That the punters get older every year. That really, he hardly ever has to lay a finger. That even arterial blood washes right out. That the fella with the dog sat at the furthest end of the bar is, all told, a cunt.
FW Photo Competition 2022: 8 great shots so far
Entries are flooding in for the Farmers Weekly Photography Competition 2022, which is offering readers the chance to share in £500 of prizes. We’ll also be printing the winners and a selection of others in Farmers Weekly’s bumper Christmas issue. The closing date isn’t until 15 November, so you’ve still got plenty of time to snap some new shots or dig out some of your old favourites. To provide some inspiration, here are just a few of the many lovely photos that have caught our eye so far.
Young Farmers' Week puts travel and food in spotlight
Evie Price (middle row, centre) in Peru with YFC friends © NYFYFC With National Young Farmers’ Week 2022 concluding on 21 October, Farmlife catches up on the news from the largest rural youth organisation in the UK. See also: Young Farmers vote to source and better promote British food Travel adventures NFYFC has just announced the details of its 2023 travel adventures – and we hear from one member who recently returned from a trip.
From malting barley to pinot noir
A 550ha arable farm in Rutland, looking to expand the operation, decided to diversify into a rather surprising area – wine production. They now have a 7-acre vineyard at Ketton with 13,000 vines, including the varieties pinot noir, ortega and pinot meunier, which were selected to suit the area’s Jurassic limestone soils and relatively cool climate.
Farmers Weekly Awards 2022: Farming Champion of the Year
A Ukrainian farmer dons body armour in preparation to work in the field © AlamyStock/REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino This year’s award goes not to just one farmer – but a whole nation’s farmers – the farmers of Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion in February, Ukraine’s “agrarians” have faced horrific conditions, battling to keep farms running while fearing for their lives and those of their families. It has taken courage, resolve and ingenuity.
Farmers Weekly Awards 2022: Lifetime Achievement
© Tenant Farmers Association Farmer’s Weekly’s Lifetime Achievement 2022 award goes to George Dunn, chief executive of the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA). George has worked tirelessly on behalf of tenant farmers for 25 years, fighting their corner and raising awareness of the issues they face.
Farmers Weekly Photography Competition 2022: Open for entries
2021 machinery category winner © John Buckland Farmers Weekly’s photography competition 2022 is now open for entries. Our annual contest offers readers the chance to win a share of £500 of prizes and see their pictures published. With eight categories covering a range of farming and rural topics, the competition is your big chance to celebrate and share the best of the countryside in pictures.
Inverness farmer takes winning Harvest Photo Comp shot
Farmer Duncan Scott from Fearn near Inverness is the winner of this year’s Farmers Weekly Harvest Photography Competition. Duncan captured the beautiful image above of the spring barley harvest, which takes pride of place on this Friday’s Farmers Weekly magazine front cover.
Owen Sheers: How I Wrote 'The Farrier'
Interview by Tim Relf “When you start writing a poem you have to be prepared to walk boldly into failure.“ Content warning: mention of domestic abuse The Farrier Blessing himself with his apron, the leather black and tan of a rain-beaten bay, he pinches a roll-up to his lips and waits for the mare to be led from the field to the yard, the smoke slow-turning from his mouth and the wind twisting his sideburns in its fingers.
Harvest 2022 photo competition: Some of the best entries
Thanks to everyone who entered the 2022 Harvest Photography Competition. Your pictures captured a real sense of this summer’s harvest. Here is a selection that impressed ahead of next week when we will be unveiling the winner. See also: Hundreds of photos of harvest 2022 Andrew Greenwood Night descends, but the work continues – in this case, a Claas Lexion 8900 with a 45ft header harvesting wheat at GH Parkers (North Coats) in Lincolnshire. The moment was seen through the lens of Andrew Greenwood.
Video: Britain's Fittest Farmer 2022
The winners of Britain’s Fittest Farmer have been crowned after battling it out at the finals in Essex. The competition was fierce, the camaraderie were strong and our four winners get to keep their coveted titles for a year. Organised by Farmers Weekly, this unique event – promoting physical and mental health in agriculture – involved a round of qualifiers and phone interviews, as well as the grand final.
Britain's Fittest Farmer 2022: Meet the finalists
After a challenging round of qualifiers, the 25 finalists in our annual wellbeing event have now been selected. They’ll be put through their paces – in a test of their speed, power and endurance – at Tom Kemp’s Farm Fitness gym in Essex on 17 September. See also: Video – Britain’s Fittest Farmer 2021 Finals Men under 40 John Carlisle Age: 27 Location: Dumfriesshire John plays rugby with Dumfries Saints and enjoys many other sports, including football, badminton, cycling and gym visits.
Police officer shines light on fight against rural crime
Dealing with everything from badger-baiters and tractor thieves to livestock worrying and hare-coursing is all in a day’s work for a rural police officer, according to PC Kelly Tones. Having recently joined Leicestershire Police’s newly expanded rural and wildlife team, she’s also conscious that people in urban areas are often unaware of the extent and seriousness of rural crime.
A police officer's highs and lows of fighting rural crime
Dealing with everything from badger-baiters and tractor thieves to livestock worrying and hare-coursing is all in a day’s work for a rural police officer, according to PC Kelly Tones. Having recently joined Leicestershire Police’s newly expanded rural and wildlife team, she’s also conscious that people in urban areas are often unaware of the extent and seriousness of rural crime.
14 start-up tips from farmer and founder of luxury food brand
Annabel Makin-Jones © Annabel Makin-Jones Annabel Makin-Jones is a fifth-generation farmer and founder of the luxury food brands Annabel’s Deliciously British and Tame & Wild. Her business focuses on providing high quality British fruit products including preserves and sparkling fruit and botanicals drinks. She shares her tips for starting up a farm enterprise. See also: Farmers Weekly Awards 2021: Diversification Farmer of the Year 1.
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