‘We were in trouble’ Countryfile’s Adam Henson feared losing his home after devastating ordeal at beloved farm

COUNTRYFILE star Adam Henson has opened up about virtually shedding his dwelling and household farm throughout the 2001 Foot and Mouth epidemic which had a devastating affect on the agricultural trade. 

Adam, 58, lives on the 1,600-acre Bemborough Farm together with his spouse Charlie and their two kids Alfie and Ella. He took over the operating of the farm from his dad Joe in 1998, working onerous to develop crops comparable to wheat, spring barley and oilseed rape, alongside managing its industrial ewes.

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He informed The Countrywoman’s Information that he skilled a very tough time on the Gloucestershire farm within the early 2000s when Foot and Mouth illness unfold quickly all through the U.Ok.

Greater than 2,000 instances of the illness arose throughout the epidemic which affected each sheep and cows, however greater than six million of those animals had been killed with a view to halt the unfold of the illness.

Adam and Charlie feared they’d lose their dwelling because of the devastating losses.

“For us, Foot and Mouth was a very onerous time,” he recalled.

“We had been tenants of the farm and we had been closely invested in Cotswold Farm Park, as we’d borrowed some huge cash, on high of our heavy overdraft, to push ahead the enterprise ahead,” Adam defined.

It was solely a couple of 12 months after Adam and his enterprise companion, Duncan, had borrowed the cash that the devastating epidemic hit.

Adam says the outbreak left his enterprise in a determined state: “it was horrible, and we had been in hassle,” he says.

“The farm closed, the financial institution was closing in on us, as was our landlord.

“We sat across the kitchen desk with our wives – all our belongings had been tied up within the farm, if we misplaced the enterprise, we misplaced our homes and our livelihoods.”

Having inherited the tenancy of the farm from his dad, Adam was heartbroken to face chapter and the potential finish of his household’s legacy. 

The 2 saving graces had been a small insurance coverage coverage that the companions had put in place and, by an unbelievable stroke of fine luck, the provide of a job on Countryfile.

Fortunately, Adam’s job on Countryfile was sufficient to maintain the farm afloat – however all through his profession Adam has been very clear in regards to the reality it’s taken a number of streams of earnings to maintain his household legacy going. 

He has executed his finest to make the general public conscious that the majority farms are actually having to diversify simply to outlive.

Alongside operating Bemborough Farm and dealing on Countryfile, the BBC star additionally runs Cotswold Farm Park, a well-liked customer attraction providing glamping, lamb feeding, and animal rides, which was based by Joe in 1971. 

Countryfile presenting staff

Agricultural programme Countryfile launched on the BBC in 1988. In its lengthy historical past, the present’s seen a number of presenters come and go. Let’s check out the present line-up.

John Craven: The longest-serving presenter, having debuted in 1989, John can also be recognized for his work on Newsround from 1972–1989.Adam Henson: Adam, who comes from a farming household, joined the presenting staff in 2001. His different media work contains BBC Radio 4’s Farming At the moment and BBC Two’s Lambing Reside.Matt Baker: Having joined the line-up in 2009, Matt additionally offered The One Present alongside Alex Jones from 2011 to 2020. Earlier than that, he hosted Blue Peter from 1999 to 2006.Tom Heap: Tom joined Countryfile in 2009 and in April 2012, he took over the investigative reporter position from John Craven. He has additionally offered The Local weather Present on Sky Information.Helen Skelton: One other former Blue Peter presenter, she hosted the beloved kids’s programme from 2008 to 2013. Helen joined the Countryfile staff in 2014 and has competed in Strictly Come Dancing.Anita Rani: Anita was added to Countryfile in 2015 and has offered different programmes for the Beeb together with The Refugee Camp: Our Desert House, amongst others.Sean Fletcher: Newsreader and presenter Sean joined Countryfile in 2015. He’s additionally recognized for Good Morning Britain, Songs of Reward and BBC Breakfast.

Talking on his psychological well being podcast, Protecting on Monitor, final 12 months, Adam admitted that he’s typically “struggled to make ends meet” on the farm and that he wouldn’t be capable to maintain it going with out these “different earnings streams.”

Nevertheless, when the Covid pandemic hit and the federal government enforced a nationwide lockdown, Adam feared it will be a repeat of the 2001 epidemic. 

“I believed that was it!” he admitted to The Countrywoman’s Information. 

“I discovered myself doing a video on social media saying, ‘I promised my dad on his deathbed, I’d take care of his legacy and we’re going to lose the lot.’ That was my real emotion on the time.”

However as a result of he and Duncan had managed to climate the storm of Foot and Mouth, they had been capable of cope with the stress of the Covid pandemic. The farming companions took benefit of the furlough scheme, and initiatives which allowed the farm to thrive as soon as once more.

Adam hopes that by talking out the highs and lows of farming he’ll be capable to educate folks in regards to the nature of the agricultural trade. “I’d love, if I may, to get agriculture, land use and conservation again into training.

“One in every of my soapboxes is that we study historical past and faith, however we don’t study land use and the place our meals comes from,” he concluded.

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