How Britain’s countryside is becoming the new seaside
Rural Solutions predict we are on the precipice of it biggest change in centuries – and by 2027 the green, green grass of home could well be better known as a holiday destination than an agricultural hotspot.
The countryside will soon be about far more than bracing walks and pub lunches. It will become an extension of the city, offering a range of leisure attractions, activities and experiences.
Rural Solutions’ Director Rob Hindle said ‘According to DEFRA, diversification makes up around 32% of UK farmers’ incomes. We predict that this will reach over 50% by 2022 post Britain’s exit from the EU.’
The countryside leisure revolution won’t be the death of Britain’s rural idyll however, Rural Solutions predicts in a recently published white paper that well, planned sustainable and managed diversification will breathe new life into family farms and communities facing a post CAP future. New leisure based revenue streams will enable growth and investment. They will provide a future in the family business for those landowners and farm bosses who love people and are keen to make a success of their business as their predecessors.
And farmers and landowners are already catching on. A new cadre or ‘ruralpreneurs’ is already busy transforming steel framed barns into bustling play areas, thronged with the happy sounds of playing children.
Traditional buildings are being converted into cafes and treatment rooms; ponds, woodlands and quiet farmyard corners turned over into romantic retreats and family breaks offering time out from the nearby towns and cities.
Why? Because the landscape is shifting for many rural landowners and farmers who have relied on agriculture as a source of income, Especially as it is likely the nature of subsidy payments will change once Brexit happens and the CAP comes to an end.
‘Tourists will be the major new cash crop on many British farms. And farm leisure will become ubiquitous rather than limited to holiday and tourism areas. Every town and city dweller will soon have its share of farm based leisure attractions accessible within a 30-40 minute drive of their home in the suburbs.
This huge change in the very texture of the British countryside is driving a monumental sea change into rural leisure that experts’ Rural Solutions predict is set to grow exponentially in the next decade. All of a sudden the British countryside is set to become the new seaside and holiday makers are likely to head out to spend their tourist pounds on the farm.
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Top facts about the Rural Landscape (Sources: Savills’ Rural Estate Benchmarking Report)
- Agriculture accounts for just over a third rural estates’ annual revenue
- 55% of farm income comes from subsidies
- Income from residential property makes up 43% of rural estates annual revenues
- Commercial developments on rural estates have risen from 2% to 9.4% from 2000 to 2016
- Leisure income on UK rural estates has grown from 1.9% to 5.6% since the year 2000
COMPANY NAME: Rural Solutions
URL: ruralsolutions.co.uk
EMAIL: info@ruralsolutions.co.uk
PHONE: 01756 797501
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