After watching the documentary 'Sacred Cow' - about regenerative agriculture - at our previous meeting, in June nine of us ventured out to an upland farm near Tebay where they are working hard to implement those principles close to home.

Inspirational farmer Andrea Meanwell started by telling us the story of how she got into farming before taking us to a viewpoint from where we could survey the many environmental improvements she is making along the valley sides, for example a planting scheme that will reduce flooding further down the Lune in Lancaster.

We then got to meet her herd of hardy Belted Galloway cattle, whose grazing regime helps store carbon in the soil.  Finally - before our quick visit to the farm shop for meat and books - she shared with us some facts and figures that left us in no doubt about the challenges facing UK farmers today.