How Hannah Hauxwell’s traditional agricultural methods helped save meadows at farm

Hannah Hauxwell: How the Yorkshire farmer’s traditional agricultural methods helped save the meadows at Low Birk Hatt Farm

Hannah Hauxwell was known for her unconventional minimalist lifestyle - but her way of living contributed to the conservation of the meadows at Low Birk Hatt Farm, according to Durham Wildlife Trust.

Hannah Hauxwell first garnered international attention after being the subject of an ITV documentary, ‘Too Long a Winter’, which was made by Yorkshire Television.

Her great grandfather first moved to the remote Low Birk Hatt Farm on Pennine Way, Barnard Castle, in 1929 and it had been passed on to further generations until 1988 when Hannah moved out.

Mark Dinning from the Durham Wildlife Trust pictured in Hannah's meadow. (Pic credit: Simon Hulme)

The farm was passed over to Durham Wildlife Trust and due to Hannah’s traditional methods of farming and agriculture, the meadows have been thriving ever since.

Mark Dinning, ecology manager at Durham Wildlife Trust, told The Yorkshire Post how Hannah’s farming style helped conserve the natural elements of the area.

“The reason that the meadow site or farm is important today is because of the way traditional agricultural practices were maintained through the generations,” Mr Dinning said.

“The way her great grandfather was farming the land, it didn't change by the time Hannah [took over].

Hannah Hauxwell living in isolation in December 1988.

“Agriculture had changed, intensified and taken on new approaches and was using new technology by the time Hannah was farming the farm. But Hannah didn't adopt those.

“That's a good lesson that we could [learn] from Hannah is the kind of the minimalist attitude she had to keep it as close to how nature intended it as possible.

“She recognised the means in which she could steward the land, the means in which she could live and it would have been very, very harsh living there at the start of the 70s. She didn't have electricity up there.”

The hay meadows are what makes the site important today, Mr Dinning said.

Mark Dinning from the Durham Wildlife Trust pictured in Hannah's meadow, also there is a small museum in her memory dedicated to the memory of Hannah Hauxwell at Baldersdale. (Pic credit: Simon Hulme)

“They are extremely flower-rich and are probably some of the best examples of upland hay meadows you can find in the UK and there's a number of reasons for it,” he said.

“First and foremost they've been retained because there's never been pesticides or artificial fertilisers used on them; that means that there's been no chemical change there.

“Hannah hadn't ever deviated from that way of cutting the meadow; away from scything to more mechanisation.

“But she still did a really late cut so quite regularly her cutting of the meadow was still late July into August time.

Mark Dinning. (Pic credit: Simon Hulme)

“That's what ensured that it was there throughout the time Hannah came into the public limelight.

“Durham Wildlife Trust is very proud to be conserving Hannah's legacy through our work up there.”

Hannah lived on low means and still managed to keep the farm going despite unpredictable weather conditions.

“Hannah didn't have a penny in her pocket and she still had that environment at Low Birk Hatt,” Mr Dinning said.

“She got a lot out of the wildlife up there and whether she knew it or not, she retained those traditional practices and this is the reason why that place is still as special today.

“I think she made some money through her fame, as it were, I suppose, but she reinvested that into more livestock.

“She was a lone woman working in what could be at times a very harsh environment and any lone person trying to raise livestock in that environment with the resources that Hannah had available to her would have been extremely difficult to do.

“Landowners and farmers need to be supported in providing public goods such as the conservation of these fantastic places like Hannah’s meadows.

“It stretches far beyond those TV appearances and those in the actual meadows, it actually has allowed us to continue the conversation.

“From a Durham Wildlife Trust point of view, it is really quite significant, the legacy that Hannah left.”

In the 1980s, Low Birk Hatt Farm was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

“SSSIs are basically the best examples of habitats of particular habitats in the country and they are designated SSSI,” Mr Dinning said.

“This designation gives them protection in law against any activities that would be detrimental to their conditions.

“They were some of the most exceptional, upland hay meadows in the country and they're still considered to be some of the most exceptional upland hay meadows you can find anywhere in England.”

The Trust works with a local farmer to conserve it around the same time Hannah would have done, Mr Dinning said.

“On the habitat front, the meadows, we work with a local farmer who continues to take a hay cut at a similar time as Hannah would have done,” he said.

“Then he grazes them with cattle and sheep after the hay cut, which is a similar timing to when Hannah would have done it.

“So, we're working with the local farmer to basically continue the kind of management that Hannah would have done to maintain the meadows.”

The meadow changes colour throughout the seasons with various plants and flowers.

“Through the spring and summer, it's a really important time for both flora and fauna. At Hannah's Meadow and around the area,” Mr Dinning said.

“So you've got things like the upland, breeding waders returning. You also have smaller birds such as Skylark and meadow pipit.

“We'll use the meadows to nest. Then on the plant front, there's a lot of important hay meadow plants that we would find in Hannah’s Meadow.

“Some of the most striking are things like the devil's bit scabious and the ragged robin.

“We can go from a lot of yellows to a lot of pinks and then purples, which if you look at these plants up, you'll imagine what I mean.

“It's also got lady’s mantles; they are an important plant of these meadows. And then it's got some type of globe flower as well.”

Two years ago the Durham Wildlife Trust received funding through Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) to include accessible footpaths for visitors.

“That paid basically for an interpretation trail going and also in the Old Haybob in Hannah’s Meadows,” Mr Dinning said.

“For that to be turned into a small unmanned descent, so people can go in there and then stop, [there are] some displays and interactive displays about Hay Meadows and Hannah's life.

“The fund also paid for Awaymark Trail, where people can now park at Boulderhead Reservoir.

“The car park there is complete, it's about a two and a half to three kilometer loop.”

The original farmhouse is still at the farm but it is now privately owned.

“The farm, the farm buildings and the farmhouse were sold separately to the meadows and we bought what was effectively half the farm.

“The other half was sold along with the farmhouse, the farmhouse, and the farm buildings to their private owners.”

As the farm is located on the Pennine Way route, they get a lot of visitors, Mr Dinning said.

“The Pennine Way passes through Hannah's Meadow, so it receives really good reasonable footfall,” he said.

“Through the spring and summer, obviously, it gets more visitors. I'd say through the spring and summer, you you could be looking at you could be looking at about 30 visitors a day, which includes people passing through on on the Pennine Way.”