Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire

The concept of describing the countryside is a little foreign to me. The bush I can describe, the city and the suburbs as well, and I could probably give someone else an idea of what I thought the outback was like. In England there are any number of descriptions of what the countryside is and what it means to people. The Agriculture UK website contains the following description

“Blessed with a temperate climate that favours both agriculture and forestry, the countryside has been shaped by our predecessors’ need for food, materials, energy and recreation. Today the same criteria remain, with agriculture the dominant use.

Around 18.7 million hectares of the UK are classified as agricultural land - over 70% of the total land area. Crops, grassland and woodland mix with other land uses to create a spectacularly rich matrix of habitats and features that are the sum of 6000 years worth of man’s activity. It’s a countryside that captures the imagination with its diversity – but one that is nonetheless deeply productive.

And just as the features of the countryside were fashioned by our farming ancestors over many generations, so today it is farmers who spend hundreds of hours of unpaid time in its maintenance. Conservatively this work has been assessed as being worth around £500 million per annum. But often, just as valuable is what is not done. Old barns and sheds may look unsightly and derelict but they provide happy homes for barn owls and swallows – leaving them undeveloped carries a high opportunity cost.”

So, really, anywhere not in a town or city can be included in the countryside. The University of Gloucestershire at Cheltenham has established the Countryside and Community Research Institute on the Park Campus site. At some time the site was to become an exotic zoological garden, and one pathway is still called the Elephant Walk. A small lake is said to have been created in the shape of the continent of Africa, but it is not clear to this observer.

The institute plays a significant role in a research cluster of related academic organisations in the central south west region of England. Researchers are involved in projects across abroad spectrum of rural policy matters, social and economic interests, planning issues, managing change in agricultural communities, food supply and food chains, and landscape and nature. My principal contact during my time visiting the Institute was Dr Chris Short who has particular interests in rural development policy and in the issues related to management of lands in common.

I was invited to present a seminar as part of the regular sharing of information within the Institute. My brief was to outline my interests, my reasons for undertaking this study trip, and the issues related to peri-urban agriculture in Australia in general and around Richmond in particular. I was warmly received and supported by the researchers and post-graduate students in attendance. I was also able to attend another seminar on devlopments in the management of the Severn estuary which is reported to have the second highest tidal difference in the world at nearly 17.4 metres.

Given a workspace in Business Manager Chris Rayfield’s office, I was able to organise components of my information into something approaching coherence. My thanks go to the staff of the Institute for their provision of space and a welcome to use it. If it wasn’t so expensive, it would be a great place to study for a Masters.