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Shacklabank News and ReviewsMay 2008 - Cumbria Tourist Board "Tourism experience award 2008"We're still excited about winning this award - more news shortly!
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More ReviewsThe Independent, 31 May 2008Rhiannon Batten wrote: A North Country walking holiday with a difference" ...One part Nigella, one part Bill Oddie, one part Old McDonald and one part Alfred Wainwright". Based at Shacklabank, with accommodation either on the farm or in gypsy caravans, trips are tailored to match guests' interests, from mucking in with the animals or brushing up on baking skills to heading out onto the surrounding Howgill fells with Alison as a guide. |
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The Dales Diary Television Programme, December 3rd 2007Alison featured in the Dales Diary TV programme, talking to presenter Luke Casey about the business, and farming, and their place in the rural economy. Luke Casey said: "Sometimes in life when things go wrong and income dries up, you need to be quick on your feet to survive. That's particularly true of hill farming families, who have had to weather more storms economic and climatic than most. But for centuries, survival has been a way of life up here."I visited a beautiful corner of Cumbria to hear a heart-warming example of it. If ever a landscape cried out to be discovered on foot, then surely this is it: the breathtaking Howgill fells, with shepherdess Alison O'Neill..........." Tyne Tees Television
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The Westmorland Gazette, November 30th 2007Lisa Higginson wrote: "Free range" venture to be featured on TV. The inspiring tale of a determined hill farmer is to be told on television. www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/
Country Walking Magazine/ITV Granada September 200725 walks in England's North West, page 7. Highlights and Hidden gems: Howgill Shepherdess Alison O'Neill of Shacklabank, who calls herself a "free range child", has managed to bottle and encase her unbounded enthusiasm for life, the Howgill Fells and her role as a shepherdess. All of this has been packaged in a Pandora's box of delights.
The Independent Newspaper, The Information, 3-9 November 2007The 50 best green getaways: No 37 Rhiannon Batten wrote: The trips are led by farmer-turned-walking-guide Alison O'Neill who is evangelical about the surrounding region.
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Radio Times, Living: "Walking on air", 27 July 2007Claire Balding and Radio 4 Ramblings is back for its 23rd series. Radio Times asked Claire to pick her four all time favourite rambles from past and present series. Claire said, "The Howgills, Cumbria 2007, with Alison O'Neill was my favourite walk of the new series." To hear the programme go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/ramblings and Listen Live
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The Observer Newspaper, Escape: 29 July 2007, page 5Nell Card wrote: High walks and sheer Adventure A "free range" holiday on a working farm in Cumbria has just the right ratio of spectacular hikes, hands on activities and hearty food....www.theobserver.co.uk
The Mail on Sunday, Northern Exposure: June 2007, pages 8-9Northwest Regional Development Agency wrote: "Perhaps the most feminine farmer in the land, Alison is clad in her trademark skirt and walking boots as she strides out across the hillside...." www.themailonsunday.co.uk
The Independent Newspaper, Independent Traveller: 19 May 2007, page 18Farm Holidays in the UK Fancy something a little more free range? Shacklabank is a family farm in Cumbria that offers free range holidays in the hills..... www.theindependent.co.uk
Red Magazine, April 2007, page 25550 best mini breaks, Best for Actitvity: Number 30 Free Range Walking in Cumbria. "Alison O'Neill's love for the Cumbria hills is infectious. Accommodation on her fun walking tours is in the farmhouse or quirky caravans, complete with Cath Kidston style decor." Lake District Life, March/April 2007 Edition, pages 4-7Roger Borrell wrote Long Walks, Short SkirtsWhen Alison was asked to name her must have item for hill walking, she didn’t need to think twice. “A big pair of warm knickers,” she replied… “I try to recreate the magic of my childhood when I could roam free.”
My Weekly Special Spring Reading, 22 February - 03 May 2007, pages 20-21Gilly Pickup wrote: Getting away from it all They say change is as good as a rest, so revitalise, de-stress, and pamper yourself with one of these breaks… Flock to the ShepherdessShacklabank free range walking holidays offer a different type of walking break for those who want to sample the real lifestyle of rural communities.
Cumbria Life, February/March 2007 Edition, page5Jackie Moffat wrote The ‘free range child’Alison, whose grandmother with commendable prescience dubbed her a ‘free range child’, takes her guests to range free with her, up into the wild and remote Howgill fells she knows so well, the hardy stopping off for a bracing swim and return to Shacklabank and its animals, some of which are on the menu!…..
Country Walking Magazine, February 2007, page 114, Last stepsJenny Walters wrote: Alison O’Neill is the only lady farmer in Cumbria qualified to guide in the hills. In 2006 she set up Shacklbank free range walking, leading walks from her farm across The Howgill Fells.In 2006 Alison won a ‘Women in rural Enterprise’ award for ‘Best Business Idea’. Alison said, “I have walked these hills all my life and want to share my passion for the landscape.”
The Sheep Farmer, January/February 2007, page 28The ShepherdessVisitors will be flocking for her free range walking holidays. Free range walking holidays are set to shake up the walking holiday scene thanks to the infectious enthusiasm of ‘The Shepherdess’ one of the country’s most enterprising rural women, who backs her love of walking with a unique approach to tourism in the Cumbrian Hills…..
The Westmorland Gazette, November 17 2006, page 17Farming and CountryRuth Lythe wrote “Proving you can live off the view”Visitors to The Howgill’s will soon be able to uncover hidden secrets as an unusual farm diversification scheme gets off the ground…. www.TheWestmorlandGazette.co.uk
Country Living Magazine, August 2006, page 30Winner, Best Business Idea 2006Country Living wrote: Shepherdess Alison O’Neill has decided to don a pair of hiking boots and open up her farm as a base for walking holidays. www.countrylivingmagazine.co.uk
The North West Farm Tourism Initiative, Issue 10, August 2006, page 5Free Range Walking Holidays Shacklabank Farm (the farm on the hill) Firbank Sedbergh will see the launch this summer of Shacklabank free range Walking.
The Westmorland Gazette, July 2006, page 2Michaela Robinson-Tate wrote: Farmer to share Good Life dream. A farmer’s dream of sharing her way of life with holiday makers in a new business has led to success in a national competition. www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk
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