The landscape may provide the setting, but it is often the people our guests meet who make a countryside experience memorable.
Our farm visits are built around individuals with genuine knowledge of farming, food production and rural life. Some were born into agricultural families, while others found their way into farming through an entirely different route. Each offers something personal: practical experience, a strong sense of place and stories that cannot be found in a conventional guidebook.
Among the people who bring these experiences to life are Karl, a former chef who built his own farming business; Mervyn, a wonderfully energetic rare-breed farmer; and the Padfield family, whose cheesemaking heritage at Park Farm stretches back more than a century.
Karl did not grow up in a farming family. He left school at 16 to train as a chef and worked throughout the catering industry, eventually becoming head chef at a local two-rosette restaurant.
Alongside his love of food, however, Karl had always been happiest around animals and outdoors. In late 2015, he purchased his first 12 store lambs, rearing them over the following months and supplying the meat to neighbours, family and friends.
The following year he established KF Produce, Gardening and Catering, with the aim of providing local people with produce that had been reared or sourced close to home. What began with a small flock gradually developed into a much broader farming operation.
Today, Karl manages approximately 60 acres of land for local owners, rears lambs, makes hay during the summer and helps a nearby farmer by hand-rearing orphaned lambs. He shares the realities, humour and occasional mishaps of his work online under the name The Pretend Farmer. He entered agriculture with very little farming knowledge and has learned through persistence, observation and practical experience.
Guests receive an informal introduction to sheep farming and the responsibilities involved in caring for livestock. Depending on the season, they may meet the sheep, learn about lamb rearing and discover how grazing land is managed throughout the year.
One of the highlights is watching Karl work with his sheepdogs. The commands can appear almost invisible from the edge of the field, yet a small movement or change in whistle can send the dog in a completely different direction.
Karl explains how the dogs are trained, why trust between dog and shepherd is so important and how much patience sits behind what visitors see.
His previous career also gives him an unusual perspective on the relationship between farming and food. He understands the finished dish, but he also understands the months of work that take place before an ingredient reaches the kitchen.
Karl’s story is one of reinvention. He did not inherit a farm or grow up surrounded by agricultural knowledge, but gradually created a working life that brought together his interests in food, animals and the countryside.
He is honest about both the rewards and the difficulties of farming, and his humour makes the experience accessible even to guests who know very little about agriculture.
Mervyn, affectionately known as Mr Old McDonald, is one of the most distinctive characters our guests can meet.
His farm sits on the edge of the Cotswolds and is home to an extraordinary collection of rare-breed animals. It is also a place where very little remains orderly for long. Baby pigs may appear in search of someone else’s food, cattle lean over to steal hay from the sheep, and animals have a habit of interrupting at precisely the wrong moment.
Behind the humour is a deeply knowledgeable and respected farmer. Mervyn has preserved some exceptionally old bloodlines among his rare-breed sheep and cattle, and his Belted Galloways are particularly impressive.
His enthusiasm is immediate and infectious. Guests are not expected to stand at a distance while he delivers a formal presentation; they are welcomed directly into the life of the farm.
Visitors meet a wide collection of British rare breeds and learn about their history, characteristics and individual personalities. Mervyn explains why preserving these breeds remains important and how they differ from the animals more commonly found on modern farms.
The visit is interactive, and guests may have the opportunity to feed the animals or take part in simple farming activities. The exact experience depends on what is happening that day, which is part of its appeal.
For younger guests, the farm offers animals, movement and plenty of unexpected moments. Adults can also explore the deeper story of historic bloodlines and the role rare breeds continue to play in British agriculture.
Mervyn’s farm feels entirely real. It is warm, lively, slightly chaotic and filled with the everyday incidents that make working with animals both challenging and entertaining.
He combines important agricultural knowledge with a natural ability to tell stories. Guests may learn about the history of a rare breed one moment and find themselves laughing at an escaped pig the next.
The experience cannot be captured fully in photographs because its character comes from Mervyn himself and the unpredictable world around him.
At Bath Soft Cheese, the history of the family, farm and cheese are inseparable.
Park Farm is now run by Hugh Padfield, the fourth generation of his family to work the land since the Padfields arrived there in August 1914. In those early years, it was a mixed farm with dairy cows, pigs, chickens and cereal crops.
Hugh’s great-grandmother, Lillian, made cheese in the farmhouse kitchen, as many dairy farmers did at the time. Turning surplus milk into cheese was practical, but it also began a family tradition that would later become central to the future of the farm.
In the 1990s, Hugh’s father, Graham, revived cheesemaking at Park Farm after discovering an old recipe for Bath Cheese. The instructions called for full-cream milk, salt applied with the aid of a feather and a soft cheese covered in a delicate white mould.
The revival of Bath Cheese was followed by Wyfe of Bath and, later, Bath Blue. In 2014, the same year the family celebrated a century of farming at Park Farm, Bath Blue was named the best cheese in the world at the World Cheese Awards.
The following year, the Padfields opened a purpose-built creamery, combining modern facilities with the knowledge and methods developed across several generations.
Guests discover how milk produced on the farm becomes a range of distinctive cheeses, while learning about the family history behind them.
The story begins with farmhouse cheesemaking and continues through the rediscovery of Bath Cheese, the creation of Wyfe of Bath and the development of the award-winning Bath Blue.Tasting the cheeses at Park Farm gives them a much stronger sense of place. They become more than flavours on a cheeseboard; each reflects the farm, its dairy herd and the family responsible for its production.
The experience is particularly suited to guests interested in British food, rural heritage and family businesses. It can also be included within a wider private tour of Bath, Somerset or the southern Cotswolds.
The Padfields have farmed the same land for more than a century, adapting to major changes in agriculture while maintaining a direct connection between the farm and the food it produces.
Their cheeses are not separate from the farm’s history. They are the modern continuation of a tradition that began in the farmhouse kitchen and has developed into an internationally recognised business.
What makes the story especially compelling is the balance between heritage and innovation. Traditional recipes provide inspiration, but the family continues to experiment, improve and invest in the future of the farm.
Karl, Mervyn and the Padfield family represent three very different paths through British farming.
Karl’s story is one of determination and learning, proving that agricultural knowledge does not always need to be inherited. Mervyn represents a lifetime of working with animals and preserving rare British breeds. The Padfields offer a story of family continuity, with cheesemaking traditions developed over four generations.
Together, they show that the countryside is not a single, unchanging world. It is shaped by new beginnings as well as inheritance, by traditional knowledge alongside modern ideas, and by people whose personalities are as memorable as the landscapes around them.
Guests may arrive expecting to meet animals, watch sheepdogs or taste cheese, but they often leave remembering the people: Karl’s honesty and humour, Mervyn’s extraordinary energy and the Padfield family’s remarkable connection to Park Farm.
That personal connection is what makes these farm experiences so valuable. They allow visitors to move beyond sightseeing and spend time with the people whose work continues to shape the Cotswolds and the surrounding countryside.
Yes. These are working farms and rural businesses rather than conventional daily attractions. Visits are arranged privately and remain subject to seasonal work, host availability and the needs of the animals.
Karl’s sheepdogs and Mervyn’s animals are particularly engaging for families. Bath Soft Cheese may be better suited to older children and adults with an interest in food, although this depends on the individual group.
Yes. A farm visit can be combined with Cotswold villages, Bath, scenic countryside and a country pub lunch. The exact route will depend on the location of the experience and where guests are staying.
Availability and the nature of each visit can change with the farming calendar. Lambing, haymaking, livestock care and cheesemaking all follow different seasonal rhythms.
Not at all. The experiences are relaxed and conversational, allowing guests to ask questions at whatever level interests them.
Written by Eddie Dale, founder of Cotswold Tours & Travel. Eddie grew up in the Cotswolds and works closely with local farmers, shepherds, food producers and rural families to create private countryside experiences based on genuine local relationships.