Popular butty van scheme helps farmers socialise

Janet Tudor, Karen Ross and Debbie Pope run one of the three Shropshire butty vans

A chaplaincy project has helped farmers across Shropshire to socialise.

The Butty Van pitches up at a different farm every month, offering farmers a chance to sit and talk to each other, usually over a bacon sandwich.

The scheme is run by the Borderlands Rural Chaplaincy, which serves the agricultural community in Herefordshire, Shropshire, and eastern Powys.

"You might go a week without seeing anyone, bar the postman," said Ryan Davies, sheep farmer and mayor of Clun.

"Having this opportunity to get people out of the farm and see what's going on in other people's worlds... I think it's really important."

The monthly meet-ups aim to get farmers to meet up and chat

Hosting the gatherings on farms means people can show up in their work clothes - something that the community values.

"We all come in our working clothes, as we would if we were going to market. I think that's important, there needs to be no barriers for someone to come," said Derek Bevan, whose farm near Llanfair Waterdine hosted the most recent get together.

"It's on somebody's farm. I'm sure if we did it in a village hall, no-one would come. You've got to dress up, take your boots off, put your other stuff on, and you haven’t got time to do that," said Janet Tudor, one of the organisers.

Farmers said the meet-ups were particularly impactful at this time of year, after the busy lambing season had finished.

"People would be too busy over the lambing period, so perhaps all the more reason to have one now in May when the lambing is about complete, and we can all share our disasters from lambing," said Mr Bevan.

"You're meeting with like-minded people, who better understand when things aren’t quite going to plan. The best solution for most problems is to know somebody else is having the same one as well," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.