Lowlands Farm

Cheshire is a county in the North West of England, popular with tourists and visitors both from the UK and abroad. It's a very diverse area with lots of idyllic open countryside peppered with quaint villages and historic towns and cities. There is something to cater for everyone in Cheshire, with its fantastic countryside and wonderful heritage. The accommodation Cheshire has to offer is as diverse as its landscape, addressing the needs of all with a mixture of luxury hotels, self catering cottages and apartments, family farm holidays and camp sites, to select just a few.

With its beautiful countryside and stunning towns and villages, along with the fabulous city of Chester, the county of Cheshire is a wonderful place to visit and has proved popular over the years. In 2003 the county served more than 8 million nights of accommodation and saw just under 3 million visits. \”The Cheshire Gap\” is so named as Cheshire covers a comparatively flat clay plain, flanked by the hills of North Wales to the west and the Derbyshire Peak District to the east.

There are many historical sites and buildings to explore in Cheshire, with prehistoric burial sites and iron age hill forts evident. The walled city of Chester also has a Roman fortress and many other historic buildings. From the 15th to 17th centuries, timbered buildings were popular and examples still stand in Chester, Nantwich and other areas. Cheshire is known for its cheese, silk and salt production.

The stunning Cheshire countryside affords many memorable walks and outings. Holidays can be based from countryside locations or towns and cities. Cheshire is also a fantastic base for day trips to Liverpool, Manchester, North Wales and Snowdonia and the Peak District. The area\’s diversity mean it's possible to find perfect accommodation, for all tastes, needs and budgets.

Basic budget hotels, spa hotels, modern city hotels, grand urban hotels, quiet country hotels, stately homes and manor houses, family hotels and castles. An amazing variety of hotels are available in Chester and throughout the county of Cheshire.

If a more homely base is preferred, there is plenty of bed and breakfast accommodation throughout the region. Bed and breakfasts to suit various budgets may be found in the towns, villages and rural areas of Cheshire.

Cheshire\’s wonderful buildings ensure there is a wide range of self catering accommodation available for a totally relaxed and homely stay. Some examples are converted farm stables, village cottages, city apartments and holiday parks.

Camping and caravaning is well catered for in the Cheshire countryside. Facilities can range from a field to pitch a tent in to large parks with all amenities. Camping or caravan is a fantastic way to escape and explore this beautiful area.

Many farms in the Cheshire countryside offer bed and breakfast or self catering accommodation. The facilities can vary from quaint, old cottages to modern stable or barn conversions. Activities available on the farm will differ depending on the particular provider. On working farms, it may be possible to view daily farm activities, meet farm animals and even get the children to help out around the farm. Each farm holiday is a totally unique experience.

Whatever the purpose of a trip to Cheshire, be it for business, pleasure, a family holiday or a romantic weekend, there is a plentiful choice of fantastic accommodation to ensure you have a wonderful time in the amazing county.

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karlopaolo24 -
About the Author:

When you're looking for an accommodation Cheshire area, there are many places from which to select. A B&B Cheshire is one of the comfortable and attractive places to stay while visiting the region.

Many feel a desire to help the poor, but don’t necessarily have the financial resources to make a huge impact.  Not so!  Here are some ways to help reduce global poverty for less than $50.

Reduce poverty with some shoes. There are companies that are considered social enterprises.  The philosophy is profit with a purpose.  When you make a purchase they'll donate a similar item to a person in need.  Toms Shoes gives one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased.  Fig Tree gives a shirt to a person in Africa for each shirt silkscreened.  Shoes, tee shirts and more…clothe yourself and the world.  Amazingly it's extremely important in many developing nations that children have the right attire to attend school.  Companies that donate shoes and clothes help provide the tools children need for an education, which is a good step out of poverty.

Reduce poverty through micro loans.  Unfortunately there are not many good jobs in the rural areas of developing nations, but there are a lot of good entrepreneurs.  Hard circumstances usually lead to creative endeavors.  Many humanitarian organizations provide microloans to build or sustain livelihoods.  Some individuals just need a little bit of money to get started, while others are ready to expand their businesses.  Through a donation, or microloan of any amount, you can help sustain families across the world.  An added perk is many organizations post details about who is receiving the microloans, allowing you to pick the person and criteria that ideal fits how you desire to help.  World Vision and Kiva are two organizations, among many, that will connect your money with an entrepreneur in a third world country.

Reduce poverty with livestock. Farm animals help families in multiple ways.  First farm animals provide a source of food, such as eggs or milk, providing nutrition for good health.  Some of the animals can also help with workloads allowing farmers to be more efficient.  In addition, food produced by the animals or products grown can be sold for income.  Purchases of livestock can be made through church mission organizations or Heifer International. These organizations then deliver the animals to families in impoverished areas.

Reduce poverty when you purchase a gift. Many stores and organizations are teaching people livelihood skills in poverty stricken areas.  Crafts, purses, card making, jewelry, and wood products can be purchased either through retail outlets and online stores.  Some are designated fair trade, while others don’t have the certification but are ethically made.  The purchase of these products creates profits to help families buy food and send their children to school.  Global Exchange, Gifts With Humanity, Ten Thousand Villages, and Daughters of Cambodia are examples of such stores.

You may not be able to eliminate global poverty all at once, but changing the circumstances for an individual or family reduces poverty for them and the world.

 

 

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Robin Rossmanith -
About the Author:

Robin Rossmanith is a mother of three from Jacksonville, FL, who was working part time in retail when she learned about human trafficking.  Wanting to contribute to the fight against modern day slavery Robin joined the local task force in 2007.  In 2010, Robin became the co-chair of the Northeast Florida Human Trafficking Task Force leading individuals and agencies in a community wide effort to prevent human trafficking, rescue and restore victims and prosecute traffickers. In 2010, she also began ShoptoStopSlavery.com, a website dedicated to informing consumers about products made with forced labor and providing opportunities for consumers to purchase slave free goods.  Shop to Stop Slavery seeks to engage everyone in the efforts to end human trafficking.

Copyright (c) 2010 Alison Withers

Dealing with plant pests and diseases as well as to strengthen the soil has always historically depended on farmers using natural methods.

After all, what is compost but decomposing vegetable matter which is then put back into the soil to improve its richness, fibre content and the nutirents plants need for growth.

Plant extracts were arguably the earliest agricultural biopesticides, as history records that nicotine was used to control plum beetles as early as the 17th century. There were also experiments using mineral oils as plant protectants in the 19th century.

Biopseticides most frequently used on speciality crops like specific fruits. A 2006 study estimated that orchard crops had the highest rate of biopesticide use at 55%.

Biopesticides are derived from natural materials like animals, plants, bacteria, and certain minerals. Plants like mint, neem, papaya and garlic as well as baking soda have applications as pesticides and are considered to be biopesticides.

It was after the 1960s that modern biopesticides research really took off following a change of attitude to chemical-based pesticides that were widely used during the 1960s and 70s and the attitude change is often attributed to Silent Spring, a book by American naturalist Rachel Carson.

The book the severe effects of organochlorines on humans and the environment; the book triggered the environmental movement and also led to subsequent bans on organochlorine pesticides.

Dave Moore, senior researcher in invasive pest management at the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI; Oxford, UK) suggests that more and more organic farming is embracing biopesticides, especially in the developing countries of Africa and newly-industrialised emerging economies like China and India.

He said: “In many parts of the world biopesticides are accepted easily, where available, and are seen as totally compatible with organic.”

In India, for example, anyone cultivating vegetables in a residential area is required to use only biopesticides. The Asian and Australasian market for microbial- and nematode-based pesticides is estimated to be worth approximately $132.5 million per annum and has grown by 35.7% since 2004.China, India and Japan are thought to be the three largest markets in the region, and most of the products used have been researched and developed locally.

In Europe the estimated market share is 26.7% and again is projected to grow. The most widespread use of biopesticides is in the US.

One of the main difficulties in promoting wider use of biopesticides and other low-chem agricultural products is that they tend to be geographically limited in use and locally-specific in their effects on pests, viruses or fungi.

This makes them costly to research and produce, apart from the costs and time involved in getting them through the trial and registration process, while at the same time limiting the market in which they can be sold.

There is now a growing body of evidence that they're better for the environment, the land and for growing healthy, natural food free of chemical residues and that they have the potential to contribute to reduced damage of the soil as well as reducing the widespread incidence of hunger in less developed parts of the world.

If they can be made available affordably to the hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers in the developing world they'll help them to farm sustainably, increasing their yields without damaging and depleting the land, and to earn a better income from their efforts.

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Alison Withers -
About the Author:

Consumer journalist biopesticides in agriculture is spreading across the world.