Bringing in the sheaves

Farmers were out and about from early morning today getting the harvest in around Sawston and Whittlesford ahead of the rain forecast for tomorrow and into next week. It reminds me that despite all the techno-growth in and around Cambridge, agriculture is still important in this very fertile part of the UK.

I'm hoping that at the parish council meeting at Whittlesford in early Sept we can find a way of keeping the bollards that protect narrow Newton Road's pavements but with the help of the county council these can be removed for the harvest season, because the modern combine harvesters are simply too wide. The other issue that local farmers have raised recently is the cars parked along Royston Road by commuters heading for the trains, and which again make the road too narrow for big agricultural machinery.

Its about managing the tension between the rural appearance of our local villages -  which is a big part of their appeal - and the practical realities of farming when it comes up against modern life.