Donegal farm family looking to the future

The very first time Elspeth Vaughan visited Campview Farm with Andrew (Drew) her husband to be, she could see its potential for tourism. However, life intervened and it would take her several years to see that dream become a reality.

Campview Farm is located just 2km from both Bundoran and Ballyshannon and bounds Finner army camp.

Crucially, the 150ac farm, 30 of which are tidal, runs alongside the Erne Estuary which is part of Donegal Bay and the Wild Atlantic Way.

The land bounding the estuary is an environmentally protected area and a European protected site for wintering birds. Indeed, it’s the most active area on Donegal Bay for sanderling, dunlin, red-merganser and ducks. It’s no wonder the farm has been nominated for the Farming for Nature Award 2019 by the National Wildlife and Parks service.

Campview has always been a traditional dairy farm, with the Vaughans supplying milk to Aurivo, managing a flock of sheep and selling forward store Angus cattle produced on the farm. While the acreage was there to expand the dairy herd, this was not practical as most of the best grazing ground was on the wrong side of a very busy road, with no chance of an under or overpass.

Next generation

The catalyst for developing the visitor potential of the farm was the imminent arrival home of Andrew and Elspeth’s two children, who are both completing degree courses at university.

“Ashely is just finishing an Agriculture with Mechanisation degree at Harper Adams university in Shropshire, England, and he is very keen to come home to farm. Grace is studying and completing a degree in Psychology and Irish studies at the National University Ireland, Galway, and is really keen on developing an agri-food business on the farm,” says Andrew.

“We are the fifth generation to farm this land and it means so much to us that they both want to come home. So we needed to re-imagine the farm and everything we have here so it can provide a future for the sixth generation,” says Elspeth.

Agri-tourism on a working farm

Last year the decision was made to develop an agri-tourism offering on the farm. It just felt right says Elspeth. “My grandmother’s family owned the Sandhouse Hotel in Rossnowlagh and having listened to her stories, I was always interested in the hospitality business. I am a nurse tutor/teacher by profession and I love my job but I couldn’t even think of job sharing, not to mind going into tourism full-time until the children were educated.”

A key decision made by the Vaughans was that Campview would remain a working commercial farm. It would not be a petting or pet farm. “It’s a farm where we share our working day with visitors while at the same time educating people about where their food comes from. We want to fill the knowledge vacuum.”

Visitors can sign up for a farm tour or farm experience. The former includes a history of the farm, a tour of the farmyard and land, a visit to the milking parlour, a tractor and trailer ride, a visit to the potato field, a visit to see farm animals and a visit to the most northerly turlough which just happens to be on the farm. This tour costs €15 for an adult, €10 for a child and takes two hours to complete.

Their second offering is a farm experience which lasts three hours and costs €20 for adults and €15 for a child. It’s a hands-on tour which in addition to the farm tour offers visitors the chance to feed some of the farm animals, bring in the dairy cows for milking and watch the milking, load grain into the roller mill and dig and learn about potatoes.

Visitor ready

Getting the farmyard and farm visitor ready with signposting and wheelchair accessibility took time. So did meeting the necessary health and safety measures. But none of this work was too onerous or very costly. The biggest expense was a specially designed trailer to bring visitors around the farm.

“Donegal Tourism has given us great advice and support. We had our Facebook page and marketing material ready before the business got off the ground,” says Elspeth

Then they were blessed with a stroke of luck. Their daughter Grace had a summer job as a co-ordinator in Donegal English Language School in Bundoran and the school was looking for activities that their students could take part in. “Grace suggested our farm visits, they loved the idea and suddenly we were in business,” says Elspeth.

July and August were very busy as the family learned to organise farm work around their visitors. Good time management was essential.

“We had to ensure the farm was safe for visitors and fit for purpose. We can accommodate a maximum of 52 people on the farm at any one time and they are divided into two groups. There are always two members of staff with each group and everyone wears a high-visibility jacket. We have disinfectant points coming into and leaving the farm as well as hand-washing facilities after being near animals.”

Watching cows being milked is a big hit. “We only use one side of the parlour so one person is milking as the other person explains what’s going on.”

Visitors include walkers, Men’s Sheds groups, primary schools, ag science classes, language students, students on study abroad programmes, Irish gap year students, interns and holidaymakers in the area. “The key is to know your audience – older people like to hear about the history of everything while youngsters are after activity.

“We have been asked to design a carbon-free programme for American students who stay in Bundoran as part of an Irish gap year programme. We taught them to hand-milk cows, plant potatoes and hand-shear a sheep. They loved it.”

On 30 September next, Campview Farm will host a farm safety event for sixth class in several local schools. This will be in conjunction with Teagasc, FBD and the HSE.

Holistic health

And it’s not just visitors who are welcomed on to the farm. Having trained as social farmers, this July the Vaughans are expecting their first HSE clients. “For me as a nurse this captures holistic health beautifully. It enables clients to have access to animal assisted therapy and green care,” says Elspeth.

Plans for the future include developing a bird observatory to share with bird watching groups, among others. They also hope to put in place shepherds’ huts which can accommodate up to four people self-catering.

Andrew is optimistic that tourism will have a big impact on the long-term future of Campview Farm. “We have to diversify. We have Ashley coming home with the interest and intention to make this work. We have a great family team with individual skills. After just one year I can see the potential and I look forward to the future of this family farm,” says Andrew.

Things visitors ask