James will share his own views on changes in farming practices, the impact they have had on the environment and how he has worked to bring farming and the environment together on his upland farm in the Cumbrian fells.

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A key-note session that will not only set the programme in context but will also help explain, in practical terms, what can be achieved and the benefits to farming as well as the landscape.

Those who attend this session will also be entered into a prize draw and could be the lucky winner receiving one of ten copies of James's book "English Pastoral"

Born in 1974, James Rebanks is an English sheep farmer and author, from Cumbria. His first book, The Shepherds Life, was published in 2015, followed by English Pastoral in 2020.

The Shepherds Life is partly autobiographical. Rebanks writes of leaving school at the age of 16, and then doing A levels at evening classes before being accepted by Oxford University where he achieved a double first in history. Following his degree, he returned to farming, which he continues to do, specialising in Herdwick sheep but moving towards a more mixed farm. He has also run a consultancy based at his farm. He was involved in the bid for the Lake District to receive World Heritage status (which was approved by UNESCO in 2017), and as of December 2020 had a following of 141,667 on Twitter as "Herdwick Shepherd" @herdyshepherd1