Farming

It is important to remember that the area served by Teme Triangle is, and always has been, primarily a farming community and our villages still follow a rural calendar.  However, since the war many changes have taken place in the industry and demographic changes locally have seen some farms sold and buildings converted for domestic use.

The Teme Valley is a fertile and mixed farming landscape.   As well as arable and livestock farming, hops were a familiar crop in the valley until recently and the extensive fruit orchards brought visitors to view the Blossom Trail along the river bank.

It was during the Second World War that government policy first influenced farming. The 'Dig for Victory' campaign saw many of the old pastures ploughed up to grow crops such as cereals, potatoes, sugar beet and other animal feed.

After the war mechanisation changed the landscape here as in other parts of the country, with most farms having at least one tractor and trailed implements and at around the same time the first combine harvesters and hop-picking machines arrived in the locality.

You can see an interesting display of restored farm machinery at Shelsley Walsh Watermill www.shelsleywatermill.com and there is a Hop Museum and Festival in Bromyard. www.bromyardhopfestival.co.uk

By 2000, the orchards around Clifton and the Shelsleys were no longer commercially harvested, with the exception of small quantities of cider apples, although the famous mistletoe remains in the trees and the traditional Mistletoe Fair takes places every December in Tenbury Wells.   Sugar beet for feed continued in production until recently, when the local beet factory closed in Kidderminster, and today farming has returned largely to a mix of arable and livestock.

Country pursuits thrive locally with several successful shoots, the Clifton-upon-Teme Hunt and a range of fishing opportunities. The area also has an extensive footpath network including the Worcestershire Way.