Grant Shapps recently visited a new vineyard at Lockley Farm in Welwyn to meet the team there.
“Founded in 2022, Lokkelebery Vineyard is a truly up-and-coming local venture and it was great to have the opportunity to discuss the experiences and challenges faced by founder Hannah Buisman and her family. The Vineyard and farm have an exciting future ahead of them and I look forward to sampling some of our local Welwyn wines in the future.” said Grant about his visit.
Whilst the first wines are not due for another year, the business hosts a team of volunteers to manage the vines, holds vineyard tours, and hosts community events such as the VineyART event in 2023. This event celebrated local fine art and craft, with live music, a pop-up café, and enabled the community to tour the vineyard.
As well as the vineyard, the Buisman family also farm with horses, chickens and seasonal grazing for beef cattle as well as offering long term rental properties.
The visit provided Grant with the opportunity to tour the site, meet the fantastic team and NFU representatives, and discuss areas including the importance of supporting hard-working family farms in our communities, the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) for rural businesses, road safety around Welwyn Hatfield, and British food procurement for the UK armed forces.
In response to these discussions, Grant will be raising these concerns with the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, his team at the Ministry of Defence, the Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, and local residents.
Hannah Buisman commented on Grant's visit:
"We appreciated the time taken by Mr. Shapps to visit our farm business last week. We were keen to discuss the lack of funding in the Welwyn Hatfield area for rural businesses, and were pleased that Mr. Shapps was hoping to investigate this to try and create opportunities for future projects. He could see how beneficial our vineyard project and indeed farm is to the rural economy and local community, and understood our need for financial backing to establish new ideas in such volatile times for British agriculture.
The visit was productive and progressive. We look forward to hearing the results of Mr.Shapps’ findings on the topics covered and to welcome him back once we have our first wine to offer."
The next vineyard tours take place on 5th May, 2nd June, 13th July and 3rd August and pre-booking online or by phone (01428 718641) is essential.
More information about Lockley Farm and their vineyard can be found on their website and Instagram.
