I worry for our rural economy - and yes, it's personal

"There's a particular sound that stays with you once you've lived in the English countryside. Not birdsong, that's too obvious, but the deeper rhythm of things: the tractor coughing into life at dawn, Chameau boots crunching on gravel, the hooves of the horses going out for a hack, the soft murmur of a village pub where everyone knows exactly why you're there even if they've never seen you before."

"A few sessions at the clays with a beautiful Purdey side-by-side and I was hooked, not just on hitting the target - which I am told my hit rate was very impressive - but on the world around it. The quiet discipline. The sense of responsibility. The unspoken understanding that this was not about bloodlust or bravado, but stewardship. About knowing the land, respecting it, and earning your place within it."

"We've been told, repeatedly, that concerns about farming, shooting, gamekeeping and rural business are either nostalgic indulgences or political dog whistles. Watch a few episodes of Clarkson's Farm and tell me that again with a straight face. Strip away the jokes and celebrity sheen and what you're left with is a documentary about a sector living permanently on the brink, one failed harvest, one policy tweak, one cost spike away from collapse."

Distinctive rural sounds and routines — tractors at dawn, boots on gravel, horses on a hack, and pub murmurs — characterize English countryside life. Practical country experiences, such as clay shooting with a Purdey, reveal values of quiet discipline, responsibility, and stewardship tied to knowing and respecting the land. The rural economy faces sustained pressures: fragile harvests, rising costs, and precarious policy shifts. Government moves to remove agricultural inheritance tax relief exposed deep anger across rural communities and illustrated how small policy changes can threaten family farms and wider rural businesses. The combination of economic strain and policy uncertainty risks eroding traditional rural livelihoods and culture.

Read at Business Matters