Olly Walker has had an unconventional route into farming. Now, he is benefiting from the support of an experienced mentor as he takes his first steps running his own farm.

The 34-year-old has taken over Essebeare Farm near Witheridge in Devon but earlier in his life it looked like his career would take a very different path.

He graduated with a Fine Art degree from Newcastle University in 2004 and went into the creative industries and running his own business, including helping young people tap into their creativity to become more employable and makings films and videos. That included touring with jazz performer Jamie Cullum, videoing his performances.

However, he had married into a farming family, whose connections with the industry stretches back for decades, and developed an interest in agriculture.

Indeed, his wife’s grandfather was Arthur Hosier, famous for inventing the mobile milking parlour in 1922. Arthur used it to milk his 70 cows on the Marlborough Downs and, within a decade, quadrupled cow numbers in the teeth of the deepest economic depression in World history. He eventually went into business selling milking parlours.

Now, Olly has taken on the challenges of sheep farming. He said: “I had always loved animals and had been around farms as a teenager.

“Having married into a farming family, I developed my interest, including creating my own flock of sheep when we lived in Scotland".

"I had not really thought about farming as a career but an opportunity came up to take over Essebeare Farm, which the family owned and had been tenanted for 40 years. The tenant had retired and someone was needed to take it over.”

Having studied at agricultural college, he took over the farm in the Spring of 2015, and has been supported by the Get Mentoring programme.

Olly’s mentor is Cornwall dairy farmer Andrew Brewer, of Ennis Barton Farm, St Columb, in Cornwall, who has been farming for 28 years, initially with support from his family after his father died when Andrew was fourteen.

Andrew, who been running mentoring in the South West, supporting several farmers, said: “I benefited from a lot of unofficial mentoring when I was learning about the industry. I am involved now because it is important to give something back and help younger less experienced farmers to develop.

“I undertook the training from the South West mentoring programme and the online training gave me a good initial introduction, which was useful because I had not mentored previously.

“Being a mentor makes me me think about other people’s problems. For the mentee, it offers fresh eyes, new thinking and a better future.  Indeed, in my own life, mentors have helped me question my own ideas. Hopefully, mentoring will play a bigger part in my professional life.“

Olly said: “Taking on a farm can be daunting and it has really helped having a mentor. The farm needs work doing to it and Andrew has not only passed on his knowledge of things like grassland management but has helped me prioritise what to do so that I do not waste time and money.

“He has also emphasised the importance of the KISS philosophy. Constantly coming back to the 'Keep It Simple, Stupid' philosophy has meant that I have not been overwhelmed by everything that needs doing,

“There is a lot of work lying ahead of me but it is wonderful. Every day, I pinch myself to make sure it is real. I am incredibly lucky.”