BLOG: Pigs in Wales

         LIZ SHANKLAND

              Journalist, broadcaster, smallholder                    

Author of The Practical Guide to Buying and Running

 a Smallholding in Wales

Welcome to my website! Please feel free to browse around for information about my work as a journalist, my home, and some of the people, animals, and smallholding projects which keep me busy.

I'll  start by coming clean: I'm a townie-turned-country girl, born and brought up in a terraced house in Merthyr Tydfil, in the South Wales valleys. I knew nothing about farming, but I now have a successful smallholding near Caerphilly, 800ft up a windswept mountain.

I breed and show pedigree Tamworth pigs, have some wild boar hybrids, a flock of sheep which I lamb every year, and I rear chickens and turkeys. All of this started as a hobby, with the sole intention of keeping our freezer stocked with top-quality, free-range meat, but word soon got round and I now supply pork and lamb on a regular basis, plus traditional bronze turkeys at Christmas.  See the section Buy great meat! for more information.

I initially set up this website in response to requests from readers of the Western Mail who follow my weekly column, Down to Earth, with bizarre - but hugely appreciated - devotion. The column, which appears every Tuesday in the paper's Country & Farming section, began as a kind of informal diary of the various experiences – and the numerous disasters – that my husband Gerry Toms and I encountered as we made our way as complete beginners into the mysterious world of smallholding. Six years later, my weekly ramblings are still entertaining, puzzling, and infuriating readers. As well as being read by people in Wales, the column is accessed by internet-savvy readers elsewhere in the UK, and in some distant parts of the world, thanks to the paper’s website (www.walesonline.co.uk).

You can also read my work every month in Country Smallholding, the leading magazine for smallholders, downshifters, and anyone who dreams of living "the good life", and buy my book, The Practical Guide to Buying and Running a Smallholding in Wales.

A bit about my background

I've been a journalist for more than 20 years, working in newspapers and magazines, TV, radio, and websites. As well as being a freelance writer and broadcaster, I am editor of Welsh Wildlife, the bilingual magazine of the six Wildlife Trusts in Wales. I also provide PR and copywriting services and give specialist agricultural advice to TV and radio companies. See the section Liz the journalist for more about my work, or email me for examples of my work or more information about the freelance services I can provide to suit your needs.

Contact me

Please feel free to get in touch and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.