Today on the Tales of a Nuffield Scholar series I had the pleasure of chatting with Robin Asquith 🎙️ Robin is Head of Environment at Camphill Village Trust, working at the intersection of farming, nature and social care, supporting people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health challenges through real farm based environments 🌾

We spoke about Robin’s early life growing up in North Yorkshire, spending time on his grandparents’ soft fruit farm, and how that shaped his understanding of community, people and the land. From training as a plumber to working in commercial horticulture, his path wasn’t linear, but it eventually led him into a role where farming became a tool to support people rather than just produce food 🚜

His Nuffield Scholarship explored the role UK agriculture can play in delivering social care, looking at care farming, green care and how nature based environments can improve wellbeing and independence. His travels took him across Ireland, Scandinavia, mainland Europe and Canada, where he saw everything from dementia care on farms in Norway to rehabilitation programmes in Italy and the Netherlands that use farming and horticulture to support people back into society 🌍

One of the most powerful parts of the conversation was hearing how real farm environments create real opportunities. Whether it’s someone non verbal building a connection with animals, or individuals gaining confidence and independence through meaningful work, it showed how farming can play a much bigger role in society than we often give it credit for

We also spoke about the future of the sector, the challenges around funding and staffing, and Robin’s ambition to help drive this space forward nationally. His advice for anyone thinking about Nuffield was simple, be curious, be brave and back yourself 🌱

Thank you to NFU Mutual for their support of this project.

Enjoy! 🙂

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