Asher Valley

26 October 2026, Monday

08:55 World Thirty countries deposit crop seeds at a mountain seed archive in a single week The Hallvard Seed Archive received more than 48,000 samples, including old varieties of wheat, beans and barley from the Asher Valley, as gene banks back up their collections. Diego Fernández

06:26 Business Asher Valley dairy cooperative builds its own cheese plant Forty-one family farms have pooled €9.5m to turn part of their milk into hard cheese and butter, aiming to earn more per litre than selling it to large processors. Aisha Rahman

02:16 Health Mobile dental clinic begins touring Asher Valley villages A converted coach fitted with a full dental surgery will visit eleven villages on a rota, aiming to reach families who have struggled to find a local dentist. Liam Brennan

24 October 2026, Saturday

11:55 Lifestyle Pick-your-own pumpkin farm draws families to the Asher Valley in its busiest October yet A farm that once grew only cereals now plants 14 varieties of pumpkin and squash, and turns its fields over to visitors for four weeks every autumn. Daniel Osei

22 October 2026, Thursday

06:18 Business Asher Valley villagers club together to buy their own wind turbine More than 600 residents of Holloway and two neighbouring villages have bought shares in a single community-owned turbine, with stakes starting at €250 and profits promised to stay in the valley. Elena Sokolova

21 October 2026, Wednesday

21:45 News Tarnmere village post office saved as residents open a community shop When the village's only shop and post office closed in the spring, neighbours raised €140,000 in shares to reopen it themselves, with volunteers working alongside two paid staff. Tom Ashworth

19:22 Lifestyle What's in season at the Old Quay weekend market, and what to cook with it Squash, kale, the last of the plums and the first proper leeks: the market stalls on Old Quay are heavy with autumn produce. Traders and a local chef share what to buy now and how to use it. Mateo Silva

20 October 2026, Tuesday

23:38 Technology Solar panels raised above crops: first results from an Asher Valley trial A two-hectare trial near Bramley Cross that grows vegetables and soft fruit beneath raised solar panels has produced its first full season of data, with some crops doing better in partial shade. Samuel Adeyemi

17:49 Business Asher Valley grain growers lock in prices with millers through three-year contracts A shared online platform run by the growers' cooperative has matched more than 80 farms with regional mills on fixed-price deals, offering both sides shelter from swings in the commodity market. Elena Sokolova

16:33 News Asher Valley wheat harvest beats five-year average despite a wet spring Farmers in the Asher Valley have brought in a wheat crop well above recent averages, figures from the Growers' Cooperative show, after a dry, warm finish to the summer rescued fields that were waterlogged at sowing. Hannah Okoye

12:09 Lifestyle The Asher Valley rail trail: a gentle two-day cycling break along a former railway A 64-kilometre traffic-free route follows the old branch line from Wrenhaven to Tarnmere, with flat gradients, cafés in former stations and a village inn halfway. Hannah Okoye

05:01 Culture Folk song archive of 3,000 recordings from the Asher Valley digitised and opened to all Reel-to-reel tapes made in farmhouses and pubs from the 1950s onwards can now be heard free of charge, after a three-year project by the Central Library. Rafael Ortega