As many of you will know, Mandy and Julie are going back to the Himalayas as part of their 50th birthday celebrations and have been training hard for Everest Base Camp which is now just over the horizon. They fly out to Nepal on the 19th April with some special friends before embarking on the trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp and back.

Training has been intense on times but largely enjoyable and has incorporated many, many treks up and down the Brecon Beacons, rain and snow up the Mourne Mountains in Ireland along with lots of steps, seriously so many steps. This training has been necessary to prepare them for walking for 15 days of between 5-8 hours per day, up to an altitude of 5545m, with an average altitude of 3900m (as a comparison Snowdon is 1,085m).

As farming is at their core, Julie and Mandy have decided to walk in aid of the Prince’s Countryside Fund. If you read the news or have watched Clarkson’s Farm, small family farms and farming communities are facing extremely difficult times. The Prince’s Countryside Fund exists to improve the prospects of family farm businesses and the quality of rural life. They are a small, practical, hands-on charity, who aim to support projects that drive economic vibrancy in the countryside, in turn securing a confident and sustainable agricultural and rural community for the future.

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