A BARNSLEY family has scooped a national award for flying the flag for British agriculture and spreading the word of farming worldwide.

The Nicholson family – which run the award-winning visitor attraction Cannon Hall Farm – was named the winner of the Farmers Guardian’s Farming Hero: Flying the Flag for British Agriculture in the 2023 award ceremony held last week.

Previous winners have included an impressive line-up of farmers, like Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper as the award recognises those who make a positive difference to British farming.

On the night, the Nicholson were surprised by a video which included messages from its farm supporters from as far afield as Florida, as well as a special message from pal and TV star Kelvin Fletcher.

He said: “They are innovators. They have taken their farm and galvanised and educated and they’ve got the most incredible, welcoming site. We go there as a family all the time. They’ve put farming on the map in every sector.”

Meanwhile supporter Valerie Hughes, from Florida, explained the difference Cannon Hall Farm’s online broadcasts has made to her life. She said: “In April 2020, just as the world shut down due to the covid lockdown I was furloughed and my days looked very different. One morning, I was scrolling Facebook and one of Farmer Rob’s daily lives appeared in my feed.

“Farmer Rob gave a dose of positivity, humour and a way to break from the negativity the world was providing. I’m so honoured to be speaking today and I’m sending a massive congratulations to the Nicholson family and the entire staff at Cannon Hall Farm.”

Cannon Hall Farm is a 125-acre working farm that is open to the public, it provides daily animal videos on social media for a global audience of almost 600,000 followers via its Facebook page www.facebook.com/cannonhallfarm.