Glebe land tenant

Some land in the village has come up for rent. It is glebe land, belonging to the church. Glebe land was originally for the use of the vicar of the parish, so that he could keep a few sheep or cattle and supplement his ecclesiastical income. Some parishes owned lots of glebe land, like Morwenstow in Cornwall, which once had 72 acres. Robert Hawker, the eccentric vicar of the parish in the 1800s, farmed his glebe with devotion, turning it into a small but successful farm. The East Chinnock glebe is only an acre in size. I made enquiries from the diocese, which is now responsible for the village glebe, and within weeks had signed my first agricultural tenancy. (There's a first for everything.) Two of my pygmy goats have kidded since I retired, so I aim to move them, together with their offspring, onto the glebe land. It won't rival Hawker's farm, but it should be fun.

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