Land&Sky is based on land at Writh Farm, Pylle, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Alan Cary has run the farm all his life, and his father did the same. Check out Pylle Church graveyard and the church records (by permission) and you’ll see Cary’s lived locally for several centuries. The Cary name may be linked to William the Conqueror giving land and a castle to a Cary family at Castle Cary, the London Paddington line.

The farm covers 430 acres of dairy land (grass and woods) and is very much a working farm, not a smallholding or romanticised version of country living. The work is physically tough.

Farm Tours
If you’d like to see where your daily pint comes from or show your children what the Maisy Farm DVD is like for real, Farmer Alan will gladly walk you round providing you don’t frighten the animals (so no dogs for example).

There are:
- Cows (take care – they are big and can get scared easiliy)
- Milking (at certain times of day)
- Farmers
- Tractors
- Hay and Straw bales
- Walking routes on public rights of way
- Bluebell woods in spring
- And lots of cow poo…. 

Farm History
The farm nearest the Land&Sky valley is known as Manor Farm and it dates back to the 17thC when the Lord of the Manor built his house and created the village duck pond, the village church, and the village rectory, where the village vicar lived. There is some interesting historical architecture and farm machinery:

- The old waterwheel (used to power the pulley to lift harvest items eg hay into the barns
- The old cider press
- The boating lake (used as the head of water for sluice control of the water power)
- The old stables (accommodation for horses on ground floor and their grooms on first floor)
- The old cider orchards including rare apples (you won’t find these in any shops)