As a Churchill Fellow in 1982, I studied policies for upland farming in alpine countries and Scandinavia that had successfully diversified their rural economies while facing a deepening recession. Having diversified my own farm, I sought to help others to do the same. I chaired the Upland Management Experiment in the Lake District for six years to help farmers add conservation to farm income, and I initiated and chaired the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency to grow rural businesses. As Rural Member of the Northwest Development Agency I introduced a planning facilitation service in the north-west, and as a board member of Rural Regeneration Cumbria I helped to rebuild a rural economy devastated by foot-and-mouth disease.