The Media World to Farming
Making the switch from life in the fast lane in London to farming at home in Dorset would prove difficult for some, but in Jemma Harding’s case, it was always where she would eventually end up. Emily Ashworth, from FG Insight, finds out how one moment can change everything.
They say everything in life happens for a reason and, in Jemma Harding’s case, it would seem a near fatal accident was the catalyst for her decision to go back to the family farm and leave her bustling life in London behind.
It was her father Richard who encouraged her to go and gain some experience in other walks of life than agriculture, which led to Jemma completing a photography degree at Nottingham Trent University, before falling into freelance work in the television industry. Despite this, she had always maintained an interest in sheep and had grown up with them from an early age, helping her father on the farm.
She says: “I have always had sheep since the age of seven. It started off with pet lambs and obviously Dad realised this was not just a phase when I asked for pedigree ewes for my birthday.”
After she left school, she lambed 75 Mule ewe lambs and persuaded her father to let her add them to the flock rather than sell them on. Richard was adamant, however, that his daughter should still pursue other career opportunities, a push which eventually led her to working with celebrities for MTV.
Jemma says: “He knew sheep farming was a tough lifestyle and he pushed me to go and get a ‘proper job’ as he called it. But I think if Dad had invited me to farm initially, I definitely would have.”
Although she was living in the city, engulfed in the world of media, Jemma continued to maintain her interest with sheep. Jemma, 36, has never taken a job over the chance to go back home to the 81-hectare (200-acre) farm in Dorset and help out with her flock, living between two polar opposite worlds for almost seven years.
With her weekends spent travelling back home to farm and her father looking after the flock during the week, it is easy to figure out Jemma’s passion never really subsided. But it was a serious accident which forced her to quit life in the city and head back home to Dorset.
In 2008, Jemma’s whole world was turned upside down when she was cycling in London and ended up beneath a lorry which continued to drive on, practically shredding the front of her body. With two holes in each side of her torso, a lacerated liver and her leg below the right knee narrowly escaping amputation, she was rushed to hospital and was critically ill.
She says: “When I woke up, the first person I saw was my dad. He was normally a very calm and laid back person, but he looked horrific and I just thought ‘what on earth have I done?’ And that was it. I made the decision right there and then to buy myself a collie and move back home to the farm.”
What should have been a three-month stint in the Royal London Hospital turned into a short five weeks, as Jemma pushed herself to the limit to escape ‘the view of bricks and grey stone from my room and see a bit of green’.
“I was back out on the quad bike with a plastic bag over my damaged leg telling Dad what to do with my sheep.”
With the support of her family and partner Callum, Jemma’s recovery was miraculous.
She says: “I was back out on the quad bike with a plastic bag over my damaged leg, shouting at Dad and telling him what to do with my sheep.”
But sadly the misfortune did not end there. A short but hard-fought battle with cancer in 2014 saw Jemma’s father pass away and overnight the farm was left for her to run.
She says: “I suddenly just had to know everything. It was a steep learning curve for me and, whereas before I solely concentrated on my sheep, I now had to manage grass, fodder beet and general farm maintenance. Dad used to keep me off the tractor. That was his thing when I came home and his way of not being redundant. Now it is just me. I miss having someone to bounce off and ask questions. I spend a lot of time on the Farming Forum because it is somewhere I feel I can ask opinions and, more so, not feel like I am alone when I don’t know the answer to something.”
