Why a farm in the Brecon Beacons started Londoner Elizabeth Tree’s journey to Harper Adams.

Whilst on holiday in the Brecon Beacons, Londoner Elizabeth Tree wandered down to a local farm and offered to help during lambing, and henceforth her interest in agriculture was piqued.

“I’m from a very urban background and no one in my family has ever had anything to do with agriculture,” says Liz, from Croydon, South London.

“One day on holiday I asked a local farmer if I could help out and after that I sorted pens out, did the feeding rounds and gradually progressed to assisting with the births.

“This is how my interest in agriculture started, and I ended up developing a really good relationship with the farmer.

 “I go back there pretty much every year and he just leaves me in charge of the lambing sheds now.”

Though most of her agricultural experience happened in Wales, the 23-year-old actually heard about Harper Adams from a source much closer to home.

“The nearest local farmer to me had a livery stables on the farm.  I spoke to him about doing jobs around the farm in return for stabling my horse and it turned out he was a Harper graduate.”

“He taught me to drive a tractor along with other jobs and said to me one day that if I was interested in pursuing agriculture it’s worth looking at Harper…I did, and here I am.

“I did look at other universities, but I wasn’t keen on them for various reasons, but if I am honest, I always knew my heart was set on Harper,” says the Music Society member.

“Studying at Harper just made sense, too. It’s the best place to study a BSc (Hons) Agriculture and the university's reputation is known by everyone in industry.

“Once I had access to the different industries it became apparent that everyone talks about Harper and the calibre of their graduates, so if you need to do an agriculture-based degree, do so at Harper – it’s really worth it.”

Liz adds that: “Harper Adams also offered what I had missed out on by not having a farm at home, including the industry access and the networking capabilities.”

Now in her final year and in the middle of her Honours Research Project, Liz says she could not have enjoyed her course more.

“There are so many reasons I’d recommend Harper: The placement year, the helpfulness of the lecturers and just being able to do stuff on the farm or seeing what’s growing in the fields.”

“But what I have enjoyed the most about my time at university, is the people I’ve met along the way, both students and lecturers. There are some really inspiring people here.”