The scrapping of tax relief worth an estimated £300m a year to holiday homeowners who let their properties and the extension of Agricultural Property Relief (APR) to cover environmental projects are two announcements in the Spring Budget that will impact on rural businesses.

A planned mass trespass on a Dartmoor Tor by Right to Roam protesters was called off last month (February) because of bad weather. Campaign group leaders took the sensible decision to cancel because of the risk of damaging the land in boggy conditions – and the potential threat to protesters scaling a Dartmoor Tor in a storm.

Rowing back on measures designed to help Britain hit net zero by 2050 has, his critics say, put the Prime Minister on the wrong side of history.

Farmers on Dartmoor are facing serious threats to their businesses as a result of restrictions on the numbers of sheep and cattle they can graze on SSSIs on the Moor.

The UK’s natural beauty, the way the countryside has nourished the arts over generations, the importance for our mental health of getting out in the fresh air… they were all there in Therese Coffey’s opening remarks this week (June 6) when she addressed the Countryside Future conference at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.