IN winter, the wind thunders along the Alden Valley so fiercely that it once lifted the roof off a barn at Cronkshaw Fold Farm.

But, in summer, it is the sound of 60-odd six-year-olds singing "Old MacDonald had a farm" that raises the rafters!

Farmer Joy McCarthy runs the tough Rossendale hill-top farm with the help of her daughters, nine-year-old Dorothy and Edith, 13, and farm ranger James Stansfield.

In a harsh rural economic climate matched only by the landscape, she has discovered that trying something different is the key to bucking the trend and beating the farming blues.

Hence the schoolchildren and, for that matter, an organic vegetable plot, livery stable, wind turbine and hydo-electric power scheme.

Cronkshaw Fold Farm sits 1,000 feet above sea level in 44 acres of exposed moorland. It is home to 40 breeding ewes, 30 free-range hens, four pigs, two sows...and a farmer as tough as the surrounding terrain.

"This is a labour-intensive business and there is a lot to do. I get up at about 5am to feed the animals. It is horrible in winter when the skin on my fingers splits because of the cold.

"Yes, I am physically at a disadvantage and I wondered at one point whether to pack it all in, but my daughters are very keen and I have a great farm ranger," she said. The National Farmers' Union has launched a Government-backed campaign to raise the status of women in agriculture and Joy has given it her thumbs-up.

The campaign pinpoints a lack of agricultural role models for women, poor public transport, a lack of childcare facilities and the need for more training.

"Women are often the backbone of rural communities, yet their vital role is rarely recognised.

"Farming in the hills is very hard and it is getting harder because rural communities are shrinking so we have even less support.

"It is also a very male-dominated business and, while some men can be very helpful, others definitely find lady farmers a threat. It's like you are encroaching on their world. Well I am!" she said.

Her farm is now one of the most popular in East Lancashire for visits from schools, disabled groups and organisations catering for inner-city youngsters with social problems. "The severely disabled love to feed the hens and even the most incapacitated child can take great delight in sitting on a bale of straw.

"Some have never seen farm animals before and aren't used to green spaces. We hope they gain something from their visit," Joy said.

She praised her local branch of the National Farmers' Union and Groundwork Rossendale for their help and had this advice for other women looking to follow in her footsteps: "Don't bite off more than you can chew! But if you think you can do it stick at it and don't be put off.

"Believe you me, what we can't achieve with muscle we can make up for with brains!"

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.