"There's a whole world waiting to be tapped."

Spas, wellness clinics, sports and health retreats also feature.A new, more controversial, source of income is letting out fields to solar power companies.

The report laid bare how much farmers rely on these new income streams.More than one in four, 28%, reported income from actual farming was negative.In other words, they lost money growing food.

While Mr Collins salutes the enterprise farmers have shown, he says it is only happening because producing food is such an unreliable business.He said: "The finances aren't good, the margins are wafer thin. It's a lot of sawing for not much sawdust, as my grandfather used to say."

Ministers insist their support for farmers is "steadfast".

A spokesperson for DEFRA said: "This government is investing £5bn into farming, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country's history.""Maybe not optimism, but measured confidence," Dr McDowell said.

Villagers have been celebrating the 500th birthday of the clock in their parish church.The timepiece in East Hendred, near Wantage in rural Oxfordshire, is believed to be one of the oldest clocks in Britain still in its original location.

With no clock face or hands, it relies on the church bells in the tower at St Augustine's to ring out the time every quarter hour.The decision to install it in the church was taken when Henry VIII was on the throne, explained the man responsible for St Augustine's bells, Tower Captain Nigel Findley.