A group that promotes tourism on farms is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The ’Isle of Man Stay on a Farm’ group is to hold a series of events, including a competition to enter as part of the IOMSOAF displays within the Manx National Farmers’ Union maze at both the Southern and Royal Manx Agricultural Shows.

For those following Isle of Man Stay on a Farm on Facebook there will be further competitions from September onwards to watch out for and in November some of the members will be holding an open afternoon to enable local residents to have a look around their self-catering accommodation. Details will be posted to the Facebook page nearer the time.

Details of all nine members of the group can be found on www.isleofmanstayonafarm or in the current brochure which is widely available via local tourist information points.

Isle of Man Stay on a Farm is a democratic farmers’ cooperative with each farm having an equal voice.

Members are selected only from genuine working farms of a commercial size where 50% of their income is derived from farming.

All properties are independently inspected and graded.

Awards won by the members include gold and silver for accommodation quality and Breakfast awards for outstanding B&B. Some properties are also graded under the National Accessibility Scheme (NAS) for levels 1 and 2.

Anyone interested in becoming a member should contact Sara Richards (secretary) on 488313 or email [email protected].

To read a feature about how a champion prepares for the Southern Show, see this week’s Manx Independent, in which farmer Vicky Masson is featured.