Sandy has been our Lead Farm & Environmental Consultant since joining us in 2012.

She has seen the Farm & Environment Consultancy expand into a team of experts which provide a wide range of experience-based advice.

Sandy herself has a vast range of experience in the agricultural industry having worked for the Rural payments Agency, Environment Agency, NFU and Natural England. She is also the farm adviser to The West Cumbria Rivers Trust.

She offers a service on many environmental issues, such as stewardship schemes, pollution control, habitat management, statutory government regulation and flooding issues. Her main areas of interest are species rich grasslands, wetland habitats and climate change issues.

‘Things have certainly changed since I joined Mitchell’s, then we only offered applications to the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme and the Single Payment Scheme, now I am proud to lead a team that can deal with all administrative and advisory needs. In particular the challenges the new Environmental Land Management Scheme will present and the financial challenges farming businesses are now facing with the demise of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.'

Kirsty joined Mitchells in 2021. She graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Agriculture with Animal Science from Harper Adams in 2014, and went on to work for Carrs Billington, covering farms across West Cumbria offering nutritional, animal health and fertiliser technical advice. This has given her good commercial, scientific and practical farming background knowledge to apply to her role at Mitchells.

She is FACTS and AMTRA qualified, and her focus within Mitchells is Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Management Grants, with a new shift to the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Environmental Land Management schemes. Kirsty is passionate about helping farmers integrate grants and support schemes into their current farming businesses.

Kirsty lives on the family dairy farm near Cockermouth with her husband and two young daughters and enjoys taking on many active roles here in her spare time.

Julia Richardson is our front of house, managing client enquiries and viewings. Julia has more than 30 years’ experience in customer service and hospitality. Away from the office Julia enjoys country walks and Yoga. Julia grew up locally with her family farming near Bassenthwaite Lake for many years.

Harry joined Mitchells in 2023 having graduated with BSc (Hons) in Agriculture with Farm Business Management from Harper Adams University. With previous work on a number of large-scale arable estates and Dyson Farming in Lincolnshire and the South West, Harry has extensive on-farm experience and understands the farm planning and management process paired with the ability to analyse the internal and external business environments.

Harry is keen to be ‘farmer focused’ and build relationships with clients to help ensure their viability in the biggest changes to land-use policy in a generation which presents challenges but also exciting opportunities for land managers.

Harry is a member of the Institute of Agricultural Management and when not working enjoys spending time exploring the countryside in Cumbria and further afield.

Karen is our experienced property viewer, who with her personable approach guides prospective purchasers around our sale properties.

Karen lives locally with her family and also has a keen interest in her own property developments.

As a Chartered Architect with over 25 years experience, Stuart has extensive experience in the design, planning and project management for large, small and bespoke schemes for residential, commercial, leisure and agricultural uses both within and outside of the Lake District National Park.