Woman calls for an end to smells from nearby farm

A woman from Bishop's Hull, Somerset, is calling out for the end of smelly surroundings after a hot summer with closed windows. Sue Watts has grown fed up of the smells wafting over from a nearby farm and says she has been unable to enjoy her garden or entertain house guests without feeling embarrassed over the pong.



She said: “The residents of Bishop's Hull are being subjected, yet again, to days of foul smells as local farmers spread rotted muck on their fields. It always seems to happen when the weather is really hot and you want to have your windows open or sit in the garden, and you just can’t go out. It’s really embarrassing if you have visitors – you have to apologise for the awful smell, and then sit indoors with all the windows closed.”

Mrs Watts says that the village experiences the same problem every summer, but understands she lives in an agricultural area. She added: “I have every sympathy for the farmers, I appreciate that they have to do their jobs and fertilise their fields, but it feels like they don’t care about the village at all. We have regular car boot sale weekends and the people that visit must hate the smell. This muck is spread on public footpaths too, this makes it so difficult for walkers in the area to enjoy the land.” Mrs Watts thinks the frequent spreading of muck on hot days is avoidable, as weather predictions are more accurate than ever.



She says that the farmers should plan to do this sort of work on a colder day when residents won’t be so bothered about missing a day in their gardens or having their windows shut. She said: “The smell can last for days. The summer is the worst, having to sleep through a hot and humid night with the window shut because we don’t want to let the smell in. I would just like to see a little more consideration, it is unbearable and it is not nice. If a regular person made such a smell then Environmental Health would be all over us, but because they are farmers, they seem to get away with it.”