Diary – 7 July 2006

Australian TV wants to make a documentary about me. Why would a black guy from inner-city Birmingham want to buy a farm in the West Country? The usual stuff follows — long interview, shots of me with my lovely Ruby Red cattle and shots with Chris, my farm manager. Then a hike north to where it all started — Small Heath, Birmingham. I hadn’t been back for 30 years and had never wanted to go. The poverty and misery of it left a scar on my soul, which meant I had avoided rekindling memories of it. But the producer is adamant: I have to visit the street where I grew up, the school — and the allotment that inspired me to own a farm.

I arrive at Bankes Road — still the same as I remembered. Two-up, two-down terrace houses with no greenery in sight. But the people have changed. When I was a kid it was a mix of Asian, Irish and West Indian families.