Farmer and sheepdog trainer John Davoren, opened up the now well-establised Caherconnell Fort excavation on his land in 2003, and has helped to lead the charge in combining farming and tourism on the Burren.

“We’re in business since 2003 and we’ve been growing with the help of Clare LEADER grants,” Davoren told the Irish Farmers Journal.

The prospect of a back operation in the 1980s made him realise that he needed a plan B from farming if the operation didn’t go well.

“We started small and just kept adding bits to it. We have a field school that does archaeological digs at the fort.

“We’re accredited by the university in Galway, and students come from all over the world to work on the dig and gain credits to help complete their own degrees.”

Davoren has expanded the business to include sheepdog demonstrations, which go down well with tourists, and is helped by his son.

“We had the fort on the land, so I thought it was a good way to keep doing something,” Davoren said.

The family has a dairy herd that provides milk for Burren Gold cheese and runs a suckler herd on the Burren.

“The sucklers are out all year and calve out on the mountain. They’re on the winterage; it’s very rare we’d have to intervene.

“We wouldn’t manage only for the economics of the winterage – they’re never inside. They never see a blade of silage but they get a few nuts.

“Not every Government scheme suits the area but we have a Burren conservation scheme here and it really suits the area, and helps to protect the flora and the fauna and grazing the winterage.

‘‘There’s pride in keeping the land right and walls and it keeps the place looking well.”