Inside the Somerset farm that uses fish water and waste to grow food

The owners of a Somerset aquaponics farm, which is where the water and waste from fish is used to grow crops, have encouraged people to be more self-sustainable.

Bioaqua Farm is based in Blackford, near Wedmore. Owners Antonio Paladino and Amanda Heron have been running it for nearly a decade and have shared their knowledge with people across the country who want to follow their lead.

As well as farming rainbow trout, the couple also have ornamental fish, to show that they don't necessarily have to be harvested for the plate.

Antonio Paladino farms rainbow trout for the plate as well as using the waste water for his crops

The waste water is piped from the fish tanks over to where the crops are grown via a network of pipes. It then waters and feeds food including carrots, pumpkins, herbs and peppers.

Antonio said: "We have a band of nutrients that come out of the water in the form of fish waste. The bacteria, which is healthy bacteria, transforms into healthy plant food and the plants are uptaking that, allowing nothing back.

"So we can basically have two crops out of the same system."

A play called 'Birthday Day' was created specially for the Food Trail by Wassail Theatre Company Credit: Somerset Food Trail/Take Art - Cultivate

Bioaqua Farm is just one stop on the annual Somerset Food Trail. From 15-24 July the Food Trail has run a festival with 190 different venues across the county putting on events and special menus to celebrate sustainable food production.

Organisers say the aim is to raise awareness of just how much Somerset’s local producers have to offer and to encourage the public to buy from them more regularly.

Co-founder Stewart Crocker said: "There's increasing concern, quite naturally, about food, resilience and security. What we want to do is to open people's eyes to the richness of what's available on our doorstep.

"If more of us choose to buy sustainably-grown food, we'll be, at a stroke, contributing to driving down carbon emissions. In other words, making a direct contribution to addressing climate change. We'll also be helping the local economy and helping our own health at the same time."

Co-owner of Bioaqua, Amanda Heron, said: "It’s incredible when you look at the number of small farms and small producers in Somerset it’s actually the highest number of any county in England."