Crouched under an udder, dodging rear-end muck and fumbling around with teats and suction caps, I can’t stop thinking about Madrid. Instead of milking a Friesian cow in the Peak District, my boyfriend and I could be gorging on Serrano ham and soaking up spring sunshine. That was the original plan for our long weekend: a couple of days in Spain’s party city. That was before the guilt kicked in.

Another short hop meant another half tonne of carbon dioxide weighing down our carbon footprint. And, seeing as I’m always banging on about how we should holiday more in the UK, I thought I should walk the walk – straight into the cowshed, to learn about the earthy ways of an organic dairy farm.

Beechenhill Farm is one of a growing number of working farms where you can do this while also enjoying a weekend away from it all. It offers B&B and a couple of self-catering cottages with stunning views over Dovedale in the Peak District National Park.

“The idea is to immerse visitors in the local area, giving them local food and a taste of farming life,” Sue Prince tells me. An artist and illustrator, she also looks after the guests and promotes sustainable tourism in the region. Her husband Terry is the farmer. Energy-saving light bulbs, lavatories that flush with rainwater and reminders about collecting compost waste show a healthy degree of green commitment.

“People used to come here just for the walking,” says Sue. “Now the profile of farming has risen, people want to learn about the animals too. They want to know how it all works.”

To help us city slickers reconnect with rural ways, there is a booklet in each bedroom with information on farming life – and I realise I don’t know half of it.

It’s good fodder for debate over dinner, as we sit down to beef stew and dumplings, followed by syrup sponge, in our cosy cottage for two. The food, which we chose when we made our booking, is delivered frozen by local food companies. I’m suspicious at first. Is a microwave dinner really in the spirit of the place? But it turns out to be scrumptious. We also order a (nonfrozen) welcome pack of Gloucester Old Spot sausages, cured back bacon and eggs from Mistletoe Farm down the road. This is topped off by complimentary flapjack made by Sue and a jug of milk courtesy of the cows.

In the morning, from our canopied bed, we see the herd lolloping from barn to field. For some, that might be enough bovine interaction, but I’m keen for a couple of what Sue calls “farming experiences”. I’ll meet the bees first; then I’ll milk the cows.

The most thrilling bit is dressing up in a beekeeper’s outfit – a Babygro, thick gloves, wellies and a veil – half space-cadet, half nuclear-waste inspector. There are five hives on the farm, explains Mark, the “Bee Man”, as we tog up. The farm’s organic practices encourage wild flowers and plants to grow. The honey on sale has a delicate dandelion flavour, a weed that most farmers would destroy.

Poor Mark is stung twice in his endeavours to find the queen bee by lifting swarming trays from the hive, but still she lies low. He braves all of this without gloves to reassure wimps like me. While I get a taste of how therapeutic it must be to work with bees, as you’re forced to be calm, slow and methodical, I’m relieved to abandon the hives in favour of the milking parlour.

At least cows can’t sting you. But they can poo on your head. They can also exhaust you. After two hours of cleaning the shed, milking and feeding, recleaning the shed and then doing other milk-related duties, I’m shattered. To think that this is just the bookend of Terry’s day. I worry I’m slowing him down and I wonder whether he dreads the times when townies turn up to briefly muddy their Cath Kidston wellies. He says he is used to it. The cows, too, seem unbothered by an inexperienced stranger groping their udders.

Of course, you could happily come here and ignore the farm altogether. There’s enough to do, especially if you like stomping around hills. We take off in our rented Toyota Prius, an eco-friendly hybrid car, to buy local cheese and ales from Ashbourne, and have a picnic.

But it’s the milking that I will remember. The first thing I did when it was finished was to drink some. I sat in our cottage’s garden, overlooking the fields, and poured myself a long, cool glass. It tasted different somehow, and better.

Need to know

Anna Shepard booked through Responsible Travel (www.responsibletravel.com). Two nights at Beechenhill Cottage (01335 310274, www.beechenhill.co.uk) costs from £180 for two on a room-only basis.

Hertz car hire (www.hertz.com) offers eco-friendly vehicles from its Green Collection. A Toyota Prius costs £142 for the weekend.

Read Anna Shepard’s blog at www.timesonline.co.uk/ecoworrier

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