Seven years ago, Angus Armstrong fenced off and rehabilitated a bush corridor on his Narrogin farm, creating a walking and mountain bike riding trail overlooking his wheat and canola crops and sheep program.
Soon after he wanted to open the 18 kilometre track to the public but was challenged by approvals, insurance and red tape.
And then, in February of 2022, the Narrogin bushfires tore through the region, burning half of the Armstrong Farm, including part of the trail and killing 1300 sheep.
"It was a major setback, there was so much work and so much cost," Mr Armstrong said.
"A lot of those were pregnant ewes, so we lost future lambs - that was really tough."
Mr Armstrong recently received a Regional Economic Development grant and plans to make the Armstrong Farmlands an agritourism business are in motion.
These plans include expanding the trail to 40km in length and two luxury cabins will be built onfarm.
The trail is safely sectioned off, but still overlooks the paddocks and Narrogin surrounds.
The tourism business called Heyscape has three tiny cabins on the property, which will be moved off.
Mr Armstrong said he wants to put a bit more work into landscaping the trail, and make it a real focal point of the accommodation.
He wants to incorporate information along the trail about his farm, as well as Narrogin's history and the bushfire.
Narrogin's convenient location and the natural beauty that surrounds it makes it an ideal location for city-based visitors to get away from the hustle and bustle.
Dryandra Woodland, Yilliminning Rock and Normans Lake are all close to the farm.
With less light pollution, Mr Armstrong also envisions incorporating stargazing into the experience.
He said the gap between city residents and farming towns was widening, as commercial farms scale up and regional and rural towns shrink.
"Hopefully this is an opportunity to showcase farming a little bit," he said.
"There's lots of potential."
After the fire, which started on a Sunday, the plans to develop a portion of the farm into a tourist destination went to the bottom of the priority list.
Mr Armstrong said he was running on adrenaline for weeks after, and as soon as he started one job, something more urgent popped up.
He applied for a loan for disaster costs, and was well underinsured.
"It was crazy how much time I lost on the phone getting quotes and advice," Mr Armstrong said.
"I didn't sleep, we had just been flat out with the fire and euthanising sheep.
"By Wednesday the emotion got to me a fair bit, where you can't control it - you're just overwhelmed.
"It definitely felt like groundhog day for a while.
"I'm just getting close to being back on track with the repairs now.
"We've been managing sheep and paddocks around no water, which has been hectic.
"With seeding and harvest, everything just drops.
"He had volunteers come in and assist with the rehabilitation of the trail, which will now become more of a focus once the upcoming harvest has been completed.
Mr Armstrong said the fire affected him, especially since he rode the trail often, which was a luxury.
"It's sad, because even for me mentally, I used to ride the trail quite a bit, and I haven't been on it since last year," he said.
Mr Armstrong said sports and exercise kept him occupied and get him off the farm for a while.
"It's one of those things where if I do stop, it probably does hit a little bit and you get overwhelmed," he said.
The farm is on 2630 hectares, between 1200-1400ha of which is used for cropping and the rest for sheep.
He runs 6000 Multi Purpose Merinos, and this year has grown wheat, barley, lucerne, oats and canola.
The guests who have stayed on the farm previously at the Heyscape cabins have expressed positive feedback.
"The few people I've met that have stayed on the farm absolutely love the open space, and I suppose they can see that romantic side of farming," Mr Armstrong said.
"There's always something going on all the time (on the farm) and from a lot of the cabin locations they can see sheep walking around and the bright yellow canola.
"There's always a different image, each has their own beauty."
Mr Armstrong hopes to get things underway as soon as possible, hoping to expand the trail first.
He has lived in Narrogin his whole life, buying land next to where his father grew up, and his grandfather's sheep farm.
