Virginia teacher and her husband feared their farms could become subdivisions or data centres; then he died, but she protected 215 acres with limits that bind future owners

• Pic credit: nnconserveBecky Shelton could have cashed in, just like many other landowners in her neighbourhood.
• But she knew that wasn’t what she and her late husband wanted.
• Selling the 215 acres to developers reshaping Northern Virginia was everything against their dream.