Overview
Living and working on our family farm finding fun ways of making a living off the land. Now in our 15th year of Running our Family Farm Stay
Why did you diversify?
Whilst diversification seems to be the in-vogue strapline, we prefer to see what we do as finding innovative ways to enjoy life and love what we do, this ranges from air rifle and pizza nights through to axe throwing workshops and raising pigs.
What key lessons did you learn along the way?
Maintenance is key, any infrastructure is exciting in the developmental stage, but the key to success is recognising the long term commitment to maintaining the infrastructure beyond the initial investment.
How have you made your farm sustainable?
Initially growing and rearing what we could, producing our own Lamb, Pork, wine, to name just a few and as our business grew we looked for ways of producing our own power by a solar install and more recently developing a biomass district heating system
What has been your greatest achievement? I’d like to say building our events barn but more honestly for me, it was surviving bowel cancer, and not letting it stand in the way of achieving our dreams.
How is your work life balance?
This summer with the boom to the UK Staycation Market, I would have to confess not good, working long hard hours making everyone else’s holiday one to remember, whilst facing up to the reality that we had no time to ourselves. However being busy has allowed us to grow.
What livestock do you farm?
Sheep, pigs and chickens currently though Goats and Donkeys have not been ruled out.
What impact did COVID-19 have on your business?
Like everyone, this was not a situation we had envisaged, we had a full summer order book yet one by one our guests canceled repeatedly moved bookings and our income stopped literally overnight. We were able to refund or move 100% of our bookings and our guests were very understanding. We used the time constructively and invested heavily in our infrastructure, we built a commercial pizza oven, built a new Barn and developed an outside dining area.
Keeping staff and guests safe became our priority, we developed safe working practices and gained AA Covid Confidence Status, Visit Englands Good To Go Award, and World Travel & Tourism Council Safe Travels Status.
What are your plans for the future?
Alongside our events Barn Planning application, we have a number of other exciting projects including further expansion of solar plant and more off-grid installations to allow us to be less dependant on external utilities.
For more information on staying on our family farm please visit Accommodation Options
