While the world is still smarting from the impact of the pandemic, and our global borrowing has pushed inflation beyond 10%, while banks step in using the base rate to restrict growth yet further, it is hard to envision that a company can still achieve growth in the path of such adversity.
Growth
Income this year is on track to grow by 22% on last year, which at first impression looks good with the final quarter yet to come. However some of this growth includes grant funding from Worcestershire’s Here 2 Help programme.
Our Grant funding has enabled us to invest in infrastructure to enhance our guest experience this has totalled 40% of our actual spend, we have developed an outdoor lounge, extended our outdoor dining area and added business 2 business conference facilities which will add an additional income stream to the farm going forward.
We Said Yes To Opportunity
Following Covid-19 there was an amazing amount of support available, like many other businesses we had massive losses in business due to both lockdowns and market uncertainty, fortunately we had loss of earnings cover through the NFU which helped cover some of our losses, and of course the Local Authority support for the tourism sector also helped meet some of our income shortfall.
Coming out of the pandemic we were eligible for a Bounce Back Loan Scheme which fortunately has not been affected by the bank of England base rate rises. This allowed us to build an additional barn which has enhanced the farms infrastructure and allows for greater diversity across the farms areas of operation.
Wychavon District Council, through their Here 2 Help Programme gave us Mentoring support for growing our business post pandemic, significantly we developed a single page business plan for each area of our business.
Worcestershire County Council Launched a Tourisim Network as a strategic lead to attract visitors back to the area, Oaks Barn Farm were invited to take part, we now feature on their website and have developed some excellent links with local attractions and have attended network meetings in some of Worcetershire’s most prestigious venues across the County. https://www.visitworcestershire.org/business-directory/oaks-barn-farm
Technology Investment
We have invested in Smart EV chargers which only charge vehicles when there is surplus power from our solar generation.
Installing a sunny boy home monitor allows us to plan our on farm electricity usage to maximise our use of on farm green energy and minimise our power exported to the grid.
We have CCTV to the lambing shed allowing us to monitor livestock and alert us to lambing activity during critical times, this by no means eliminates night time visits to the shed but does allow us to manage our resources better.
A smart meter to the main farm house, allows us to see real time consumption and take reactive action for power usage.
Future Investment
This year we have worked closely with the Climax Community, and their Climate Essentials Programme to measure and reduce our carbon footprint, having already invested significantly in Green Technologies, we now have a measure of our inputs and outputs and a clear plan for getting our business to Net Zero. Read more on our progress here: Spotlight on Oaks Barn Farm Journey to Net Zero
We have battery storage on order, this will enable us to buy and store off peak units for use at peak times, the Sunny Boy home manager will predict tomorrows PV Generation and buy in enough energy to maximise savings on grid purchased electricity.
Installing Smart thermostats to each of our guest properties will allow us to locally manage the heat output in each of our properties scaling them down to a minimum where not occupied.
Smart meters to each of our properties will allow us to accurately cost out the electricity consumption of each unit, which will better inform our full cost recovery calculations.
Our Okofen biomass boiler provides a district heating system for all of our properties, we are now linking its management system to a mobile app, this will allow us to monitor its performance respond to any fault codes and even sweep the chimney remotely through its inbuilt cleaning programme.
A Changing Market Place
Post pandemic saw a massive rise in Air BnB offerings where 2nd home owners saw an opportunity to make some quick money without the focus of customer service nor necessarily declairing their income. Changes to planning law in England will require planning permission for holiday accommodation, this will be good for us, it will in turn reduce the number of properties offering accommodation without paying taxes on their income and will lead to a more level playing field.
Lessons For The Future
Placing key values at the heart of our business has definitely paid dividends, more and more people are now choosing holiday options based on the hosts green credentials.
With massive changes to the way we all now work, we realise that resilience plays a key part to all of our business planning, all businesses have had to be responsive to change, significantly financial planning and its reliance on historical data is no longer a strategy for moving forward, however having a responsive business which is open to a changing market place and able to modify its offering to suit changing customer needs is key to success.
Reflect on your own circumstances, for us safeguarding our staff team through the pandemic, gaining AA Covid Confidence and Visit England’s Good To Go Status was a game changer in customer confidence, which was heavily reflected in our guest reviews. As each of our properties sleep 6, with a few changes we were able to be rule of 6 compliant which allowed for bookings to go ahead for family groups. Fresh open air became the new norm we have plenty of this on the Farm so shifted our focus to the creation of outdoor spaces for guest use, we have continued this investment allowing us to provide additionally to our guest offering.
Our Whole Site bookings are now proving really popular, and this is supported by the outdoor space created during lockdown.
We look forward to welcoming you to Oaks Barn Farm find out more through: Accommodation Options
