REGIONAL EVENTS

On the twentieth of July RASE members and guests visited the Drummond family, winners of the Excellence in Practical Farming and Business Award, at their lovely farm near to Ross in the Wye valley.

Folllowing the warning of heavy rain and thunder by the BBC's Carol Kirkland I arrived prepared for the worst but we were only to encounter an odd shower!

Welcoming us Eric Drummond outlined the history of this diverse farming business, started by his father who moved from Scotland in the 1950's and now extending to over five thousand acres.Farming activities at Ross apart from mundane crops like wheat, include potatoes, strawberries, rasberries and blackberrys,apples, turf production and broilers, whilst in Hampshire their Land management also includes the running of a farm shop and a new Maize maze by son Mark.

We set off around the farm buildings led by Eric and his eldest son Ben to see the first potatoes being graded and then onto the packhouse where strawberries were cooled and the punnets prepared for supply to Morrisons.Visitors were intrigued to see the weighing, bar coding, and pricing of the punnets which all achieved a guaranteed "average weight."

Next we travelled by trailer to see the turf cutting.and it was fascinating to watch beautiful green grass being cut very thinly by the high tech machine which steered itself leaving the operator to stack the rolls on a pallet,however a new machine is to arrive shortly which will automatically stack.Whilst nationally the turf market has been in decline due partly to the reduction in house building the Drummonds have been able secure a contract to supply Focus stores throughout the country and significantly increase their sales.It was interesting to hear that they manage all the stock at the stores by computer from the farm office.

Back at the farmstead we sat down to a really splendid lunch containing local ingredients with the menu showing their origin and food miles, with the exception of the fine wine which must have travelled a bit further!

First stop in the afternoon was to see the newly planted cider apple trees. What a picture ! Perfect straight rows of immaculate trees. In due course these would be harvested mechanically by shaking and hoovering up the apples, the marketing of which had been secured on a thirty year contract.

Having travelled down a narrow road with massiveley high hedges we turned into a field to see the previously hidden polly tunnels with their awe inspiring rows and rows of strawberries.When the previous government decided that tunnels required planning permision the councils were at a loss as to what criteria they should use and so Eric Drummond spent considerable time working with them to establish some workable and satisfactory guidelines.However a small group of antis requested a judicial review and there are now some more hoops to jump through! The strawberry crop is so expensive to produce to supermarket standards that polly tunnels are not just required to extend the season but are essential for protection against the weather for viable production at any stage.Without polly tunnels there would be no English fruit.

The strawberries are picked by a large labour force of foreign workers who are housed and catered for on the farm and without these workers nationally there would be little English fruit or vegetables grown.

Our final vist was to a broiler unit which had been converted by addition of windows ,internal fixtures and reduced stocking with a slower growing breed of chicken to provide a higher welfare grade of meat. Eric Drummond remarked that the public can have any grade of chicken that they wish provided they pay for the appropriate system!

Tea concluded a very interesting and enjoyable day and our thanks to Eric his wife Sanna and son Ben for their hospitality.

On the 18th May around 50 members were privileged to visit the Overbury Estate, winners of the RASE Bledisloe Gold Medal for Landowners. This award is made annually to an estate which has made an exemplary achievement.

A sunny spring day showed off the spectacular scenery of the estate on the southern slopes of Bredon Hill in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The initial impression we got bore out that of the Society judges who recommended the Estate for the award. They were impressed by an “an overwhelming sense of order, efficiency and understated grandeur.”

The estate which extends to around 5000ha is farmed largely in hand and has been in the Holland -Martin ownership since the 1700s. The land runs up to 1000' on the edge of Bredon Hill. A traditional rotation is followed with the addition of some land let out for pea and potato growing. A high tech approach is followed with the cropping with minimum till and GPS- assisted management. There is a flock of 1200 mule ewes and the farming is done to LEAF principles with conservation support from FWAG.

The shoot is an integral part of the estate, not only providing over 20 partridge and pheasant days, but also carrying out a huge amount of conservation work. The cooperation between shoot and estate, so often missing, was plainly evident here.

We had a warm welcome from the owner, Penelope Bossom. Penelope is involved with all aspects of the estate and farm as well has running a very lively village school.

Farm manager, Jake Freestone showed us the wide range of enterprises and environmental work on the farm – remarkable for the complexity which he juggled with calm efficiency. We saw interesting encouragement of wildlife including a project to foster tree-sparrows. Jake’s views about managing (reducing) numbers of species at the top of the food chain provoked lively discussion and strong support. He has counted 21 buzzards following the plough in one 50 acre field and, maybe coincidentally, he has seen no leverets at all this year. Jake runs a lively blog which is well worth a look at: http://www.farmerjakef.blogspot.com/

After a gorgeous lunch featuring local food and served in the courtyard of Overbury Court set off by the most beautiful wisteria and climbing roses in full flower we were squired round the village by Estate Manager, Alex Milne.

Over 120 houses and let premises are maintained and improved to an extremely high standard by the 8 man estate building team. Business and residential tenants are chosen with great care to ensure that they add to the general welfare of the Estate. An example of this is Overbury Stallions who are tenants of the stud and work closely with the farm and estate. They have brought 8-10 jobs to the village.

With the advent of modern farming methods, a number of ranges of farm buildings have become redundant and the Estate has been gradually converting them into offices and stores to continue to re-vitalise the local community.

There is more about the Estate on their website: http://www.overburyestate.co.uk/Home.htm

On a rather wet morning in late May over seventy Members, Council Members and RASE staff attended President’s Day at the Stody Estate in Norfolk, owned and managed by this year’s President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Mrs Adel MacNicol.

The Stody Estate is close to the beautiful and unspoilt North Norfolk coast and the market town of Holt. It is split by the River Glaven, with undulating landscape, river meadows and woodland.  It extends to 1,800 hectares with diverse cropping including wheat, malting barley, oilseed rape, vining peas, sugar beet, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and daffodils, Aberdeen Angus beef, breeding sheep and outdoor pig enterprises, estate houses, country pub, offices, commercial radio station, spectacular rhododendron and azalea gardens, and in hand shoot.

Little wonder that the Estate was proud to be the 2008 Natural England Future of Farming Regional Environment Award winner.

Following a welcome by Mrs MacNicol in the marquee, Ross Haddow the Estate Manager gave a brief overview of the enterprises and operations in Breck Farm Yard, the arable headquarters of the estate. This includes a 2,000 ton grain store, 2,000 ton boxed refrigerated potato store, general and chemical storage facilities, workshop, daffodil and seed potato handling and storage plus farm workshops. Visitors also saw the 10 million gallon irrigation reservoir, a must-have facility for high-value arable farming in these dry acres.

A coach tour of the Estate followed where visitors saw the daffodil fields and were surprised to learn that about 30pc to 40pc of the 80 hectares of bulbs are grown for industrial processing to extract drugs, especially one used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s. The estate started growing daffodils because the land was free from PCN (potato cyst nematode).

Armed with umbrellas and macs, we left the coaches and climbed Castle Hill Medieval Fort. This ancient monument is an excellent example of a Hill Fort and a classic demonstration in land management changes that Estates like Stody take in its stride. In the 1960’s, with encouragement and funding from the Forestry Commission, the area was planted with conifers. In 2000, encouraged under a CSS scheme, the trees were removed in order to protect the archaeological integrity of the site! From the top there was an excellent view of Hunworth Village where some of the estates 48 properties are situated, all managed in-house.

Moving on through the estate, at Beck Farm we heard about a two phase river restoration project on a stretch of the River Glaven in partnership with the Environment Agency, River Glaven Conservation Group and other interested parties. Roger Newton discussed his outdoor pig finishing unit which sends pigs exclusively to Waitrose. Next stop was Stody Hall Barns – once the base of the commercial sheep enterprise but, with the sheep gone,  conversion into offices is well under way.

Lunch was served in the Estate’s recently extensively renovated Hunny Bell, Hunworth’s village pub. There is a strong emphasis on local food and many of the local suppliers joined the party. Members tucked into Marsham asparagus, served with poached egg from Letheringsett Farm. It was followed by a generous helping of beef from Duncan Jeary’s Briston pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd which grazes land on the estate. Next followed strawberries grown at nearby Sharrington Farm and the delicious double cream from Brian and Roger Pointen’s dairy herd. Their yoghurts and cream have been produced at nearby Grange Farm for the past 25 years. With full stomachs we made our way back to Stody Lodge for some free time in the Gardens, perfect timing as the weather had cheered up. The main gardens were laid out in the early 1930’s and walks are lined with over a hundred different varieties of azaleas, carpets of bluebells and daffodils, magnolias, camellias, acers and many other mature and specimen trees, set off by a dramatic display of rhododendrons, some standing over 20ft tall.

The day ended as it started, back in the marquee for tea and depart. Huge thanks must go to our President for hosting the event and for her valuable input during the day, not forgetting the other staff and associates of Stody Estate whose assistance and input behind the scenes helped to make the visit so special.

In May a group of members visited the Great Tew Estate in Oxfordshire, winners of the RASE Bledisloe Gold Medal for Landowners. This award is made annually to an estate which has made an exemplary achievement, this varies considerably between estates, with some being large and traditional whilst others are more modest or highly diversified.
On the morning of a day of sunshine and showers the visitors were greeted by our hosts father and son James and Nicholson Johnston at the Tew Centre, a newly built and lottery funded Pavilion over looking two cricket grounds, one for the main team the other for those not yet past it! James described how when they took over the estate that the village was seriously run down with many properties derelict and now over seventy houses had been repaired.

The party, dressed in high-viz. jackets, first visited the new “farmyard” under construction, being built on a brown field site adjacent to the quarry. It was a most impressive site to see the new buildings which apart from general storage and workshop were to include grain storage capacity for 13,000 tonnes with room to expand for another 5000 tonnes.

By now, following a heavy shower, and with mud on our boots we were shown the ironstone quarry which produces high quality building stone for renovation of churches, National Trust properties and other buildings requiring conservation grade stone. Lorries leaving the site can have as few as two pieces of stone as their load such is their size and weight. The financial output from this quarry which was re-opened in 2000 has been a valuable source of income during the difficult farming years.

We then moved to the old farmyard which it is hoped to develop and incorporate some affordable housing, and then on to the village centre where we could appreciate the delightful chocolate box scene of well maintained thatched cottages and view the Estate owned village school with its new Anna Johnston extension, built in Great Tew stone of course, named after James Johnston’s late wife.

Following an excellent lunch back at the Tew Centre, which incidentally caters several days each week, we travelled around Great Tew park to see its magnificent trees and views. It is in this park where the very successful two day horse trials are held. This is just one of the many diversification projects the estate carries out, with some others which include motor sport, a flying club, shooting, and film and photography location.

Before returning for tea James showed us some fine Angus bulls of which he was very proud ! and some more remarkable trees which included Sequoia and Cedars of Lebanon and a 100ft cherry tree. This concluded a very enjoyable day in a beautiful part of the English countryside.

On the rather wet summer’s day of 17 July 2008, Members gathered at New Farm for a day with the Hammond family, winners of the 2007 Royal Agricultural Society of England’s Excellence in Practical Farming and Business Award.

The Hammond family are fourth generation farmers and growers, farming on the urban fringe north of the city of Nottingham.  The unit comprises circa 1,600 acres of owned, rented and contract farmed land, split into three separate farms.  Cropping includes irrigated field scale vegetables and potatoes in rotation with cereals as break crops; a range of organic salads and vegetables has developed over the past five years.  Hammond Produce Ltd (HPL) was established in 1999 to give separation between the farming and vegetable packing/marketing activity and handle all of the non arable crops produced by the farm; over time it developed substantial links with other local growers which led to the formation of Sherwood Produce Ltd (SPL) in 2002.

SPL is a Producer Organisation comprising eight Nottinghamshire growers (of which T Hammond & Sons is one) collectively farming 17,000 acres within a 30 mile radius of Sherwood Forest, growing conventional and organic crops.   The group ethos is to sensitively combine modern food production with environmental protection, both at local and global scale. SPL operates under the Fruit and Veg Regime of the CAP that was originally established to encourage scale and collaboration in the fresh produce industry; HPL is responsible for washing, packing, marketing and distribution of SPL members’ vegetable crops which include carrots, parsnips, leeks, onions and smaller quantities of cabbage, spring greens, asparagus, rhubarb and beetroot.

After a brief introduction to the business, in groups of three we headed off for a tour of the packing facilities, seeing at first hand some of the circa 300 staff that the Hammond family employ working on the impressive production lines. This was followed by a tour of the farm on minibuses, sheltering us from the continuing rain, to see the intensive crop production, water management and site for the new pack house development. In an attempt to stay ahead of the competition there are plans in place to move the business to a new site, building a 60,000 sq/ft packing facility which will service all of the SPL growers’ production. The new facility will aim to be carbon neutral through a combination of design and utilisation of energy supplied by Phoenix Fuel Ltd.On our return to the farm for a stunning lunch using some of the best British food from local farms served with Sherwood-produced seasonal vegetables, Members were treated to the added bonus of the family steam engine in all its working glory. Bellies full, we headed off to visit the Phoenix Fuels bio-fuel business in which the family are major shareholders, which is cold crushing oilseed rape to produce  pure plant oil which once esterified, becomes bio diesel. The co product is rape meal expeller which is being marketed as a low carbon heat source in briquette & pellet form under the Green Dragon brand to both domestic and commercial customers as a substitute for the traditional fossil fuels.  More was learnt about systems and processes driving Sherwood Produce towards their goal of having the lowest carbon footprint of any fresh-produce business in the UK, and if that wasn’t enough each Member got to take home with them a complimentary box of Green Dragon briquettes which burn three times longer than wood and give off twice as much heat.

Our President, Lord Salisbury, kindly opened his historic house to the Council and members for this year’s President’s Day on 3 June 2008, writes Chairman Hugh Oliver-Bellasis.  During conversations beforehand, it became clear that there was an opportunity to achieve more than just a day out.  Lord Salisbury suggested that we should take the opportunity to reinforce his message for the year, “Town meets Country”, and that we should focus on the often vexed question of planning using the Hatfield Estate and surrounding area as an example.  Over the last five years, there have been some fascinating changes at Hatfield.  Buildings have been transformed, businesses have sprung up as a result of suitable premises being available and economic activity has created a community.  All this is in keeping with the history of a magnificent house.

Sadly, it was a damp day when we converged on Hatfield station.  (How carbon footprint-friendly is having the station at the bottom of the drive?)   We gathered in the old Riding School which has recently been developed and is now transformed into a flexible, comfortable conference building.  We received a very warm welcome from the Hatfield events staff who, led very ably by Christa Langan, looked after us beautifully throughout our visit.

For our first session, we heard from the President’s excellent team about the evolution of Hatfield and its buildings.  The Estate clearly has an unusual and excellent relationship with the planners; and in particular with the Chief Planning Officer, Chris Conway.  The lesson was clear: at every stage of your planned development, have open discussions with the planners to illustrate the strategy, including short and long term goals and the benefit to the local community, and be patient.  The result at Hatfield is a vibrant development which genuinely adds to the local community. 

We had a delicious lunch in the Old Palace which is a gem.  It was a pity that the Chairman forgot to order suitable refreshment, but the President rescued the situation by turning the water into wine for which we were very grateful.

The offer for the afternoon was a visit to the House, Garden and some of the newly-developed office buildings, so we were spoilt for choice.  The garden is a delight, even on a very wet day.  The house is fascinating and is staffed by a wonderful team of guides who answered endless questions and proved they were patience personified. The office premises were old buildings which had been refurbished with care and style, retaining their character whilst being fit for modern office needs.  No wonder the planners are pleased with the result.  The old walled garden looked as if it could have been tempting for those summer lunch times, though not that day! 

There remains little more to be said save to express our thanks to Lord and Lady Salisbury for their kindness in sharing the joy of their lovely home with us and to send many congratulations on an exciting project in progress with real, visible success.  It was a memorable day at a lovely house with the station at the bottom of the drive.

Winner of the 2007 Royal Agricultural Society of England’s Outstanding Communicator Award, Guy Smith opened up his farm at Wigboro Wick in Essex on 20 May for the Society’s Members.

After bacon butties, kindly supplied by Guy’s wife Julia, the group had a brief talk in the barn and were then gently tractor and trailered to different areas of the farm, which consists of 1,000 acres of combinable crops on land mainly below sea level incorporating ELS/HLS scheme and 200 acres of conservation initiatives and environmental projects. Guy discussed their successful work to conserve barn owls and their holding of 3% of the entire UK corn bunting population. The estate has high hare numbers, good little egret numbers and areas devoted to the conservation of Fishers Estuarine Moth that is an endangered species and unique to the Essex marsh. This part of the Essex marsh is designated as of high conservation importance and is surrounded by a RAMSAR site of international conservation importance.

A bonus during the morning was an unexpected talk by a local fisherman and his wife and the chance to see their “catch of the day”. Tony & Kerry make up “Tony’s Fresh Fish” and were on hand to answer questions about their business. Tony’s aim, as an East Anglian commercial fisherman, is to deliver fish straight from the waters off our shores directly to the customer, cutting out the countless middlemen and guaranteeing the freshest fish possible. After years of supplying almost exclusively to merchants, Tony and Kerry set up a stall in 2003 to sell direct to customers. As well as this stall, Kerry now sells at five local monthly farmers markets, and weekly in the local farm shop.A short tour by coach of local Clacton on Sea took us to one of the other family enterprises, Millers Barn Golf Park, for a hearty lunch. Millers Barn was opened in spring 1992. Fifty five acres of farmland was carefully designed and formed into a 9-hole golf course and large practice range. Seven thousand trees were planted, water courses rejuvenated and quality tees, fairways and greens built. They take great care of the environment, with a duty not only to provide golfers with good playing conditions but also taking care of the natural environment around them. This has the great benefit of making every golfer’s round one of not only a good game but natural interest as well, with an abundance of wild birdlife, flora and fauna.

Guy is a popular and highly regarded person, communicating farming messages on a variety of platforms and in a range of publications from his village magazine to the national press.  He is a Nuffield scholar and editor of the farming information leaflet, “Farm, Food and the Countryside”. He passionately believes that farmers must do more to promote their industry, and we most certainly saw this during the day. What struck me the most was the sense of “family” with all involved in different aspects of the diversification projects; Mum, wife, brothers and sisters, even nieces and nephews were all involved

Assembling for coffee in the newly refurbished Farm Shop and Restaurant made for a splendid start to a most interesting and enjoyable visit. Following a warm welcome from Lord Iveagh, the objectives of the estate were outlined before departing by coach for a comprehensive farm tour which took in most of the 10,000 arable acres.

Cropping the light, drought prone soils of the region requires large volumes of irrigated water, supplied from a sophisticated series of reservoirs, pipes and pumps. The main crops were potatoes, dry bulb onions, carrots and parsnips with cereals and green manure crops grown in rotation.

The investment in specialised crop storage using large containers was most impressive – allowing for example 20,000 tonnes of onions to be harvested and stored in only twenty days.

The extent to which conservation is given priority was explained and clearly demonstrated with woodland planting and pastures managed specifically for rare bird species.

Discussion at each stop was particularly stimulating, with the top management team keen to cover the business as well as technical details – with lunch taken rather later than planned. It was however well worth waiting for – served in the courtyard of the farm shop. Thanks to the Elveden team and to the Society’s Membership team, they planned and executed a most memorable visit.

Having visited Riverford in the very early days of the organic business, over fifteen years ago, and being highly impressed by Guy Watson, I was keen to sign up for the visit there in May.

It was apparent from press articles, the various awards received and the numerous articulated Riverford lorries seen on the motorways, that the business was developing fast. This was to be proved on the day, with smart high throughput grading, packing chilling and despatching facilities – handling over 30,000 boxes of vegetables per week.

It was rather disappointing to have a small number of members attending, but as usual in such circumstances, we were able to have all our questions answered – and by the boss himself!

Guy showed us a wide range of crops from salad leaves to soft fruit and explained the challenges of providing a wide range of organic produce, every week of the year. Weed control is still a problem and covering crops with fleece does not please the non-farming neighbours, nor do the lorry movements along the Devon lanes!

A highlight of the visit was the lunch, served in the new restaurant from home-grown produce. As one who is not usually attracted to organic produce, it must be admitted that it can be rather special.

A great visit, thanks to the full explanation and straight talking of Guy Watson. I just hope for his sake, that the large retailers do not move into this very specialised market which he has so successfully developed.

The visit to Windsor Home Farm on May 16th was a very special day for those members of the Society who were able to attend. We met at the Windsor Farm Shop, to be greeted personally by our President, HRH The Countess of Wessex, and by Philip Everett, the Park’s Deputy Ranger. Philip outlined the day’s programme, and ushered us away from the temptation of the shop to waiting coaches.

Our coach trip took us up the Long Walk (a privilege to drive up it), viewing deer herds in the distance, up to the Copper Horse, a statue of George lll on horseback, and round the vast acres of the Great Park, including Smiths Lawn. Many members were totally unaware of the extent of the Great Park, which requires overall estate management of the highest order. Nearly all of the Park is able to be enjoyed by the public, and is I suspect an undervalued and unappreciated asset for the nation.

On our way around the great park, we called into Norfolk Farm where Mark Osman, the Farm Manager, showed us the pig unit, and some of the farm’s Sussex cows. All the progeny from these herds are destined for the farm shop. After leaving the park itself, we called into Prince Consort Farm, where we were able to see one of the model farms built for the Royal Jersey herd. In 2007, these buildings would be considered unsuitable for modern farming, but the buildings had charm and history and were a delight to see. One or two of Her Majesty’s pedigree Jerseys were on hand to admire. We then had a very special opportunity to visit the wonderful Victorian dairy, cool, dark and beautifully tiled, where originally the Jersey milk would have been taken to prepare butter and cream for the castle. The large ewers and all the equipment was still there, beautifully maintained – another special bit of heritage.

Lunch was provided for us in the Castle, after which we had a visit to the great kitchen, where state banquets would have been prepared, and to the armoury, where all sorts of weapons of frightening history and uses were wonderfully shown to us. On leaving the castle, we were all given goodie bags from the farm shop, and, as the coach was to deposit us back to the shop car park, these just whetted our appetite to call in and shop for more. We appreciated the attention and assistance of Chris Murray, the shop’s General Manager.

We were privileged to have had the company of our President throughout the day, and as always we appreciated the interest that she was taking in our Society’s activities. It was a day to remember, and the Society’s thanks, although already expressed, must be recorded again here for a very special day.

The Society’s Regional Events programme for 2007 commenced with an informative day at Tissington in Derbyshire. Guests were honored with a personalised trip around the estate from Sir Richard FitzHerbert, owner of Tissington and winner of the Royal Agricultural Society of England’s 2006 Bledisloe Gold Medal for Landowners, taking in the kindergarten, nursery, butchers, and proposed developments at Lea Hall and Lea Cottage Farms. After a short talk by a Peak Park representative at the conservation meadows, lunch was served, followed by a guided tour of Tissington Hall, home to the FitzHerbert family for 500 years.