Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2011 | Page 67

COUNTRY LIFE

Fred age 10

years, God

Brickfields Autumn Sale 2011 (Fred pictured centre)

shill Schoo

l

Right said Fred: 'I am the village
idiot'. But oh, no he isn't!
By Peter White
The front door of the farm house
swung open and there to greet me was
a man with his unkempt hair hanging
down over his ruddy face.
“Hello,” he says. “They call me the
village idiot.” But even after that
somewhat surprise introduction, it
didn’t take me long to discover that
Fred Colson might live in a village, but
he is far from the idiot he, and maybe
others, like to make him out.
Island born and bred, he lives in
Chale Green, and not only farms a
total of 1,000 acres in various areas,
but is also a cattle dealer, property
landlord and owns three fishing lakes
with nephew Colin. He can also tell
a tale or few, and quickly pointed out
to me that when he married Lesley,
his wife of 40 years, they slept on a
mattress on the floor, because he could
buy a cow for what it would cost him
to buy a bed. He finally relented under
pressure from his father-in-law.

Fred admits: “I like to do things a bit
differently. If everyone is going in one
direction, then I go the other. That’s
the best way to survive. If everyone
goes the same way why would people
want to come to me to buy cattle when
they could go to anyone else? But if
you have something different, then
people will come to you.”
That’s why he decided on a change of
direction in his farming career many
years ago and introduced shorthorn
cattle to his land. Now he has the
biggest shorthorn herd in the country,
numbering more than 500.
Fred has had an interesting life,
and continues to do so while helping
many who are not as fortunate as him.
Although a heart scare a few years ago
slowed him down a bit, he still likes to
put in his shift on his farm – especially
if there is a few bob to be made!
Born at Pale Farm in Ryde where his
father had the tenancy from 1939,
the family moved to Bridge Farm,
Godshill in 1952, paying £8,000 for

a 150-acre farm and two cottages.
Fred attended Godshill and Ventnor
Schools, leaving on his 15th birthday,
and admitting: “I wasn’t very bright at
school – below average.
“But I wasn’t interested in school;
the only thing I wanted to do was be
in the countryside. So I worked in the
family farm for nine years. We had a
mixed herd of cattle, but I have never
been a fan of black and white cattle
so initially I changed it over to Jerseys
and Guernseys, because we got an
extra 10p a gallon for the milk.”
When the next door neighbour’s farm
came up for sale in 1967, Fred wanted
his father to buy it, but was told by
his dad ‘you buy it’ even though he
had only £100 in the bank, and it was
on the market for £9,600. So to try to
raise money Fred left his father’s farm
and went around many dairy farms on
the Island working as a relief milker.
Despite a few knockbacks persistence
paid of