The Farmers Mart Apr/May 2015 - Issue 39 | Página 12

CW Tate and Son

Celebrating
103 years
of family
farming

Milk, beef, beer - and very hard work
»»Ian Wilkinson went
along to Crathorne to meet
with Ian Tate of farmers and
contractors, CW Tate & Son.

‘real commitment’

Ian on Cliff’s very first
Massey tractor

12 Apr/May 2015 www.farmers-mart.co.uk

Ian’s family has a very
interesting history: back in
1912 GL Dugdale, the then Lord
Crathorne, rented the Crathorne
Arms and Free House Farm
which comprised 76 acres, three
rods and 10 perches to George
Bolton for the princely sum of
£10 per annum and £128 per
annum. George took over the
pub after the previous landlord
was run over by a train at Picton
station! George ran the farm
and the pub until 1945, when his
son Redvers Bolton took over.
Redvers carried on until retiring
in 1965 handing on the farm
and pub to his daughter, Audrey
and her husband Cliff Tate, who
is Ian’s father.

Cliff Tate took over Free
House Farm and started with
some cereal crops, potatoes
and hay. He had just four dairy
cows.
Ian is pictured here on Cliff’s
very first Massey Tractor that
still works today and is used for
yard scraping . After a traumatic
barn fire in 1968, which set light
to 1,200 bales of hay - started
by a light bulb igniting the hay
- Cliff went on to develop the
crops side and raise his dairy
herd to 45 milkers.
a hard worker
Unlike most modern farms
today, Cliff put up all the extra
farm buildings by himself. He
was an extraordinarily hard
working man not only building
up and managing the farm day
to day but also running The
Crathorne Arms as well! He
was unable to take a holiday for
the first 14 years – that is real