The Farmers Mart Aug/Sep 2014 - Issue 35 | Page 50
NICK HOUSEMAN
No passengers
up in Lindley
Chris Berry talks with Nick
Houseman at Prospect Farm.
You simply cannot knock
the Houseman family of
Nick, Julie and son John
who farm up on the moor
through a gated road at
Prospect Farm, Lindley. It is
situated in a ‘less favoured
area’ and although it
seems as though you’re
miles away from anywhere,
in reality it is only 10-15
minutes from Otley.
The Housemans are not your
stick-in-the-mud traditionalist
farmers who bemoan every
little setback. Instead, they are
a prime example of how every
possible farming opportunity
and additional enterprise
can be pursued - even from
a seemingly remote location,
including the erection of a
wind turbine in September two
years ago, which considerably
eases their electricity bill.
Up here in what can often
be described as wild, woolly
and windy country, they own
and farm just short of 500
acres running a herd of 120
milking cows and a flock of
450 breeding ewes with a mix
of Mules and Swaledales. But
that’s not all. They also tenant
a further 230 acres from
Yorkshire Water Authority at a
farm in Blubberhouses where
they have store cattle and
sheep.
But that’s not all either!
Julie has run her own outside
catering business for 22 years
covering all kinds of special
events from weddings and
other special occasions to
Ripon Farm Services open
days - and she looks after the
food needs of the stewards
and judges at Otley Show
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50
Aug/Sep 2014 FarmersMart
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Cross Green
Veterinary
Centre
OTLEY
01943
462546
71 Cross Green,
Otley LS21 1HE
To read more, visit www.farmers-mart.co.uk