MAKING the most of your location is what farmers have been doing for years . The land type usually determines whether you are an arable or livestock farmer or a mix of both , but a new phenomenon that started gathering pace in the 70s added another factor into the location equation .

With an increasingly mobile and more affluent population seeking all kind of holiday accommodation , farms situated in the right areas switched on to providing initially basic establishments that have now seen the market sector grow year on year with ever more impressive and opulent offerings . The holiday accommodation complex at Field House Farm on Jewison Lane in Sewerby near Bridlington and its second complex nearby are a perfect example .

But first the farm , how its times and farming disciplines have changed and how it too is making the most of its location .

‘ My great grandfather Thomas Francis Foster moved down here from Filey in 1887 ,’ says John Foster . Today the Fosters combine farming with offering holiday accommodation . The farm runs to around 650 acres , 585 owned acres while the rest is looked after for neighbours .

‘ He was known as Francis and took on what was then 315 acres tenanted from Sewerby Hall estate . My grandfather William was born here and when he came back from service in WWI he took over the farm . He bought Field House Farm when the Lloyd Graham family who owned the estate moved to Pickering . My father Thomas became the third generation to farm here , with myself the fourth and now James .’

‘ It was a very traditional mixed farm years ago with pigs , sheep , beef , dairy cows , horses and crops working on a 5-course rotation . I went to Pocklington School and studied agriculture at Newcastle University . I worked on estates

in Norfolk and Northamptonshire as I didn ’ t want to come straight back and didn ’ t relish being stuck here on the farm . I came back in 1975 and have been here ever since .’

‘ My father had specialised in dairying . Those were the days when ICI was a force in farming and had advisers everywhere . It was the way they sold their fertiliser . It had been one of the advisers , a local man Dennis Parton , a great guy who lived in Kilham who had said to dad : ‘ Tom , you need to specialise in what will make you the most money , concentrate on that .’ So , that ’ s what he decided .’

‘ Cows were the hardest option in terms of work back then , but in the early 60s they provided the best returns . They were the times when people like John Moffat of Northumberland were being held up as prime examples of those who had set up with very little and had grown empires by being prepared to milk cows .’

‘ We had 50 cows for many years but expanded to 150 by the end of our time around 2000 . After the Milk Marketing Board disbanded we were courted by Northern Foods who were offering tremendous price so we went with them . We received a better price for a while but then it dropped steadily . Eventually , we were faced with the dilemma of either investing a lot of money , getting bigger to

bring about efficiency , or coming out of dairying . James wasn ’ t interested so we came out of dairying and finished fully with dairy cattle in 2002 .’

‘ By then we had grown to over 500 acres half-and-half arable and dairy . From then on , we ’ ve been largely an arable farm . I ’ ve always grown crops . Our land is grade 2 Wold land that is heavy towards the clifftop .’

‘ Our crops harvested this year include 150 acres of winter wheat growing varieties Illicit and Siskin . We usually average around 4.2 tonnes per acre . We will be growing seed for Mortimers for next year with Firefly hopefully going in by the time this magazine is being read .’

The farm ’ s location means its 150 acres of malting barley has one of the shortest of all journeys to the maltsters as Muntons is less than half a mile away on Jewison Lane .

‘ We are now growing Diablo having grown Planet previously , but funnily enough we ’ ve not been with Muntons all the time despite being so close . We had struggled to get in there back in my father ’ s day as we were producing barley

too high in nitrogen , which we were putting largely through the cattle at the time .’

Other crops produced this year include 100 acres of spring beans , plus another 50 acres that is rented off for growing potatoes .

‘ We fell out of love with oilseed rape , which is not as clean a crop as it is billed , but spring beans is a bullet proof crop . It means we have one crop ( malting barley ) travelling half a mile and another travelling half way around the world as the spring beans are destined for the Middle East .’

The rest of the Fosters ’ land is in stewardship either ELS or HLS as it goes up to the cliff top near the RSPB sanctuary at Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Head . Part of Dane ’ s Dyke runs along the farm too .

‘ That ’ s another reason why we were not unhappy going into stewardship when it was offered , even though that land is on a chalk escarpment as we get beds of blue clay and grey clay that can be very difficult to work and it holds water .’

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