42 FIELD HOUSE FARM AUG / SEP 2020 • farmers-mart . co . uk
‘ Nearly all of our field work is now handled by agricultural contractors . James and I take the crop from the combines , we run discs over the fields and roll the seed beds but otherwise that ’ s it apart from managing the grain store . The contractors work to our instructions . We were more fortunate than most last autumn as we were drilled up the day before the weather changed for the rest of autumn and winter .’
The other major strand to today ’ s enterprise at Field House Farm is the move that Angela started by going into holiday accommodation in summer 1983 using part of the farmhouse .
‘ We moved here when John ’ s parents moved out ,’ says Angela . ‘ The farmhouse had always housed two lots of Fosters and was pretty much split into two . It had two kitchens and two staircases , so we started with holiday accommodation in one half and we lived in the other .’
‘ That first summer we advertised in The Guardian and took six weeks of bookings . I was a schoolteacher at the time in Bridlington . It put some money back into renovating the house .’
Buoyed by her initial success and no longer making money out of milk the Fosters decided to go further into the holiday cottage market around 2000-2001 . Their big move was in converting what is now an impressive courtyard , which had once been covered and acted as a fold yard for the cows .
‘ When we came out of cows all of a sudden there were a lot of old buildings that were empty . We received a grant and added three cottages to our existing accommodation . Today we now have seven at Field House Farm .’
But that wasn ’ t the end of it . The Fosters next turned their attention to another redundant farm building .
‘ Just up the road we had a lovely barn that was falling into disrepair . In 2010 we developed what is now High Barn into
another five holiday cottages , with the help of another grant this time from Yorkshire
Forward . We went very hi-spec and have won a number of awards . We have been a finalist in Visit England , we ’ ve won 6 REYTAs and a White Rose award .’
‘ We decided to make the accommodation as environmentally friendly as possible using a wind turbine for power , ground source heat pumps and rainwater catchment . We expanded our workforce as we now had 12 cottages with Fiona , who used to milk cows for us and who has worked with us for 22 years , as team leader . Having been with Farmstay UK originally , we joined Premier Cottages in 2010 and are now known as Heritage Escapes . We also now have three apartments in York Old Brewery in York .’
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James returned six years ago following a career that has seen him studying marine biology at Aberdeen University , teaching English in East Africa and selling property in London for 10 years . He returned to East Yorkshire with his partner Sarah-Jane from Toronto , Canada and their sons – Harry , now 9 and Jack 7 .
‘ I was never under any pressure from mum and dad to come back ,’ says James . ‘ They have always been very encouraging . They have never pushed . I knew I didn ’ t want to milk cows , but they went many years ago and I ’ d always said I ’ d come back . My only regret is that we didn ’ t move back three of four years earlier .’
‘ Dad said that if I was serious about coming back I needed to do it around the time we did because there was an awful lot he wanted to teach me while he still had the energy .’
James and Angela now run the holiday accommodation together . While they are
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Proud suppliers to the Foster family for many years . jhforeman . co . uk
01377 270258 | sales @ jhforeman . co . uk with Premier Cottages all bookings are made direct with Heritage Escapes .
‘ We have never used an agency to handle bookings in our behalf ,’ says Angela . ‘ This has been a challenging year for everybody , particularly in the holiday business and we ’ ve had cancellations like everybody else . Our core business is in the over 50s within a two to three hour drive and they are very cautious , but since we reopened on July 4 we have been busy throughout and we will continue to be .’
‘ We ’ ve been lucky with government grants and our sector of the holiday market has been well treated , especially when you look around and see the casualties in such as pubs and restaurants . Going forward I think we are in a good place because a farm self-catering cottage will be one of the last things to go in holiday accommodation .’
‘ Following advice we linked up with an American insurance company called Retail Guardian in June . They put together a package called Master Cancel that offered a full refund for guests from 60 days up until 2 days before arrival that includes pandemics . It applies on all new bookings made after August 1 and gives potential bookers the reassurance that if a future lockdown comes they would get their money back . We haven ’ t had any problems so far with those who had booked before August 1 , but it ’ s certainly something that offers something more .’
John and Angela also have a daughter Lucy who is a magazine editor based in Buckinghamshire . James and Sarah-Jane live in Driffield .
The Fosters also run a small herd of Simmental X cattle .