EARLIER this year TV funny man Johnny Vegas was shown falling in love with the Yorkshire countryside and particularly a field in the Washburn Valley .

Johnny ’ s exploits in bringing together a variety of colourful old vehicles , including a bus that had to be ferried back from Malta , then totally rebuilt back in the UK only to hurtle headlong down the slope and almost collapse a barn on arrival at Breaks Fold Farm was a ratings success .

For farming couple Richard and Louise Pullan it was a useful way of publicising their farm and the area ( though preferably it has to be said without the runaway bus vandalism ). The couple have long championed where they live and know only too well the value of tourism to their way of life .

‘ This has always been a farm of sheep and suckler cows ,’ says Louise . ‘ They pay the rent for us , but that ’ s as far as they go . It is the romance of this area and that it is still largely undiscovered that gets to people which now provides another income source . Visitors love the story about the flooded village of West End , which brought about the opening of Thruscross Reservoir in 1966 .’

‘ Johnny and his assistant and good friend Bev got this area straight away . When they arrived all they saw initially was mist – and then they experienced all four seasons of weather in one day - but it was the view , once the mist had gone , that took their breath away . You can have

a nice holiday in lots of places , but there aren ’ t many where you can step out and immediately have such a fantastic view .’

Farming , holiday accommodation and conservation now make up the threepronged business that is Richard and Louise ’ s way forward .

Break Folds Farm runs to 225 acres and is tenanted from Yorkshire Water . Richard is the fourth generation on the farm and took it over in 2008 . He has also worked as an agricultural contractor on round baling and bale wrapping , plus digging work ; and laying pipes for a drainage contractor plus the making of bunkers for golf courses . He ’ s turned his hand to many things .

‘ That ’ s the way it ’ s always had to be ,’ says Richard . ‘ You can ’ t get by here purely by farming . This is a hard going upland farm with 75 acres of meadow land but all the rest is rough grazing .’

‘ Currently we run a mixed flock of 300 Swaledale and Mule ewes , which we are trying to slowly get back to 400 , and in the past 18 months we ’ ve gone into Hereford X calves .’

‘ We put the Bluefaced Leicester to the Swaledales to create the Mules and then put a Texel tup to the Mules , although this year we also ran a Beltex as well as Texels . Half our Swaledales are put to the Swaledale tup to breed replacements and we usually run with four Swaledale tups bought from local farmers .’

‘ We lamb in April and sell as stores late in the year . Once the weather starts turning bad up here you don ’ t want to have to spend on having to bang loads of

feed into them , so they ’ re usually gone before it gets too bad .’

‘ We sell mainly at Wharfedale Farmers Mart in Otley , but also sometimes in Skipton , Pateley Bridge or Gisburn .

‘ When my parents had the farm we ran Charolais cattle but they were a bit too big and bulky for the land and chewed up the fields a lot . Since Louise and I have been here we tried Dexters , but at the beginning of the lockdown in 2020 we sold them as we couldn ’ t afford to keep them .’

‘ We ’ ve now started buying these little Hereford X Friesian suckler cows and I ’ d like to get to around 40-50 of them , put up a new shed and have a bit better set-up for them .’

Louise says that ’ s why they have looked to diversify , not just to create another income and a better standard of living but also to increase the farming stock . Louise tells of how their tourism angle first came about .

LEEDS ROAD , OTLEY , LS21 3BD www . wharfedale-farmers . co . uk

We are pleased to be associated with Richard & Louise Pullan of Breaks Fold Farm & we wish them continued success for the future .

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