• AUG / SEP 2021
GARFIELD HOUSE FARM 73
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Pleased to be associated with John Key and Garfield House Farm and we wish them continued success for the future . mix of around 30 Clun Forest or Border Leicester ewes put to the Suffolk tup .
‘ At the same time I also worked for Michael Holdsworth who was at the start of building up a very successful frozen foods business .’
In 1975 John took on the tenancy of what was then 80 acres at Midhopestones which he had become aware of through pedigree Dairy Shorthorn farmer ’ s son Frank Milnes . John had been at college with Frank .
‘ I just wanted a farm , any farm . I ’ d sold the pigs which were on a low and had blown what I ’ d earned from their sale on a sports car . I then bought some more stock and came here when I got the tenancy , thanks to a good reference from Frank ’ s dad , Stanley Milnes .
‘ The farmhouse was right next to the main road and had been an old coaching inn called Rose & Crown . So I had a house of 22 rooms , just for one man .’
John has been with his partner Fiona for many years . They moved up the hill to a new farmhouse around 2000 . His last word has to go to the Suffolks . ‘ Years back when I started with them the Charollais and Texel were coming through and I had a great friend in Bob Payne who was another ex-Harper man . He had a great desire for farming and was very keen on Texels , so we shared a Texel between us but I could never just get on with them . I ’ ve always liked the appeal of the Suffolk and I still do today .’
‘ Suffolk lamb has also come out best in trials for taste and texture through Scottish Agricultural College . You can ’ t beat the taste of a Suffolk lamb chop . And that ’ s the end result of what breeding is all about .’
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