Snowdrop Villa , Ayside , Grange-Over-Sands , Cumbria , LA11 6JE

015395 31237 aireysfarmshop @ hotmail . com www . aireysfarmshop . com

“ We took a full tenancy from my godmother Juliet Frankland in 2010 . Then I ended up buying the farm outright in 2016 . There ’ s 120 acres of in-bye land and 400 acres of common land attached which is presently in an agri-environment scheme that has been working well .

“ I was born at Kilmire and my parents George and Kathleen moved to a farm near Kendal where I grew up . Piper Hole belonged to Juliet and I spent a lot of time with her . This is the Frankland Estate that is known as the Gate Estate . She was married to Raven Frankland .

“ Juliet was a Doctor in Microbiology and it was her interest in the ground and plants that carried on through me . I wanted to know more . I have a degree in Earth Science that I completed in seven years through Open University in my early 20s . I earned and learned while at home , as I couldn ’ t afford the time off .

“ Everything produced stems from the ground quality . It ’ s all about the soil . It provides everything you ’ ve got , what type of plants you grow , how the plants perform and how that gives back to your farm .

Frank has used his knowledge gained over much study as well as experience to improve his land .

“ The basis of the improvement is relieving compaction and a deeper root structure so that you are pulling nutrients from further down . Rainfall , sheep and cattle cause a lot of compaction on the surface and at haytime , when your tractor goes over every square inch at some point , the soil becomes anaerobic and when it rains the water just sits on the surface .

“ To see the results you dig a square out with your spade – of turf and soil – and you can see your root depth and can monitor your earthworm activity . 10 years ago here it was pretty dead , but we ’ ve focused on reducing stocking density and letting grass grow to a more acceptable depth of sward . I go for 4 inches on pastures .

“ We have been one of the pioneers of mob grazing in this area . It helps in the health of your soil as you ’ re reducing the worm burden by cleaning your ground and we take full advantage of fell land , where we can offload sheep if we feel we are getting over-poched .

Frank is presently conducting all of his environmental farming outside of any scheme .

“ I ’ ve come out of HLS . I haven ’ t gone back into anything because the transition period that we ’ re in at the moment means everything is so up in the air . I don ’ t want to restrict myself when something better might just be on the

horizon with the Environmental Land Management Schemes , plus a lot of the regulations are currently so restrictive . “ I don ’ t want to be looking at any cutting dates given to me by someone who has no idea about my land . If I want to mow , I ’ ll go and mow it .

“ The monetary returns from these schemes is so low that I can make more by ignoring them and getting the quality of crop I ’ m looking for . I ’ m losing quality in the crop if I ’ m waiting for a cutting date and that could cost me several hundreds of pounds of feed value .

Frank ’ s parents ’ farm was too small to support an income for him when he was younger , which led to him working on various dairy farms in Cumbria and starting a contracting business before Piper Hole came up .

“ My wife Ruth always held fort at home with our three kids . We have two daughters and a son . Kenneth had an accident and his capabilities are limited . Our daughter Emma is a beautician and her husband Rob works for us full time . Our other daughter Georgia has taken to farming and has many achievements to her name already . It was Georgia who started us off down the route of doing goat ’ s meat and she now works here part-time . She also works for Eden Farm Supplies .

Frank has always been prepared to change and is happy with where Piper Hole is at present .

“ The goats and dairy products are the direction we ’ re taking at the moment , but you can ’ t get by with just one thing here . It ’ s the mix of goats and sheep presently but who knows what it will be after 2014 ?

“ We are currently working in partnership with a Yorkshire company called The Old Con Gin Company at Holmfirth . We are going to use their knowledge and the flowers out of our hay meadows as botanicals for the gin . Herbal meadows may have a big part to play in our future .

“ In all we do , we ’ re not looking for mega bucks – we ’ re just looking to survive .