46 WOODHOUSE FARM FEB / MAR 2018 • farmers-mart . co . uk
46 WOODHOUSE FARM FEB / MAR 2018 • farmers-mart . co . uk
Norman & Gray Ltd .
Agricultural Buildings and Groundworks
Design , manufacture , painting , supply and erection of steel framed buildings .
Competitive rates on :
Timber Roof Sheets Rainwater Goods Steel Purlins Plastic Guttering & Fittings
Gates Roller Shutter Doors Feed Barriers Steel Troughs and much more
Pleased to be associated with Woodhouse Farm
Unit 1 , Malton Road Business Park , Pickering , YO18 7JW Tel - 01751 472 231 Fax - 01751 474 011 Vat Reg No : 158 585171 Email : sales @ normanandgray . co . uk Phillip Norman - 07974 827555 | David Gray - 07974 821894
Concrete Products - Mortars Ready Mixed Concrete - Screeds
» Pre-stressed concrete panels .
» 95mm , 150mm or 180mm thick .
» 1m , 1.2m or 1.5m high .
» Lengths – made to order or from stock .
» Suitable for Grain stores , stock buildings , retaining walls , compounds or bunkers .
» marked and produced with BSi quality assured ready mixed concrete .
Twenty-five years of holidays adds to farm mix
Chris Berry talks with the Wardells of Westow .
YOU simply cannot beat the view as you ’ ve left the A64 that takes you downhill to a breath-taking vista of the River Derwent , the pastoral countryside and the remains of Kirkham Priory . It ’ s a beautiful part of the world and where Fran Wardell and his wife Sarah farm with daughters Ellen ( 20 ) and Lucy ( 18 ).
Woodhouse Farm at Westow runs to 550 owned acres with a further 80 acres rented . The farming operation includes sheep , cattle and arable crops and for the past twenty-five years it has also been home to a B & B business run by Sarah , which was added to with a cottage for self catering in 2005 when they converted an old tool shed and farm store .
Sarah ’ s quarter of a century in the holiday accommodation market has seen her honoured with the AA 4-star B & B and Farmhouse Breakfast award several times .
‘ I ’ m originally from Leavening ,’ says Sarah . ‘ My dad managed pig farms and I was a secretary for a stonemason in York . When Fran and I married we lived first at Clifton Farm part of the farm enterprise here since 1971 , but when we moved here in 1993 I started with B & B and looking after the farm ’ s paperwork . We had three bedrooms available at one time , but it has been two for a number of years plus the cottage .’
‘ We don ’ t use booking agents and have a good slice of regular trade with many visiting every year . We had a slower start on bookings last year but this time we ’ re more in front . We don ’ t get under way with B & B
Pre-stressed panels , Free standing “ A ” walls , Interlocking Lego blocks ( various sizes ), concrete water troughs , concrete gate posts , Floor beams until after lambing from mid-April which then sees us through to the end of October . We get a lot of 2-3 nights and 4-5-night bookings and people staying for a week in the cottage that can sleep up to six .’
Sarah takes great pride in sourcing as many of her breakfast ingredients as she can locally . She makes her own bread and jams and the eggs come from Fran ’ s mum Doreen ’ s hens . Sausages and bacon come from the butcher in Norton . She gives a loaf of bread , eggs and a fruit crumble to the cottage visitors as a welcome when they arrive .
‘ I have my own breakfast quality control team here with my husband and daughters .’
On the farm the arable cropping runs to 400 acres with wheat , barley , oilseed rape and beans . Spring barley is back in the rotation and having missed getting rape in during autumn due to the land being too wet one field has been let for potatoes . The wet weather since last summer has given Fran a few headaches recently .
‘ We have been growing wheat varieties JB Diego , Dickens , Relay and Costello which did really well last year , and we got most of our wheat in for this year , but the rapeseed we were to sow is still in the shed and I stopped delivery of the six-row barley we had planned . We ’ ve 100 acres to put in with Propino spring barley and spring beans for the cattle .’
‘ We lead some corn into Thompsons at Murton and get nuts back to feed the live- tel . 01262 675383 - sales @ wa�smix . com
www . wa�smix . com