The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2019 - Issue 63 | Page 40

40 BLEAK BANK FARM
JUN/JUL 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
MAINTAINING AND CONTINUING THE
DAWSON LINE AT BLEAK BANK FARM
Chris Berry talks with John & William Dawson near Clapham.
‘MY wife Judith had a successful career in
banking until I rescued her and gave her
some of the debt of the farm,’ says John
Dawson of Bleak Bank Farm near Clapham
on Yorkshire’s western fringe. ‘The farm
lives up to its name so much that we have
thought of changing it to Bleaker!’
John is a positive-thinking, forward-look-
ing farmer with a smart sense of humour
who still enjoys his dairy herd of 70 Holstein
Friesians and ensuring the future of Dales-
bred sheep and production of Mashams.
‘There used to be ten farms between
Ingleton and Clapham that all produced and
sold milk. There are only four of those ten
now left and we’re the only one still selling
milk. We’re quite a high farm for dairy cows
at 850ft with Ingleborough close by running
to 2200ft. When the sheep are on Ingle-
borough for the summer our smaller hills
around the farm lend themselves to grazing
for the cows.’
Bleak Bank’s farmed acreage now runs to
around 300 acres overall, which has been built
up gradually after John’s great grandfather
Edward Dawson arrived as tenant in 1920.
‘Edward bought the then 75-acre farm
in 1927 for £2,700 and people said it was
a financial disaster, but we’ve been here
ever since and now with our son William
we’re into the fifth generation. John William
Dawson, my grandfather, farmed with his
brother who worked on the railways until
he passed away and it passed into grand-
dad’s sole ownership. My dad Edward
came along in 1930 and his brother William
in 1931 and when my granddad died in 1970
he left the farm jointly to Uncle Bill and my
dad, known as Teddy. In the 50s granddad
had bought land next door and occasion-
ally when land came up it was added along
the way throughout the past decades.’
‘Dad passed away ten years ago. He
and Uncle Bill had been forward-thinking
in making sure the farm could carry on in
‘
There used to be ten
farms between Ingleton
and Clapham that all
produced and sold
milk. There are only
four of those ten now
left and we’re the only
one still selling milk
’
the next generation as he and mum had
nine children of which I’m slap bang in the
middle with four brothers and four sisters.
Bill had none. They organised that the farm
would go to the farmers – myself and my
brother Matthew – as there was no way it
would have survived if everyone had want-
ed their slice of it. To their credit everyone
understood there would be nothing to have
a slice of if that had been the case and we
all get on, they come and have a brew.’
‘Tragically we lost Matthew to cancer in
2000 and the farm now belongs to myself
and Judith. We came to live here in 2001 and
have two children – Hannah (24) and Wil-
liam (22) who now works alongside me.’
John’s cows and sheep enterprise that so
many farms used to have in this area is now
almost a thing of the past in and around
Clapham and he tells a familiar story.
‘Without our farm payment we would
be under pressure because the amount it
provides is more than our profit without it,
but at present the way things are it is viable
for myself and William. Judith is an account-
ant for a local company, which brings in
another income.’
John is a fan of high nature value farming
and and any future schemes must recog-
nise the effort, dedication and knowledge
that goes into managing the uplands to
provide public goods