The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2020 - Issue 69 | Page 26

26 PRIORY FARM JUN/JUL 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
IN GOOD SPIRITS AT SYNINGTHWAITE
Chris Berry talks with David Rawlings of Priory Farm.
MAKING the most of what you have has
long been a maxim for many farmers
an it is very much how David Rawlings
of Priory Farm, Syningthwaite near
Wetherby has built up his varied business
on the 500 acres he farms in partnership
with his sister Shirley (Wood).
You could say that farming has driven
him to drink, as he also produces vodka
and gin from potatoes as the spirit’s base
and has recently started making rum,
thanks to the kit he has invested in for the
vodka and gin.
Industrial units, a wedding venue,
luxury accommodation and most
recently a brand new holiday site, Wighill
Park Glamping, made up of six self-contained
glamping pods in his 17 acres of
woodland make up the other elements
that add to the farm income.
It is still an arable farm first and foremost,
with a small number of Hereford
cattle purchased as steers from noted
breeder Helen Whitaker’s Coley herd that
are sold on to finishers.
In common with nearly every other
cereal crop farmer, David struggled
with the weather from late September
last year in establishing crops he would
normally have sown, which has led to
quite a substantial change to the norm
this year on his predominantly grade 2
medium loam.
‘This will be the first year we have not
grown winter wheat. Normally we would
have 200 acres of wheat, but we just
couldn’t get it drilled. We still have it in the
shed hoping that we can get it drilled this
September subject to germination tests.
It’s the soft wheat biscuit variety Barrel.’
‘We completely substituted the wheat
with 200 acres of spring malting barley
variety Tipple, but our oilseed rape hasn’t
fared too well. We sowed 150 acres and
lost a substantial amount with what is left
looking a bit thin.’
‘Our potatoes we planted in April are
looking good. We had been poised, in
January, to perhaps put winter wheat in
late, but the dry spot that came saw us
harvesting last year’s spuds as our priority.
We’re growing 50 acres of potatoes
this year using the varieties Pentland
Dell, which we use for the vodka, and
Fontaine.’
Last year David invested in a new
borehole for irrigation purposes with
the hope that he wouldn’t have to use it,
but following the intense wet period of
autumn and winter, the drought conditions
in spring led him to investing in
pumps, pipework and an irrigation reel to
help with this year’s cropping.
‘It’s a sign of the times,’ says David.
‘There’s definitely been a change in
the climate with the weather getting
more extreme in long periods of rain or
sunshine. We had Newsome Engineering
of Walshford put in the pipework and we
purchased an Italian reel, Irrimet from a
grower in Scotland.’
‘Constant wet weather during the
winter means you have to be as careful
as you can with your soil when harvesting
the spuds. We always try for the
driest line through a field, but sometimes
that is very challenging when there is so
much water. At the end of the day you’re
harvesting 25 tonnes per acre of a crop of
potatoes as opposed to maybe 4 tonnes
of wheat and that requires at least six
times the number of trailer loads from the
field, which adds to compaction.’
David uses five acres of the potatoes
for vodka and those used are usually
the smaller potatoes. He came up
with the vodka idea having seen how
Herefordshire farmer William Chase had
built up his Chase Gin business from using
his potatoes as the base spirit.
‘William was in with the gin revolution
from the start. We went with vodka as a
point of difference as most vodka is produced
from a grain-based spirit and as
such it sets us apart. Since starting three
years ago we now produce our regular
vodka as well as 10 flavoured vodkas,
including two – grapefruit and hot chili
– that won gold and silver awards at
the International Spirit Masters 2019. We
have two new flavours in the pipeline for
2020 - beetroot and passion fruit. We use
rhubarb also and we source that from Mr
Thompson in Yorkshire’s famous Rhubarb
Triangle.’
‘We’re not a massive vodka business,
but we have grown substantially
thanks to Charlotte, my niece, my sister
Shirley’s daughter. Our main sales areas
are at the shows we attend, plus farm
shops including some of the biggest like
Keelham, Ainsty and Fodder as well as
Michelin-star restaurants such as Pipe &
Glass in South Dalton and The Black Swan
at Oldstead. Our online sales have grown
markedly, particularly during the lockdown
period.’
Priory Gin joined Priory Vodka into the
Rawlings’ spirit offering two years ago.
At present they are producing a Londonstyle
dry gin. It won a Gin Guide Award
this year. But David is also now going
down the rum route.
‘We’re distilling here on the farm using
the same equipment as we use for the
vodka and gin, but of course it’s not from
potatoes. We are using blackstrap molasses,
a by-product from sugar cane that
provides a treacle-like substance that is
used for rum. We’re not ageing it. The rum
will be a young rum, spiced and smoked.
We have just launched it in July.’
The wedding venue has become
a popular venue in the area offering
accommodation on the farm as well as
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