The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2020 - Issue 69 | Page 52

52 HOLLIN HOUSE FARM JUN/JUL 2020 • farmers-mart.co.uk
Traditional Skills providing Diversity
DEEP in the leafy green landscape
surrounding Huddersfield
near the small village of Clayton
West, is Hollin House Farm. This
is home to a very hard-working
couple, Edward Greenall and
his partner Pagen Peckett, along
with their delightful young family
- Branden, Elizabeth, Victoria
and Edward.
Hollin House Farm has been
in the Greenall family since
1942 when Grandfather Hubert
rented it from the Cannon Hall
estate. Ted’s father Robert took
over the running of the farm
in 1986. It sits in 86 acres of
luscious grassland; the family
has always had a dairy herd and
years ago had a milk round, bottling
all their milk by hand. The
herd has always been around 60
head.
Ted was born in the same
farmhouse where he lives now
with his family. Father Robert
moved out when he retired.
Farming has always been in Ted’s
blood, along with his passion
for animals. In 1996 whilst still at
school, his love for the Ayrshire
breed started when he acquired
two and started to show them,
he did this for some eight years,
ending up with fifteen in total,
working with them before and
after school. School held little
interest for Ted, he was keen to
farm full time as soon as possible
and left school at fifteen.
The family has always been
passionate about their animals
and their welfare. Down the
years, many of the cows have
had their own names. Today,
Ted is passionate about animal
husbandry and he prides himself
on knowing each animal in the
herd. Knowing them that well
means that he can spot problems/potential
problems and
ensure their welfare is kept in tip
top condition.
The family herd used to be
primarily Holstein Friesians and
all the time Ted and his father
were running the herd Ted
thought they were too big and
unwieldy, there were also quite
a lot of old cows who weren’t
producing much. Ted much
preferred Ayrshires, strong
cattle with a good temperament.
They also had some Jerseys,
which produce great milk as
we know but also, according to
Ted, they are great breeders and
have a personality of their own.
So, across a period of time, Ted
has reduced the Holsteins in
favour of Ayrshires and Jerseys
which, considering their new
diversification business was a
very smart move.
I asked Ted and Pagen how
they met. Well, some seven
years ago when a friend brought
Pagan to Hollin House to buy
some milk, there was instant
attraction and even though
they have only been together
for seven years they have four
delightful children. Pagan has
taken to farm life like a duck to
water. Previously she worked
at a glass bottle manufacturer in
Skelmanthorpe. She absolutely
loves farm life and would never
go back.
Both Ted and Pagen work
incredibly hard, often not in bed
till 12.30 and back up at 4.30! All
the milk on the farm used to be
sold to various dairies, however
with both the milk price fluctuating
and dairies not willing to
pay a premium for the creamier
milk, it was becoming more of a
challenge to balance the books.
Time to come up with some new
ideas.
Often the simplest ideas are
the best, so if you have a lot
of milk what can you do with
it? Make cheese. ”Well, why
not give it a go”, Ted said when
Pagan suggested it. So they
bought some cheese-making
equipment off Ebay and set to.
It was quite a nerve-wracking
time. Initially Pagan took the
cheese around to friends to
see what happened. Everyone
was well chuffed with it and
asked for more, so both Ted and
Pagen thought there would be
a market out there. So, they
began to produce the cheese
and sell it from the farm gate
and then, as its popularity grew,
they approached farm shops,
butchers etc to see if they
would like to sell it. All credit to
Pagan, she has designed all the
packaging and labels etc. They
had a container given which
they converted into their cheese
factory and this then enabled
them to increase production
whilst maintaining the highest of
hygiene standards.
As the cheese was under way
and becoming successful, Ted
and Pagen decided that, as well
as supplying to a few dairies,
they would produce their own
milk. A 50-litre pasteuriser was
purchased, and they began
to produce their own milk in
their own bottles. The milk is
fantastic. Ted and Pagan gave
me a bottle to take away with
me. I had it on my cereal the
following morning, no need for
any cream, the taste was full,
flavoursome and creamy!
In September last year, they
entered their creamy milk into
the Deliciously Yorkshire taste
competition up in Harrogate.
They did it to get some publicity
and didn’t expect that much to
happen. How wrong they were.
They attended the event and
were bowled over when they
won the Best Beverage category
and not only that, they won the
Supreme Champion Award as
well! Which is only awarded to
the best of the best!
The judges’ comments spoke
volumes: “sublime and divine,
with a super-rich and creamy
fresh taste, this product took us
back to our childhoods!”
Both Ted and Pagen are very
grateful for the help they have
had from Ribblesdale Creamery,
who really guided them in the
early stages of milk production;
also Judy Bell of Shepherdspurse
cheese in Thirsk, whose help
and advice was invaluable in
them producing Hollin House
Cheese
This hard-working team are
really pushing the business
forward, so much so that they
said they had only been out to
eat once in seven years and that
was the Deliciously Yorkshire
awards.
I can understand why, Ted
looks after the herd animal by
animal, milks them, farms the
land, all the grass produced goes
to feed the herd.
Pagan oversees the milk and
cheese. She produces and
distributes up to 300 cheeses
a week! And if that wasn’t
enough, Pagen bottles some
1000 bottles of milk a week by
hand which, as well as selling
them at the farm gate, they go
to a number of local shops and
butchers including Cannon
Hall, Spielman’s, Lamb 2 Ewe in
Honley and Brindon Addy’s in
Holmfirth to name but a few. If
that wasn’t enough, Pagan also
has a 14 square mile milk round!
No wonder there isn’t any time
to be going out.
Oh, and let’s not forget the
amount of time both Pagan
and Ted devote to four bubbly,
energetic youngsters, each of
them loving the farm and looking
to become budding farmers. No
wonder Ted said to me “Good
job there are 24 hours in a day,
eh!”
If you go online, as you would
expect there is a succinct,
informative website, great
Facebook presence, Twitter and
Instagram pages all set up by,
yes, you guessed it, Pagan.
The current situation has been
tough for many businesses;
however it has helped Hollin
House by bringing far more
people to the farm gate, sales
have also gone up in the local
outlets as well, let’s hope this
continues.
I asked Ted and Pagen what
they had planned for the future.
They would like their entire
production to go into their milk
and cheese and see the children
(if they wish to) develop into
tomorrow’s young farmers.
We wish them all well and continued
growth and success.