The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2017 - Issue 53 | Page 52

Moss Valley Fine Meats
Competition
spirit stays
strong near
steel city!
» » IAN WILKINSON DISCOVERED
some surprises on the edge of
the busy metropolis of Sheffield –
once the mighty ‘Steel City’.
After leaving the hectic
Sheffield ring road at Norton, I
was suddenly driving along a
quiet country lane surrounded
by fields – rural scenes you just
wouldn’t think existed so near
one of England’s largest cities.
A long way down the lane
I arrived at a collection of
buildings and a striking large,
old farmhouse which is Povey
Farm, home of Moss Valley Fine
Meats. It is owned and run by the
Thompson family and is a unique
place as the lane and drive are
in Yorkshire but the farm is in
Derbyshire!
As I got out of the car I was
greeted by Stephen Thompson,
head of the family. When I
commented on the striking
farmhouse, Stephen explained
that the deeds go back to
1600, but the first part of the
house dates back much farther
- to 1350As with many historic
buildings, it has been added to
across the centuries, but inside
you can see the tell-tale super
thick walls.
Stephen is fourth generation
of his family. Tragically, he was
only lost when his father passed
away so his upbringing was
then down to his mother, Jean
who is still thriving. Stephen is
married to Karen whom he met
when they were both students
at Nottingham University,
Stephen was studying plant
science and Karen animal
science – a perfect match.
They have two
sons, Oliver 26 who
works on the farm,
as well as having
a separate log
business which he
started in a very
small way buying a
small load to generate
some extra cash. It now
resembles a wood mill yard
from America’s Deep South!
Oliver does most of the drilling
and combining and his girlfriend
is a vet. Mark (23) is at Durham
university reading Straight
Physics. Both sons have had
gap years in Australia with Oliver
working on one of the largest
ranches in Australia – some
five x 50,000 acres - regularly
ploughing 450 acre fields!
52 Oct/Nov 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
Daughter Katie
(17) is currently doing
her A Levels and wants to do
Art at University.
AWARDS GALORE!
What struck me immediately
was Stephen’s obvious passion
for farming and the business,
something that shows in the
large number of awards they
have won and for which they
continually compete. Most
recently he is the Yorkshire
Post Rural Awards Farmer of
the year 2017 for being the
farmer that does most for the
county and goes that extra
mile.
They are also English Food
Awards Butchery of the year
2017 and runner up in the
Farmers Weekly Pig Farmer of
the Year. When he has a spare