At Stolford we always say we are 3 weeks behind in terms of the garden. Each year daffodils are starting to go over in the coastal towns and villages whilst we are still eagerly awaiting our first blooms. However, from mid spring we start to catch up and it’s from this point on that some of our …
We started this project around August 2019, and we made good progress until about October. Then it started raining, and didn’t really stop until March 2020. The original stone mason got side tracked as his new pub and restaurant business started to take off, but when the weather started to ease in early March local …
Over the last couple of weeks, Steve Hutchings sheep have been arriving at Stolford Farm, so at least we’ve got some customers for our grass, even if the holiday lets are sitting vacant! There are more twins than last year, and way more grass, so now we see the results of all our work and …
It’s been a busy farming Spring all over Exmoor and Stolford Farm is no exception. Regardless of lockdown the seasons wait for nobody. All the usual activities, including about 200 acres of harrowing, a lot of farmyard manure spreading on the hay ground (it’s our best option now we have gone organic), and some tactical …
Needless to say, we haven’t had a single guest at either Middle Stolford or the Cowshed since lockdown kicked in, which is fair enough, but it has left us with a lot of time on our hands. As a result, all of those jobs we were ‘going to do one day’ have been getting done. …
If you’ve visited Stolford you will know we have a lot of variation when it comes to topography, with a couple of hundred acres of land you can get a tractor on, and about fifty that you wouldn’t. In an earlier blog we talked about our application for organic status, and the countryside stewardship scheme, …
We have recently set up five bee hives behind the main house at the back of the orchard, well away from the holiday lets tucked just behind the hedgerow at the top of the ridge. The hives have been installed by local bee keeper Kieren Berry. The hives were hand built by Kieren over the …
Back in early September Joe and Jack started logging and moving up some of the many fallen ash and beech trees at the bottom of Stolford Wood. Vehicle access isn’t the easiest to this part of the farm so the Gator (or the ‘ Monster truck ‘ as it’s nicknamed) was in full use ferrying …
During late August and early September we reseeded just over 60 acres of the grassland we use for mowing. We used a mixture of various Ryegrasses, Timothy, Cocksfoot and about 10% white clover in Eight Gates and Netcombe Cottage. A different mixture of various Ryegrasses with 25% red clover was used on Top Barn, Top …
Work is well underway for our new all-weather barbecue, pizza oven, and fireplace in Middle Stolford. The design was carefully prepared in the bar at the Lowtrow Arms in July, and the results so far look nothing like the drawings, but in a good way. Dan, the stone mason, also doubles up as the landlord …
