DHF News: June 2024
As I write this piece the weather station is reading 26.2 C and Summer has at last arrived. We are hoping for an easier Harvest and Autumn after two totally contrasting but equally difficult years!
The new tractors have arrived – sitting beside the two challengers which they are replacing- and they will be ready for a busy season.
Rather than the farm and conservation which are the core of our farming business, I thought that in this report I would cover some of the other aspects.
At one time all the farm cottages were occupied by employees who were given accommodation as part of their employment. With mechanization and fewer staff we have kept the houses but made them available to let. The Assured Shorthold Tenancies have worked really well since their introduction in 1988 and have enabled us to let cottages to many people with local connections. Whilst the money might be in holiday lets, we have believed that houses built for living in should remain as homes while this is practical.
Apart from the houses, we have also farm buildings that are no longer appropriate for their original use. Again, we believe that these buildings should be work places rather than homes and have therefore offered them to let on this basis. It is a real joy that Tim Whiting who runs Suffolk Millwright, one of the last Millwright companies in the UK, is based at Lodge Farm. The photo is of a restored mill which will soon be back on the top of a windmill. He , with his team, restores mills from Guernsey to Yorkshire – including our local Saxtead Mill. Next door Jeremy Lain makes wonderful chairs at Treeincarnated while Roger Gladwell uses the Fair Oaks yard for recycling and storage, and a number of local businesses use other buildings. We have just completed the repair of the Pipes Barn buildings and it is great that the 5 units here are all being occupied by various local crafts.
Bruisyard Country Estate is another Farm diversification set in the middle of the very beautiful Bruisyard Hall farm with access to the low meadows beside the River Alde, the arable fields and leading up to Bruisyard wood. We hope to build on the connection of Bruisyard which runs weddings and events with the farm by increasing the food that we can supply including beef and venison.
The woodland is yet another business and the use of biomass boilers have enabled much more active management of the woods. Until 100 years ago these woods provided timber for fencing stakes, heating, trailers, wheels and buildings. These uses had all dried up leaving the old coppice trees to fall over but can now be managed once again. In both Dennington and Bruisyard woods we have areas of new planting growing alongside the older trees.
I have recently attended meetings at Framlingham and Bruisyard to discuss the problems caused by Storm Babet. The farmers around the Rivers Alde and Ore have created a Farm Cluster group which is strongly supported by the Dennington farmers and will be looking at flood resilience and how farmed land can help.
Finally, please save the date – September 13th from 4.30 pm when we will be holding a Farm open evening and BBQ here at Dennington Hall for residents of Dennington and Badingham with their friends and family. Putting on an “Open Farm Day” creates a huge amount of work but we wanted to keep in touch with those whom we farm around . This will be an opportunity to talk about all our projects and we hope to have news on the Turtle dove breeding as well.
