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let’s try n farm stay holidays

Winter 2011/12 tlm n the travel & leisure magazine www.tlm-magazine.co.uk 87

let’s try n farm stay holidays

The good lifeWith staycations increasingly popular, farm stay holidays offer an away-from-it-all escape with a surprising diversity and the chance to muck inwith farmyard life if they want to. Peter Ellegard looks at what awaitsvisitors who decide to holiday down on a farm

If the mention of a farm stay holiday makes youimagine draughty old farmhouses with few crea-ture comforts and unappetising, stodgy food,think again. These days, you are likely to find ahome away from home in accommodation rang-ing from period cottages to converted barns,

coach-houses, stables, shepherds’ huts, and evenpigsties, sometimes complete with swimming pool,tennis court, spa or hot tub – and always with afriendly welcome.Spend a weekend break or longer holiday in a cosy,

five-star rural retreat with a four-poster bed to snuggleinto at night, bunk down in a hostel or get in touch withnature camping out in a yurt, tent or wigwam. Each ofthem alongside working farms, with all the sights,

activities, sounds and, of course, smells to make youfeel you are in the heart of the countryside and awayfrom the stresses of the frenetic modern world.You can choose between self-catering or bed and

breakfast, and where there is food on offer you willfind some of the best home cooking, much of it with aregional slant and using traditional recipes handeddown over generations. Tuck into everything fromfarm-smoked bacon and kippers to home-madesausages, home-baked bread, farmhouse cheeses andfreshly-gathered eggs.There is not only a wide variety of farm accommo-

dation available but also a huge quantity, as a quickGoogle search will underline. But if you find all thechoice a bit bewildering, help is at hand.

A national farmer-owned consortium with over1,200 members offering farm accommodation stretch-ing from the Highlands of Scotland to the tip ofCornwall, Farm Stay UK (www.farmstay.co.uk) cele-brates its 30th anniversary next year, having originallystarted as the Farm Holiday Bureau. It is the largestnetwork of farm-based accommodation in the UK. Allof its members meet rigorous standards and have beeninspected and quality-assessed under national touristboards’ grading schemes and those operated by the AA.

awardsOver 80% of members have been given four or fivestars and many are award-winners. Blackmore Farm(www.blackmorefarm.co.uk), a 15th century, GradeI-listed manor house nestled in the foothills of Somer-set’s Quantock Hills, was named AA GuestAccommodation of the Year in England for 2011-2012in the annual awards which honour the country’s bestB&B establishments.In its citation, the AA heralded its olde-world

grandeur, adding: “Guests get the opportunity to stepback in time when they stay at Blackmore Farm as itretains many period features including oak beams,stone archways and medieval garderobes. The Dyerfamily offer guests a friendly welcome, beautifulsurroundings and wonderful home-cooked meals.”Other Farm Stay UK members have notched up

awards, among them the four-star Low Urpeth Farm(www.lowurpeth.co.uk) in County Durham. It hascollected six awards for its food, accommodation andservice in the last three years, including winningBronze in the Bed & Breakfast category of the NorthEast England Tourism Awards for 2011.

n Feeding a lamb atTregondale Farm n Feeding Chickens

at Overwood Farm

n Daily animalfeeding at Clydey

All pictures: Farm Stay UK

Latest research from VisitEngland shows that coun-tryside holidays achieve far higher satisfaction levelsfrom holidaymakers than both city and seaside holidays.It also highlights the fact that more people are turningto holidaying at home – for so-called staycations –rather than overseas, with the 20 million holiday tripsrecorded during the first six months of 2011 represent-ing a 3.3% increase on the first half of 2010.Such is the growing appeal of a farm holiday that

Farm Stay UK saw visits to its website increase by 20%in 2011. Besides Farm Stay UK, there are hundreds ofother accommodation providers around the countrywhere you can stay. So what is the appeal of holidaying on a farm, and

what can you expect?When you stay on a farm, you get an intimate and

first-hand view of the farmers’ world and life in ruralBritain. You can look out of your window over fields ofwheat and barley or pastures filled with sheep and cattle,gaze at orchards of ripening fruit, visit the milkingparlour or see newborn lambs, and watch combineharvesters at work reaping the summer’s bounty or trac-tors scouring out furrows with their ploughs to plant nextyear’s crop.

feed animalsActivities and the chance to get close to farm animalsare big attractions, particularly for youngsters. Manyfarms allow guests to actively participate in daily farmtasks, such as helping to feed lambs and other animals,gather eggs and groom horses. Some have nature walksand trails on the farm itself or you can use the farm as abase from which to explore the local area on foot, bybike or on horseback.For horse owners, more than 170 Farm Stay UK

members now offer stabling for them to take their ownhorses. Many farms also allow guests to bring their dogs– provided they are kept under control when near farm-yard animals. Some also organise special activities for holidaymak-

ers. Clydey Cottages Pembrokeshire(www.clydeycottages.co.uk), another award winnerhonoured as Best in Wales 2010 and Best inPembrokeshire 2011 with 15 cottages set in 68 acres,organises an Easter Egg hunt for youngsters while, on adaily basis, children can join the Clydey Young FarmersClub and help feed the resident pigs, sheep, lambs, pygmygoats and donkeys before letting off steam in the adven-ture playground, which is set in 20 acres of grounds.You can also do other things on farms. Farm and

Country Cottages (www.holidaycottages.co.uk)features soft and hard cheese-making courses at HagleyBridge Farm (www.hagleybridgefarm.co.uk) nearTaunton, in Somerset, for £60 (one day) and £120 (twodays). Courses run monthly from the first one-day softcheese course, on April 5. Accommodation is in aconverted barn sleeping four at Lovelynch Farm, fivemiles away, with prices from £310 per week.Your accommodation may be anything from rustic or

period to newly-built and will often include a host ofamenities, such as a fully-equipped kitchen, flat-screenTVs, Wi-Fi, comfy sofas and armchairs, en-suite bath-rooms, log fires with outdoor children’s play areas and

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spring activitiesFor holidaymakers who want areal experience of life on a farm,spring offers a fantasticopportunity to get stuck in andlend a hand. It’s a wonderful time forchildren, as many farms offeringaccommodation will have lambsbeing born then. They can notonly watch and learn aboutlambing first-hand, they are alsooften welcome to help out.Mary Pearson from LovesomeHill Farm in North Yorkshire says:“Our Masham and Mule Sheep aredue to lamb from March until Apriland we are expecting over 150hundred lambs this year. It’s a busytime for us so guests are invited to

bring wellies and get involved withthe lambing and for the help theygive us on the farm we make surethey’re rewarded with lots ofhome-made meals.”Nannerth Fawr Farm(www.nannerth.co.uk) is a200-acre family Powys farmoffering visitors organic farmholidays that has Welsh mountainewes, Tor Wen sheep andnumerous other farmyardanimals and poultry. Activities tobe seen during the year includelambing, shearing, gatheringsheep from the hills surroundingthe farm, hedging and hay orsilage making. Children cansometimes help with feeding thepoultry, bottle feeding a lamb orbringing sheep in.

“Manyfarms allowguests toactivelyparticipatein dailyfarm tasks”

n Makefriends withponies

n Self Catering atHarrop Fold Farm

n Easter atNannerth Farm

sometimes your own private garden.You can also choose to stay somewhere small and

intimate, perfect for just the two of you, or at the otherextreme go for somewhere that can take the wholefamily and in-laws or a group of friends.

easy reachAmong VisitEngland’s top farm stays – some of themformer farms rather than working facilities – is ComptonPool Farm (www.comptonpool.co.uk), in Marldon,Devon, which won the accolade of best self-cateringbusiness in Devon for 2011 in Visit Devon’s tourismawards. This 12th century farm has been converted into10 luxury holiday cottages sleeping between two and 11,with activities including tennis courts, an indoor pool,games barn, fishing lake and a fenced-off area wherechildren can meet the resident goats and pigs.Another top pick has star appeal. Yew Tree Farm

(www.yewtree-farm.com) is a working Lake Districtsheep farm set among hills near Coniston that was onceowned by Beatrix Potter and featured as Hill Top in themovie Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger. Its threeguest bedrooms feature oak-panelled walls and perioddécor, while breakfast is served in a room furnished byBeatrix Potter herself.VisitEngland also suggests Common Barn Farm

(www.cottages-with-a-view.co.uk), a traditional work-ing sheep farm in the Peak District National Park nearMacclesfield with five B&B en-suite bedrooms and twoself-catering holiday cottages in converted stone barns. Ithas its own tea shop and sells fresh lamb from the farm.While a farm stay is a great away-from-it all escape,

that doesn’t mean it has to be remote or take hours tofind down winding country lanes. Many farms arewithin easy reach of motorways and cities. Overwood Farm (www.overwood.net) offers a

peaceful farm cottage B&B surrounded by Worcester-shire woodlands and farmland where you can watch batshunting and hear owls hooting at night, yet it is less thanthree miles from Bromsgrove and 15 minutes from boththe M42 and M5 motorways. It has won an EnjoyEng-land award for its breakfasts, which include eggsgathered daily from its own chickens.One thing is certain – if you opt for the peace and

quiet of a holiday down on a farm, you won’t be short ofthings to do.

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farm holiday facts

food for thoughtAutumn stays on farms bring tasty delights for visitors, with the chance to goforaging for mushrooms, nuts and berries.Autumn activities on offer at Farm Stay UK member farms include:l A Mushroom School at Kirkwood Farm in Scotland; guests can get tips onwhere to forage and tuition from a professional guide.

l Take a bottle of gin to Damerons Farm in Suffolk, gather up sloes and head backto the farm kitchen, where you can create sloe gin.

l Pick blackberries and hazel nuts at Cyfie Farm in Wales, then taste them whilelazing in the hot tub in the farms’ converted pig sty.

l Stay at Upperfields Farm in Herefordshire, where local foodie Raoul Van DenBrouke offers groups a guided food forage.

farm stay ukFarm Stay UK publishes a variety of guides,maps and leaflets coveringaccommodation offered by its 1,200-plusmembers. Its main Farm Stay UKbrochure details all its UKaccommodation and can be orderedonline from www.farmstayuk.co.uk. Thewebsite allows visitors to search its databaseof properties by accommodation type or region,and has regional microsites.

farm holidays informationResponsible Travel:www.responsibletravel.com/accommodation/farmstaysVisitEngland: www.enjoyengland.com/Where-to-stay/Rural-escapes/Farm-stay.htm

other farm accommodationwebsitesNational and regional farm stay websitesinclude:www.holidaycottages.co.uk/farmswww.stayonafarm.comwww.holidaycottages.co.uk www.cheshirefarmstay.co.uk

www.farmstays.co.ukwww.pembrokeshirefarmstay.co.uk

www.stayonamanxfarm.comwww.devonfarms.co.ukwww.farmholidays-southwest.co.ukwww.farmhouseaccommodation.co.ukwww.farmstayanglia.co.ukwww.wiltshirefarmstay.co.ukwww.irishfarmholidays.comwww.peakdistrictfarmhols.co.ukwww.cornishfarmholidays.co.ukwww.wightfarmholidays.co.ukwww.farmstaysomerset.comwww.cotswoldsfarmstay.co.ukwww.farm-stay-kent.co.ukwww.lakesfarmholidays.co.ukwww.nfag.co.uk

n WoodFarmTrampoline

n Feeding The ClydeySheep And Lambs

n Barns withspring flowers

n Guest kitchen