country life
Island Life - April/May 2011
organic fertilisers.
“He was clearly on the ball,” reflected
David. “The arable side of the farm
would have been the driving factor,
because any waste would have been
fed to the livestock as a chief source of
food.”
After the war Arthur took on
Billingham Farm, where David was
born. Hale Farm was acquired in the
mid-1950s, having been empty for
five years, and being partly used as a
chicken house.
“In those days you bought a farm for
the land, and the house and cottages
happened to be thrown in with it.
These days the house, rather than the
land, can often sell a farm,” David
pointed out.
Arthur ran his own fruit and vegetable
business out of Newport in the 1950s
and 1960s. Those days appear to be
generally long gone due to the arrival
of supermarkets, and as a result
the demise of potato and vegetable
growing on the Island.
Arthur died in 1971, and less than
seven years later David’s father Peter
suddenly passed away, leaving his four
sons to pick up the pieces, of which
David, Chris and Andrew are still
involved. “We had a fair old shake-up,
and had to re-organise,” said David.
“There were a few years of basic
re-entrenchment. At times like that you
think you know what’s going on, but
you have a lot to pick up on.”
So 33 years ago the farm was growing
300 acres of potatoes, as well as
cereals, and had around 600 head of
cattle. After a few decent years the
farming industry began to decline
again, so the dairy herd and cattle
went in 1992. A couple of years later
the conscious effort was made to go
back into vegetables – starting with
cauliflowers and sweet corn.
By coincidence grandfather Arthur was
the first person to grow sweet corn on
the Island, along with other vegetables,
so some 50 years later things had
moved full crop circle!
Now pumpkins, squashes and
asparagus – which was first introduced
about eight years ago - are grown
mainly for the mainland supermarket
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trade. So in the ever-changing market,
around 800 acres of the farm that
stretch through Arreton Valley are taken
up with growing vegetables, with a
further 600 acres for cereals.
“We have been doing something
different, away from the normal
farming,” David reflects. “At one stage
we were going from one lean period
to the next and that is when farmers
started diversifying, because at the end
of the day you were not going to make
money out of farming.”
He admits that at times there was the
temptation to walk away, but having
met so many challenges it was never
really going to happen. David’s son Ben
runs the popular Farmer Jack’s while
other son Sam has moved away from
farming to become a fitter and joiner,
specialising in anything from kitchens
to bespoke fu &