The Farmers Mart Apr-May 2018 - Issue 56 | Page 45

REDCLIFFE FARM 45 • APR/MAY 2018 bigger trade in summer when there can be as many as 70,000 holidaymakers if all caravan sites are full within 10 miles of here we’ve also now increased our winter trade. This past winter has been particularly encouraging. In the past when we reach the end of October and the main season is over it can be depressing seeing everyone pack up and go back home, but we’re now getting a lot of all year-round trade.’ ‘When the holidaymakers are here some will come in three to six days a week. We have a full-time team of eight including two chefs and two butchers and we have some great young people who live locally. They tend to come to us at 14 and stay with us four to five years before going on to university.’ There is a picture of Martin’s grandfather in the coffee shop area of the café that highlights this was once were the dairy cows were milked. ‘That’s from 1960 and he’s pictured with his new milk cooler. The dairy can’t have lasted too long after that as I don’t remem- ber it in 1970 when I was here as a child. This was a 30-acre small mixed farm when granddad took it on and it’s now just under 100 acres all down to grass. The rest of the buildings that make up the farm shop, butchery and café / coffee shop include where beef was prepared on the farm and you can still see the cast iron straps with eyelets in the beams; and the granary where all bread and cakes are now baked. These buildings were built in 1855.’ Martin is hoping YC18 will become as suc- cessful as the Redcliffe Pumpkin Festival, an- other event created with the public in mind. ‘The pumpkin festival has taken off aided by very mild and good weather for each of our six festivals so far. We use the cattle sheds where the children who come can carve the pumpkins. I think some farmers see the humour in it being known as a carv- ing barn rather than a calving barn! Our cat- tle now have to wait to come in until after the pumpkin festival and fortunately the weather being kind has not proved a problem.’ While Martin is happy with the direction the shop and café has gone he’s pragmatic over how it may not have worked if it hadn’t been based at the farm having had experience of running retail establishments previously. ‘If we’d opened a shop on a high street then I might have thought of quitting after a few years because you can give up a lease, but because it’s here you feel more forced to make it work, which is great as commit- ment has to be there all the time. We’ve always been here to stay and it’s coming along nicely.’ The farming operation run by Dan includes 36,000 hens free range and colony that arrive at point of lay at around 17 weeks and are kept through until 70 weeks. The cattle are largely contine ntal Charolais X with one or two Angus bought in as stores at around 12 months and finished at 24 months. Current stocking levels are around 45-head but since changing back to all grassland there is the option to increase to around 100. ‘A lot of our cattle go to Morrisons but we’re finding we are attracting good trade through our own butchery counter. Our customers like what we grow and feel an affinity with our beef because they have seen where it comes from. We’re now sending one or two a week to Glaves in Bro- mpton by Sawdon to come back here.’ Pat and David Brown, Martin’s parents, moved to Redcliffe Farm in 1970 when he was just 3 years old. David had previously farmed at what was then his father’s family farm and is now Park Resorts Caravan Site at Cayton Bay. ‘Dad says he’s retired but he’s always out doing something like most supposedly retired farmers. The farm is a family partnership. The farm shop business is separate from the farm. I’m the middle brother. Our elder brother Jonathan works for Transport for the North.’ Martin’s wife is Caroline and they have a son Sean currently in New Zealand and daughter Lucy in Melbourne, Australia. Mar- tin’s other passion is running and in April he ran in the Rome Marathon. 71654 - Chapmans Seafoods Ltd - 8TH.pdf 1 27/04/2018 10:09:44 Our full range of Fish, Seafood and Prepared Dishes supplied to Farm Shops, Delis and Food Halls nationwide C M Y CM MY Proud to be associated with Martin Brown of Redcliffe Farm CY CMY K Haddock & Leek with Cheddar Cheese Fishcakes Thai Style Salmon Fishcakes Smoked Salmon & Horseradish Fishcakes East Coast Crabcakes 01472 269871 | [email protected] | www.chapmans-seafoods.co.uk