You Had To Have Vision

Originally published in Esk Valley News

http://www.eskvalleynews.co.uk/

We liked the idea of buying a house/farm in the country, shifting our focus from London after living and working there for 29 years between us. Finding the right place is a challenge; prices in the south are ridiculous and the threat of a new railway or road being built close by is real. As a kid from Stockton I had been on many trips around the North York Moors, whether it was across the A171 to Whitby or looking for sticklebacks at Sheeps Wash. Later on I spent many happy days out walking, achieving Duke of Edinburgh awards with friends.

We did consider properties in the Dales and higher in Northumberland. But buying a house on the Moors, with its warmer sandstone buildings, proximity to the coast and transport links won through. We still had to find the right place of course...

At one viewing we engaged a surveyor to help with a valuation. We moved on but a couple of months later the same surveyor called me with the details of a farm we ‘would either love or hate'. Step forward nearly three years and hopefully the house restoration is sympathetic to the original and the land is clear and month by month better organised for livestock.

Before we signed on the dotted line I was well aware that hill farming was not a path paved with gold. In fact the surveyor who prepared our valuation said in disbelief ‘you don’t want to be a hill farmer do you?’ The answer in my head was ‘not solely, no’, but that knowledge of the industry still makes the conditions people consider to be normal eye opening. Instead of describing the state of the house it is probably best to say that we now enjoy central heating, clean water and damp free living. I will add that I do not miss living in the caravan we used during the renovation, although it had a shower, which was a step up on the house!

At the end of the transaction, many phone calls and a meeting in a pub car park more akin to a Bond movie we secured 42 acres, the house and a mix of sheds/outbuildings. The parcel of land varies in quality (it is all grade 3) from the traditional hay meadows by the River Dove to the acidic soils by the moor wall. We quickly fenced the area immediately around the house and yard and arranged with a neighbour to allow access for his cattle to graze the lengthening show of summer grass. That was the start of a relationship with John that endures to this day, based on a great deal of back scratching and a healthy amount of banter.

I recall one sunny afternoon standing with John taking in our view of the dale. I asked him to tell me again who lived in which house, who farmed where and so on. He happily started to point out the family farms and then reached a small cottage across the valley ‘don’t know them, they’re incomers!” Smiling, I turned to him and said ‘what, like us?’ He looked at me and slowly realised I was pulling his leg. Hopefully, as we’ve mucked in to help, worked hard on ‘the spot’ we have eroded the incomer tag a little. It is transparent to me that country folk that visit the dale from further field still regard us as incomers. I always wait for the reaction when I answer the inevitable question ‘where did you come from’ and I say ‘London’. If I had a softer skin I might take it to heart, but I also know that I was born further north and am thereby more northern!

We finally got around to buying our own sheep in September 2012 having taken the time to understand which breed would fit our circumstances and deliver the best value. We eventually chose a rare breed. There was a degree of cynicism with the mention of rare breed, but we were sure that we needed an element of uniqueness to offset our small scale. Now we are often asked why the Whitefaced Woodland is rare; it is big, hardy, milky and has textile quality wool. Our first lambing proved to be difficult with some of the shearling flock not taking to motherhood. I am told that professionals have struggled with first time mothers this year too. But, we have fostered lambs on and learned a great many lessons, taking advice where it was offered so we will be better placed to do it all again next year.