Environmentally Friendly Accommodation

Exciting news !

One of our members, Beechenhill Farm, has been shortlisted for the Sentinel Environmental Business Awards!

These prestigious awards are seeking “Companies that have introduced environmental improvements which are enhancing the quality of life within North Staffordshire.” Beechenhill Farm has done extremely well to be shortlisted and is up against a large business and a multinational company! We all wish them luck in the finals.

A number of our Peak District Farm Holiday members are also committed to sustainable business practices and conserving the beautiful Peak District environment in which we live and work, and have been awarded either the Peak District or the Staffordshire Environmental Quality Mark. Look out for the award logos on the farm website entries - you can be sure of a quality eco holiday with us.

Meanwhile on the farm, the snow hit a few days ago, melted a little and has now frozen solid. We are expecting more this evening!

The chickens have been pottering about in the snow but seem to have been a little discombobulated by it and keep gathering in snow free patches – we assume to chat about the weather!

The snow will shortly disappear giving way to warmer weather - why not book a holiday with us and enjoy the Peak District countryside in all it's summer glory. Our free range hens will be back in full egg production by then so you can enjoy a tasty breakfast.

Dove Valley Centre celebrates it's 10th Birthday

One of our fabulous self catering properties is celebrating it's 10th Birthday this year. The 2 cottages and spacious studio are set in spectacular countryside near Sheen and have been thoughtfully modernised using environmentally friendly methods and materials.


After the eco renovation of their redundant barns involving much muck, hay and farming memories, Paul and Elspeth Walker opened for holiday business in 2002. Not without some trepidation they thought - what if no one came? Who would be interested in ‘greener’ holidays?

But the Christmas and New Year periods were booked almost immediately and soon the calendar was filling. Since then, visitors have arrived from near and from California to Hong Kong, from Germany to Scandinavia - many returning each year.

Two of their first visitors got engaged there and Elspeth and Paul were invited to their wedding and later welcomed them back with their baby!

Because of their interests in art education and wildlife conservation, courses are regularly run in painting, crafts and countryside activities, many through partnerships with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, the Peak District Ranger Service and various charities. These have expanded to include annual free family events including biodiversity and Apple Days with an ever- increasing number of families participating.

With the opening of the Studio two years ago as the base for courses and events, their daughter Sarah is now increasingly involved in the business.

To help celebrate this anniversary, throughout the year new and returning visitors will receive a special welcome pack of homemade and local produce.

Get Here!

"Get Here" and discover the fabulous Peak District and all it has to offer.

The emotive soundtrack was recorded by Lady Manners School Orchestra with the wonderfully talented singer Chelsea Redfern from Chesterfield, of X Factor fame. Wow, what a powerful voice, it sends a tingle down your spine!

View the amazing video of our special area for yourself. You’ll find something for everyone here in the Peak District; superb scenery, exciting activities, delicious food, fascinating attractions and a matchless wealth of history and heritage - make the most of your holidays and stay on a farm - Get here, if you can!

Quite Revolutionary

They say the definition of a farmer is "a man outstanding in his field".

Peak District Farm Holiday members are all outstanding in their field and are keen to embrace modern technologies, be it utilising renewable energy, using electronic tags on cows to monitor animal health and feed rations, or submitting animal passport information on line.

Rural internet connection can often be a trial with slow download speeds, but farmers are computer savvy and whilst not pioneers, we are definitely using modern technologies to our advantage.

Our latest marketing initiative for the Peak District Farm Holiday group has been the creation of a QR code for our magazine advertising, which when zapped with a smart phone will take users direct to a short video. The video (below) is designed to give a taster of the outstanding quality holiday accommodation we offer on working farms and show the fabulous Peak District landscape in which we are fortunate enough to work.

We hope you enjoy a moment of escape to the Peak District and getting up close with the animals.

Now is a good time to think ahead and book your summer holiday for 2012.

We look forward to welcoming you to our farms so you can share our passion for the countryside.

Apple Delight!

Here in the Peak District we have some wonderful opportunities to be able to work with nature; with bumper crops of apples this year The Dove Valley Centre, in partnership with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, celebrated “Apple Day” in style with lots of exciting and tasty activities, including:

• Apple tasting, identification and history
  


• Apple Juicing- where everyone took their own apples and bottles
  


• Meeting the owls
  


• Appley activities for children
  


• Tasty story telling

An excellent day of family fun!

If you would like to get closer to nature, and meet the farmyard animals then why not book one of our fabulous farmhouse B&B's or cosy self catering cottages for a short winter break? There are some wonderful winter walks from the doorstep.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Another harvesting process

An alternative to grass and silage is wholecrop silage. This is where a wheat crop is harvested early whilst the grain is still soft. The entire crop, straw and all (hence the name wholecrop) is mown off, chopped into small pieces, and then carted to the farm, and stored in a large pit. The air is excluded as with grass silage using plastic sheeting which is weighed down.



The crop then ferments and produces a high protein version of silage suitable for dairy cows. This video shows the forage harvester, with special attachments for cutting, in action.

Book a holiday on one of our farms here in the Peak District to experience farm life at first hand!

Hay Making in the Peak District

In the Peak District we have had some fantastic weather during July with hot dry and sunny days. This means many of us have been out making hay in the fields. Hay making involves a lot of hard work as the grass needs to be left until it is as dry as possible before it is baled up and stored inside for the winter. If it is too wet the hay becomes mouldy when it is stored and the animals won’t eat it, or it can even make them sick. With good weather conditions it usually takes up to 5 days from the grass being cut until it is ready to bale. To help the grass dry quickly we use a machine called a tedder which spreads the grass around and turns it over so the wet stuff at the bottom gets a chance to dry in the sun.

This video shows the hay being collected and made into small bales on one of our farms.

The hay bales are then loaded onto trailers either by hand or using a tractor and brought back to the farm. It is important they are all collected before it rains so they don't get wet which can mean working long into the night! Many of our farms have traditional stone buildings which have lofts where the hay can be stored safely for the winter. The downside is the bales can only be moved into them by hand, much better than going to the gym!

Traditional hay making is not as common as it used to be as round bale silage has become much more popular. This is a much quicker process as the grass only needs to dry for a day before it can be baled and wrapped in plastic. Round bales are also much larger than hay bales so they are moved with a tractor and much more can be made in a day. Cattle also prefer round bale silage as it is moist and has a higher nutritional value than hay.

Small hay bales are still very useful as they can be fed at any time of year and are also ideal to feed to young calves. Many horse owners also prefer to feed hay as it is easy to handle and doesn’t go off.