Full bloom in the flower business

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9 September 2022

Charlotte Tombs’ successful flower farming business grew out of one packet of sweet pea seeds and some Instagram inspiration. Tracie Beardsley reports

Flower farmer Charlotte Tombs in her little flower garden.
Featured flowers – tight pale pink balls are dahlia Megan Dean, and the flamboyant peachy pink ones are dahlia Labyrinth
All images: Courtenay Hitchcock

ucked away near Sturminster Marshall is Northcombe Flowers, a professional flower farm squeezed into less than an eighth of an acre. Six years ago this land was bare, save for a few ancient apple trees.
For owner Charlotte Tombs, the initial outlay was a £2.50 packet of sweet pea seeds, some back-breaking digging and the foresight to transform her back garden into her business. Now it’s a flower-filled landscape for at least ten months of the year.
Huge Café au Lait dahlias – a charming mix of subtle cream and dusky pink and a 2022 bridal favourite – jostle for space with cheerful sunflowers, alongside a kaleidoscope of colours from old-fashioned English roses. Achillea, snapdragons, feathery cut-and-come-again cosmos, scented geraniums, nicotiana, feverfew, sweet Williams, larkspur – every inch of space is jammed with flowers and herbs.
A fruit cage of raspberries droop under the weight of their burgeoning harvest. The fruit will end up in Charlotte’s kitchen, the leaves will make ideal foliage in her flower displays.

Charlotte’s guilty pleasure is ‘Aimlessly wandering around the garden with a G&T, picking flowers just for myself.’

Flowers all year
There are no militaristic lines of the same flower on Charlotte’s farm. The ethos is simply growing a variety of British flowers without the need for pesticides or air miles. Charlotte explains: ‘It’s possible to grow flowers in the UK all year round – even more so now frosts come later. UK growers used to provide all the flowers for the British market. Narcissi would come from the Scilly Isles as early as December and flower trains would come from Cornwall to London, taking precedence over passenger trains. It was only after the war, when the Dutch government threw lots of money at their flower industry, that the UK got left behind. Now we import flowers from huge industrialised farms that use all manner of chemicals.’

A packet of sweet peas
After a career in sales, Charlotte was inspired by a non-profit organisation, Flowers From The Farm, on Instagram. Set up by a farmer’s wife looking to diversify, the site encouraged like-minded people to grow British flowers.
Charlotte recalls: ‘I was inspired by Georgie Newbery’s book The Flower Farmer’s Year. I made notes and pored over seed catalogues. I just did the maths. You can sell a sweet pea stem for £1.25 if you’re growing out of season. A packet of sweet pea seeds costs £2.50. I literally started my business from that one packet and now have sweet peas in bloom as early as March.’
When the pandemic hit, Northcombe Flowers was only in its second season. Charlotte says: ‘I was busy. People wanted to send flowers to loved ones, and florists couldn’t get funeral flowers. At first, I felt guilty about jumping on the bandwagon when the world was gripped in such an awful situation. But it made me realise how much pleasure and solace flowers bring to people.’
She now harvests eight buckets of flowers every other day. Her natural approach is on trend, appealing to DIY brides wanting a wildflower wedding.

Charlotte behind a stand of dahlia Arabian Nights

value: retail buckets are £75 for approximately 90 stems of mixed flowers and foliage, and wholesale a bucket sells at £55 for 75 stems.
Charlotte’s sales background shows in her confidence. ‘I can stand by my product. I’m more than happy to walk into a florists and ask them to trial my flowers’, she says.
As the cold weather sets in, Charlotte’s focus turns to dried flowers – a trend enjoying a huge revival – and she’s rounding off her flower year with Christmas wreath workshops.
On New Year’s Day, she sows her first sweet peas, starting the cycle all over again. ‘There’s so much pleasure all year and I never tire of seeing a seedling grow.’

Six years ago, Charlotte’s land was bare save for a few ancient apple trees.

www.northcombe.co.uk Charlotte’s social media is a delicious flower feast: IG is @northcombeflowers and Facebook is @Northcombe

Charlotte’s Café au Lait dahlias are very popular with brides this year

Quick-fire questions with Charlotte:

One flower to a desert island?
Cosmos. I love the simplicity and feathery foliage. There’s nothing prettier than a jug of white Purity. Cosmos are also great for pollinators.

Guilty pleasure?
Aimlessly wandering around the garden with a G&T, picking flowers just for myself.

Dinner party A-list?
Plantswoman Ellen Willmott, an influential member of the RHS in the 1800’s. She used to carry eryngium seeds when she visited friends’ gardens, strewing the seeds surreptitiously as she walked among the beds, hence the plant being called ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’. What a great calling card!

Charlotte tests the vase life of her flowers – this is one of her ‘test’ bunches from July. Image: Charlotte Tombs

Expert panel at free land seminar

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Editorial team

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9 September 2022

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In their first land event since the pandemic, DOMVS estate agents will host an informative land seminar on Thursday 22nd September – an event that, pre-COVID, was always well attended by local residents.
Free to attend and open to the public, the panel of six expert speakers will provide invaluable information to landowners who want to realise development potential for their sites.
The event, which will be held at The Crown Hotel in Blandford Forum, starts at 8.30am and will finish at 11am. Polly Greenway, CEO of DOMVS will be joined by Simon Hoare, Conservative MP for North Dorset, Emma Stainwright from Steele Raymond Solicitors, Stephen Johnson from Williams Lester Architects, Peter Cattermole from CB Reid Accountants, Brett Spiller from Chapman Lily Planning and Neil Greenway, who is the DOMVS land specialist.
Neil Greenway says: ‘Much has changed in the last few years. There has been the introduction of new Building Control standards, ever-changing planning requirements – most recently regarding phosphates and nitrates – and building cost increases. This is why we’ve gathered together some of Dorset’s most knowledgeable industry experts to help demystify the process.
With land-savvy lawyers, architect expertise and insider planning knowledge, attendees can expect to leave better informed about their land assets and their anticipated returns.’
Brett Spiller from Chapman Lily Planning says: ‘We are delighted to join the coveted DOMVS Land Seminar once again. It’s a great opportunity to meet with our local community and share our planning insights.’
With Dorset planning applications currently taking over a year in some cases – far exceeding the Government’s regulatory eight weeks – the DOMVS Land Seminar provides valuable, practical information for what is traditionally known as a difficult process.

We need more woolly thinking

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Editorial team

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8 September 2022

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Once a major business, English wool is now a wasted opportunity – the industry needs a rethink, says Andrew Livingston

Farm life is built around regular tasks – whether they’re daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal or annual. In the world of sheep farming there is one summer task that is seen as a cost and a hindrance, but which, once upon a time, provided the main income from the flock – shearing.
Shearing sheep is vital to ensure the welfare of the animal –removing their thick winter coats keeps them cool and reduces the risk of parasites and disease that can fester on faeces left on their coats.
Wool became an important commodity once farmers realised that the material could be spun to make clothes. Shearing is believed to have started around 3,500 BC and is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament (Genesis 31:19 “When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods …”).
In 1276, Florentine merchants agreed to buy 62 sacks of wool for 697 and a half marks from the Cistercian monks at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, on condition it came “without clack, lok, cot and breech wool or black grey or inferior fleece and without pelt wool”. Clacked wool had the marks cut off, to avoid paying duties as it weighed less (duties were levied on wool including the coloured marks). Lok was probably daggy wool – wool from the sheep’s rear end with poo on. Cot was coated (tangled) and breech the low quality stuff from the haunches. That black or grey were undesirable colours probably implies this was destined to be dyed. And finally, pelt wool is the wool from dead sheep – which the unscrupulous might mix in to make up the weight. The monks were contracted to sort and weigh the wool and deliver at Clifton 14 to 17 sacks a year for the Florence trade. Each sack was 26 stones (364lb of wool).
The Flemish wool industry had such an appetite for English wool that Richard I’s ransom was raised by confiscating the wool clip of the Cisterican monks – Henry VIII wasn’t the first king to rob the monks!
John Barton, a 15th-century wool merchant of Holme-by-Newark, Nottinghamshire, had a stained glass window placed in his parish church: ‘‘I thank God, and ever shall, it is the shepe hath paid for all …”

A loss of 75p per sheep
In the 19th century, man-made fibres could be easily mass-produced and became a cheaper alternative to wool. They had the additional benefit of being more durable, easier to maintain and more readily available.
The rapid expansion in production and use of man-made fibres saw an equal and opposite reaction in the plummeting profits in the wool trade.
The price of wool is now so low that it no longer even covers the cost of shearing, let alone making an income for the farmer. Shearers typically charge £1.50 per sheep, with their 2 kilos of wool (on average) selling for around 75p.
So what is the answer? At the moment, the price of wool is actually deemed at a high as the price of wool is inextricably linked with the price of crude oil, which is required in the production of man-made fibres. If the cost of those man-made fibres goes up, so do the alternative choices.

Woolly marketing
The British Wool board, whose job it is to effectively market wool so that farmers can get a decent return, needs to start working harder for sheep farmers. Currently, British Wool sells wool for its members, but will only handle pure breeds’ fleeces.
Some farmers have been proactive in treating and selling their wool. Rampisham Hill Farm, in Hooke, where I grew up, began treating and spinning their wool to sell themselves. Today, they buy fleeces from other Dorset shepherds to meet their orders.
Sheep’s wool is also among the top insulating materials for the contruction trade in terms of sustainability. Sheep are shorn every year (some twice) and the wool just keeps growing back! As a raw material, wool is abundant, continuously renewable and locally produced in Britain. It lasts for decades and at the end of its life can simply be composted, unlike oil-based insulation. To manufacture plastic insulation in the first place you need oil, chemicals and lots of energy.
Another innovative use of sheep’s fleeces in recent years is as eco-friendly thermal insulating packaging. WoolCool makes this by combining two fleeces on the inside of a box to keep produce cool for up to 72 hours.The fleeces can then be recycled for various roles such as food for roses and protecting plants and flowers from frost.
Unfortunately, not all farmers have the time or resources to treat their fleeces to obtain optimum profitability – 1,000 years later we still pay less for daggy wool.
Wool is currently a wasted resource; somewhere out there there is an idea that will save the wool industry and make someone a lot of money.
I’ve got my own thinking cap on for that big idea …
Woollen thinking caps maybe?

Sponsored by Trethowans – Law as it should be

Two big competitions for Team Bartlett, with lessons learned

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Editorial team

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8 September 2022

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New boy Equador MW showed his Aston Martin tendencies but Freebie slowed to miss out on his second International win, says Toots Bartlett

Double clear for Cor Y Taran in the Novice at West Wilts

Another boiling hot month. The ground was still like concrete and all that was left of the grass had officially gone. We have been feeding hay in the fields all summer.
It’s been a slightly quieter month on the Eventing side. Cor Y Taran jumped double clear round West Wilts Novice, and I hope to take him to Osberton to the Six Year Championships at the end of the year. My top horse C Why won his first outing at British Dressage and had his first event in nearly a year at Aston-le-Walls. He and I were very over-excited, as he demonstrated down the centre line and subsequently bounced his way round all three phases. He is such a thrilling horse to ride, if a little unconventional; he has developed his own fan club whose members adore his signature helicopter tail!
In search of better ground, we decided to make the long journey to Scotland and spent the bank holiday at the incredibly beautiful Blair Castle.
We planned the 14-hour drive carefully, plotting a route with service stations where the lorry could stop so we could check the horses. Every stop we made sure their temperature felt good, offered them water and allowed them the chance to get their heads down to prevent the risk of them getting travel sick.
Half way through the journey, we got both the horses off and allowed them to have a walk and a graze in a safe location. To encourage them to drink we placed apples into their water. They both travelled really well and arrived looking in great shape. We made sure we took their temperatures on arrival, and took them for a long walk and graze before allowing them to rest in their stables.
We subsequently had a week of thrills and spills.

Toots and Cor Y Taran at Blair Castle, where after a brilliant dressage of 29.9 he was lying third in a field of 100

A week at Blair Castle
Both horses are new to me this year and it was a big ask for them in their respective classes. Readers will remember that Equador MW was my Fedex parcel in the spring when he arrived from New Zealand. He was in the CCI3*L, and for where we are in our training I was pleased with a good dressage. We then had a fabulous round cross country until we unfortunately parted company in the second water. There were massive crowds, which he will never have seen in New Zealand and he was a little distracted. I also didn’t put his ears on as it was so hot – to my regret now and definitely a lesson learned! However we are both fine and I’m looking forward to getting him out Eventing soon.
Cor Y Taran is the horse I spontaneously bought from a Facebook message without actually having seen him, and he was in his first international FEI event. After a brilliant dressage of 29.9 he was lying third in a field of 100. The large crowds distracted him for the beginning of his showjumping round, leading to the disappointing and uncharacteristic dropping of some poles. But he settled and finished his round really well. Having learned lots in the showjumping he came out and jumped a beautiful clear cross country inside the time.
Competing in a different section of the CCI 1* was my beautiful partner of the last five years, Troy (Candyman Leanorth), with his new jockey Miai. I produced him myself and he is the horse responsible for my selection to the World Class on Youth Team. He has an enormous place in my heart. Miai has followed my guidance and instructions for him beautifully. I am truly delighted that he showed his incredible talent to win. It was hugely rewarding.
Blair was a magnificent event – beautifully organised, incredible views and a great atmosphere. We also attended a drinks party in the castle and a ceilidh – it has definitely become one of our favourite events and we will be adding it to the yearly schedule despite the journey!

Toots and Joel with Equador MW, just before the first trot up in the CCI3*L at Blair Castle

Lessons for next year
With the ground still so firm, and the end of the event season coming ever closer, we are down to three final events for 2022. I’m really looking forward to training hard and going out to try and smash the last month of the season!
I’ve already begun thinking about next year and I feel I might take a different route next year due to the increasing heat and its natural consequences of harder ground. I think I will try to get the Internationals done in the first few months. Potentially, I could then give the horses a two-week holiday mid-summer and bring them back out in the later part of the season. That way I could prevent them running so much on such hard ground. Also most of the overseas events are becoming dressage and showjumping on an artifical surface.

Job available
This month we have to say a very sad goodbye to my wonderful groom Joel Hart, who is off to university. He has been an enormous asset this season and will be greatly missed. He will thankfully return periodically to support and groom, and we are all very grateful to him for his good humour. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him.
We are consequently looking for a new groom to join the team – get in touch if you think you have Joel’s exacting standards and professional work ethic.

£40m-worth of cars at local teenager’s Classic & Supercar Sunday

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Editorial team

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8 September 2022

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Zander Miller’s first all-day event was a resounding success, with 160 classic and supercars on display. Laura Hitchcock reports

18-year-old Zander Miller from Verwood staged his first all day Classic & Supercar Sunday event at Clayesmore School in August, and estimates that the classic and supercars on display had a combined value of more than £40 million pounds.
‘It is tricky to estimate’ said Zander. ‘The Ferrari F40 that came is worth over £1m, due to its rarity, age and condition. Many of the supercars are worth between £250,000-£500,000. And then the classic cars ranged from 1920 to 1997; we had an Aston Martin DB2 and an Aston Martin DB11. They’re 70 years apart! I’d imagine we had a value of around £40 (ish) million.’

Born on Instagram
Regular readers will remember The BV feature on Zander in the June issue (read it here) – the teenager’s hobby of photographing supercars and posting them on Instagram led to Zander organising his first supercar owners meet-up, and the formation of the South Coast Supercar Club. In his final year of sixth form at Clayesmore, the budding entrepreneur was noticed by the school team who were keen to encourage him – they subsequently invited Zander to put on a full day event at the school over the summer.
Zander grabbed the opportunity and, despite being in the middle of his A Levels year, threw himself into organising the one-day event.
I spoke with Zander afterwards to find out how his first big show had worked out. Firstly, I wondered just how many cars had shown up on the day?
‘The Clayesmore Classic & Supercar Sunday had 160 classic and supercars on display to the public. We had expected 150!’
Can you tell us about some of the cars that were there?
‘The Hendy Group, our headline sponsors, brought a lovely example of an RS Cosworth. We also had a Ferrari F40 on display from one of our most exclusive members, offering the rare opportunity to view such an iconic car – we were really happy that the owner even allowed the public to sit inside!
‘One of our other sponsors, First Choice Detailing, had arranged cars on their stand in three colours to represent the Italian flag, covering the most track-focused and exclusive cars manufacturers can offer. There was a member’s Alfa Romeo GTAM (one of only 500 examples in the world), and a Ferrari SF90 Stradale, Ferrari’s latest and greatest hybrid technology which reaches more than 200mph!
‘We were very fortunate that Meridian Modena (our local Ferrari dealership) was able to bring its brand new Ferrari 296 GTB demonstrator car. We were delighted to have had this on display next to the F40, as not many customers have taken delivery of this elegant machine.’

Taking notes
Putting on your first major event of this kind is a huge amount of work. Was it a steep learning curve?
‘If you’d asked me eight months ago if I would be working with Clayesmore and arranging a proper car event, I never would have believed you! Every single step has been a huge learning curve and has taught me so much about arranging a professional event for which customers are willing to buy tickets … and then be satisfied on the day.
‘I know now what works and what doesn’t for future events.
‘I had a lot of positive feedback both during and after the event which is so nice to hear after all the hours of hard work and planning! All the praise really does make it worthwhile, and keeps me motivated.
Of course, I had a few comments and tips on what I can still improve. Hendy’s told me: “if you come out of the blocks and everything’s perfect, you’re either naive or lucky”. There are some positive lessons learned that will make sure my business continues to grow and be successful.’

And then there were exams
Will there be a 2023 Classic & Supercar Sunday event?
‘Ha, I’m not sure yet! But there will definitely be something. I look forward to what is in store for the club, and I’m excited to see where these next events take me. I think a big charitable event is what I’d like to do next.’
On the day we spoke, Zander had just learned his A Level results:
‘Somehow I’ve managed to arrange Clayesmore Classic and Supercar Sunday while juggling all of my subjects at Clayesmore. I’m glad I can say that my place at Bournemouth University was approved, and I achieved a Distinction* in my Enterprise and Entrepreneurship BTec, A* in Photography, A* in Design and Technology and B in Business Studies.
‘The last few months have been busy and tough. But I have come out the other side with amazing grades and a growing and profitable business in an industry in which I look forward to working after my degree.
‘I’d also like to mention how grateful I am to Clayesmore for giving me the opportunity to work alongside them, starting an event which has the opportunity to become even more successful in the future. And a further thanks goes personally to Rhiannon Harris from Clayesmore School, with whom I worked closely on the event. It simply would not have been as successful without her.’

You can follow Zander on Instagram on @SCsupercarClub, or get in touch with him here.
Thanks to Ben Hazell for allowing the use of his photography. See a full gallery of images from the Classic & Supercar Sunday event at Clayesmore School on the BH1 Photography website here.

Poor mangetouts and waxy brassicas | Voice of the Allotment

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Editorial team

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7 September 2022

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As the plot breathes a sigh of relief after the summer’s heat, Barry Cuff shares how his plants fared though the drought, and the impact on his harvest

Barry’s Spanish flag (Mina lobata) grown through with Grandpa Ott (Ipomoea purpurea)

We picked our first sweetcorn cobs (Swift) on the 25th August. They were on the plate with lashings of butter within four hours of harvesting! The drought has meant shorter plants and we do not expect to gather more than 50 cobs from the 40 plants. In a normal year we would expect to have 60 to 65.
Throughout the heat, our plot was watered daily, mostly early mornings around 6am. Taking turns with another plotholder to pump from the well, we have been able to keep the 1,500 litre tanks and troughs filled. We have seven tanks on the allotments, all of which supply troughs fitted with ballcock valves. To date our 14 foot well has not run dry and checking daily water levels we have had about eight foot of water consistently.
The heat has had different effects on our crops:

Peas
Both mangetout and shelling gave up producing much earlier than usual, and a second sowing of mangetouts (Purple Magnolia and Carouby De Maussane) performed badly.
Carrots and beetroot
Successional sowings of both did well. A last sowing of Early Nantes was made on the 14th.
Celery and celeriac
With copious amounts of water both are making good growth
Runner and French beans Again with plenty of water both are producing well now temperatures are lower. Both stopped producing pods on the hottest days.
Leeks
Our Musselburgh were planted out in mid-July. They are doing well as they have received plenty of water. A few had leek moth damage but appear to have overcome it.
Lettuce
We only grow Little Gem and sow once a month in plug trays, planting out when large enough. These have been watered twice daily on the days the thermometer hovered around 30º.
Brassicas
All have been well watered. All plants have waxed up giving them a bluish tinge – this helps them conserve moisture. Despite the fact they have not been protected from the cabbage white butterfly, there is little or no damage. I wonder if the waxing acts as a deterrent? It has certainly not deterred whitefly which is very bad at the moment.
We picked two very small curds of Cheesy cauliflower on the 26th. Normally these are not ready for at least another month. Under stress from the drought the plants are wanting to produce seed early.
Courgettes and winter squash
Courgettes have been slightly less productive than a normal year. Among the forest of squash leaves, however, we can see some very large fruits forming of both Crown Prince and Butterfly butternut.

We have also kept our flowers well watered as they attract the bumblebees, moths, butterflies and hoverflies. Some of their favourites are tithonia, cosmos, Spanish flag (Mina lobata), Grandpa Ott (Ipomoea purpurea) and larkspur.

Sponsored by Thorngrove Garden Centre

Receptionist | Milton Abbey School

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7 September 2022

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Receptionist

27.5 hours a week

£9.50ph

Milton Abbey School seeks an experienced and competent Receptionist to work within our busy Operations Team. This will be 27.5 hours a week (term time only) role within the school Operations Team, providing a key welcoming ‘meet & greet’ service for our school.

Working days will be Monday to Friday 8am until 1pm, and 8am until 1pm every other Saturday.

The successful candidate must have a broad understanding of general office tasks, with a reasonable knowledge level. Previous administrative experience is essential, as is the need for good IT skills.

You will be part of a friendly and supportive team, and training will be available to enhance skills. Staff also benefit from free parking and a free daily lunch.

Further details may be obtained from our website or from HR on:

01258 880484 or email [email protected].

Applications must be submitted on the school’s application form.

The closing date for applications is Monday 19th September 2022.

Milton Abbey School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The appointment will be the subject of an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Please note that our school is a no smoking site.

www.miltonabbey.co.uk Registered Charity No 306318

The circle of stud life seasons

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Editorial team

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7 September 2022

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As weaning begins for this year’s foals, the stud begins to focus on sales, says Lucy Procter of The Glanvilles Stud

This year’s recently-weaned foals are a nosy gang
All images Lucy Procter

August has disappeared in a swelter of dust, heat and flies. With more than 40 mares and youngstock on site, the business of protecting all of them with fly rugs (mesh rugs designed to help reduce the irritation of flies on horses living in fields during the day), would be impracticable and – in the extreme temperatures we had in August – even a light mesh fly rug would have made them overly hot.
However, horses do help themselves. When sharing a field with others, they can be seen standing nose-to-tail swatting flies off each other’s heads and bodies with their tails (we deliberately leave their tails long during the summer months to assist this). This summer three of our mares developed a novel fly-swat system, with all three of them standing nose-to-tail in a triangle, so that each could benefit equally from their constantly swishing tails!
(see the fly triangle in action below)
The foals tended to conserve their energy during the heat of the day, spending most of their time sleeping or drinking milk from their dams.
As soon as it became cool in the evening, however, it was time to play. The foals would start galloping around, bucking and rearing for the sheer fun of it, which was lovely to watch.

The neatly organised triangle of mares swatting flies off each other – it’s very unusual and organised cooperation, usually it would just be two nose-to-tail

Dry bags
At the end of August, we started weaning the first foals, by now nearly six months old. Readers may remember from last year (see Lucy’s Sep 21 column here) that we wean in groups, removing two mares at a time from a field, leaving other mares to help steady the dynamics of those left behind. The foals usually settle very quickly with their friends and, as they have already been supplementing their milk with increasing amounts of grass and hard feed in the creep feeder, it is not too much of a shock to their systems.
It was full circle for our foster mare Zeta who took on our orphaned foal at the start of the season. Having the oldest foal at foot, she was one of the first to be brought out of the field, and she will soon return to her owners. She is now back in foal herself, and we look forward to seeing photos of her new foal next spring.
We keep the mares on just a handful of nuts and poor grazing for the first couple of weeks after weaning to help dry up their milk supply. It’s important to keep a close eye on their ‘bags’ (the usual term for a mare’s udder); if a mare continues to produce large quantities of milk without a foal to drink it, there is a danger of her developing mastitis, which (as many human mums can vouch ) can be extremely painful and difficult to treat. Once a mare’s bags have almost dried up, we move her to slightly better grazing and gradually increase her feed until we are happy that she is no longer producing milk.

The two year olds ‘helping’ with poo-picking the fields.

Ready for the sales
This is the time of year when the sales companies and bloodstock agents come to visit us to look at this year’s crop of foals. Tattersalls, whose main National Hunt (NH) sales arm is based at Fairyhouse in Ireland and whose NH foal sale is in November, and Goffs UK, based in Doncaster, whose NH foal sale is in January, both visited this month to see which foals might be suitable.
Generally speaking, only foals born earlier in the year will be ready to sell in November. We have identified three foals that might make the trip to Ireland, and we will bring them into stables and start their prep work in September.
The two-year-olds that we were working with in July were lightly backed and ridden away in early August by our son Freddie, before being turned back out into the field 24/7 to eat, sleep and play – to be youngsters together until next spring when they will be re-backed and start working again.
We got the youngsters backed just in time before Freddie went back out to the States to race ride for one of the leading jumps trainers based in Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile our daughter Alice, who works for trainer Kieran Burke near Dorchester, had her first ride under rules at Windsor. Her second-place finish meant happy owners and trainer, and the prospect of further rides under rules for her.
With a distinct hint of the arrival of autumn in the air and a noticeable shortening of the days, all efforts on the stud in the coming weeks will be focused on having everything ready for when the weather turns and stock needs to start coming in again at night.
I know we’re all just getting over the recent heatwave, but it’ll be winter before we know it!

The Great Dorset Steam Fair

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Editorial team

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7 September 2022

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After a two year enforced break, the Great Dorset Steam Fair (GDSF) was back! Seen as the world’s leading heritage event, the spectacle covers an enormous showground – at over 600 acres it’s one of Europe’s largest outdoor event locations.
GDSF Managing Director Martin Oliver said: ‘We have all missed the Steam Fair massively these past two years and it’s wonderful to welcome everyone back to the showground.’
For so many visitors, the stars of the show are of course the majestic Showmen’s Engines, standing proudly in front of the Old Time Fairground. After dark they lit up to create the unmistakeable GDSF skyline.
But there were also steam tractors (for light haulage work), steam lorries (for local deliveries) and steam cars – once quite The Thing To Be Seen In, with the world-famous Stanley Steamer being the Aston Martin of its day. Steam road rollers were the last steam engines to be built – some still actively working well into the 1960s, with local councils using them for road building and repairs.
GDSF has one of the most prestigious heavy horse displays in the country, with over 100 taking part in displays each day. The fairground is the largest travelling one of its type in the UK, and is a GDSF special mix of old and new. Visitors could a turn on a steam-driven set of Gallopers (the most traditional of carousels) and then move on to a white-knuckle experience on an adrenaline-fuelled monster ride.
There were craft and food marquees, and a Great Dorset Bake-On Tent. All this plus the Wall of Death, the Grand Palace of Entertainment and seven stages of live music including Folk, Country, Blues, Rock and Chill-out.
‘What a show!’ said Martin ‘It felt amazing to be back and we thank everyone for making it such a special event. See you all 24th- 28th August 2023!’

Massive thanks to Graham at Pengelly Media for the use of his amazing images of the first day at the show. See a full album of Graham’s images on here