Our Great-Great-Grandad moved to Thorpe Farm as a tenant from Nether Hurst, which is now partly farmed by our family. Since then, the farm has been passed down through the generations.
It’s a great farm with rich soils situated on the south-facing side of the Hope Valley. These rich soils grow fantastic crops for the cows to graze in the summer and for us to preserve for the cold winters! Some of our fields have wildflowers growing in them, these are carefully managed to give the flowers a chance to thrive.
The stream that runs through the farm supports many little creatures, such as Water Voles which live in the banks. It starts under Bamford Edge and goes into the River Derwent which flows in turn into the Trent.The Trent flows into the Humber Estuary and the North Sea: It takes about 5 days for the water from our farm to reach the North Sea.
We have over 4 miles of hedgerows that shelter our cows from the elements. They are also home to many different types of mammal and lots of the birds we have in Britain. To help protect the wildlife on our farm we never trim hedgerows during nesting time and when we do it’s in a 3-year rotation. This allows them to go bushy which makes them ideal for nesting birds and lets berries grow for the birds to eat.
When we plough a field we leave a 2-metre strip next to the hedge to protect it. Because of this and the thousands of worms in our rich soils, our farm is a home and feeding area for over 74 types of bird including Little Owls, Curlews, Green Woodpeckers, Kestrels and over 140 Swallows who return to us every year and love feeding on the flies.
