Farming

The welcome return to a more ‘normal’ spring has allowed a less stressful spring planting campaign with barley, oats and peas for harvest 2025 all done by the first few days of April. Most of which was planned but we’ve also replaced some of the poorer crops which didn’t survive the wet winter.  The colder temperatures are still holding back early growth and it’s only a matter of time before we start asking for some rain…., you never meet a farmer that’s happy with the weather!

Attention now turns to establishing areas of wild bird seeds and pollen & nectar mixtures for the coming summer, autumn and winter.  These areas form part of our Countryside Stewardship agreement which is in the last year of it’s five year commitment. Following recent government announcements there’s no certainty of it continuing or how it will be replaced in 2026, we can only hope that we get some clarification soon.

Fundraising cake and plant sale for the Newbury, RDA

The annual fundraising cake and plant sale will be taking place on 14^th May in Yattendon Village square.  This is always a popular event and all the money raised goes to the Newbury branch of the RDA based at Wyld Court Stud.

Awareness event stops off in Yattendon

On the same morning of the RDA cake and plant sale, Yattendon square will be hosting 2 members of the British Horse Society and 2 Thames Valley police horses as part of the national campaign project EDWARD (Every Day Without A Road Death). The British horse society riders are riding 86km from Lambourn to Windsor Horse Show in memory of a 2 year old horse that was killed by a car in Lambourn. The ride also aims to raise awareness of the dangers faced by horses on the roads and educating drivers on the best and safest way to pass them. The riders will be joined by local media and a mystery celebrity for a send off from the village square on 14^th May at 10am so please join us to meet the police horses and show your support for the campaign.

Welcome to our newest commercial tenants

Ceres Rural are the latest addition to the variety of businesses based at Frilsham Home Farm on the edge of Yattendon. They are a national firm offering farming consultancy, technical support and business management on a broad range of rural specialisms. Just some of the topics they can help with includes crop management, grant advice, carbon counting, biodiversity offsetting, renewables diversification and business reviews.

Thank goodness the sun has finally made an appearance! All parts of the estate are glad of the ground drying up, whether that is in residential gardens, the Christmas tree fields or on the farm, everything feels better when the sun shines.

Farming

Things are looking a lot more positive now the ground is starting to dry up and we can finally get machinery back out into the fields. The sheep have finished grazing the winter cover crops and the most recent few days of dry weather have meant that applications of fertiliser can be made to the winter crops planted last autumn. We have also been able to focus on establishing spring crops, including spring barley, some of which will make its way to Renegade Brewery to be turned into a delicious beer.

9 British White calves have been born so far this year without any complications, including a set of twins. Another 5 are expected and will join their friends in the cow and calf pen at Frilsham Home Farm until it is warm enough for them to be turned out in the fields for the summer.

Solar Panels

Our commitment to using sustainable energy sources has kicked up a gear in the last month with 3 new solar panel installations across the estate and another one to come soon. The biggest of the 4 new arrays is 54 kw and located at Haw Farm, where it will be used to power the farm grainstore, workshop and one of the commercial properties let to a tenant. It is anticipated that it will replace the usage of 255,000 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime.

A 15kw array has been also been installed to power the estate office and another one is coming soon on the roof of the village stores to make both their energy uses more sustainable and ‘green’. Combined, these 2 will replace the use of over 106,000 tonnes of carbon in their lifetimes.

One of the most exciting installations is the first one to be installed on a residential property.  This is an experiment for the estate to test its ease of installation, use and compatibility with a more traditional house that is typical of properties across the estate. If it proves successful, we can then look further into how solar may integrate into the portfolio of cottages over the coming years as an alternative source of energy.

Homemade Marmalade Competition

We had a lovely morning in the Royal Oak for the judging of the first homemade marmalade competition organised by Yattendon Village Stores. A fantastic 33 entries were made from local people and the judges explained that there was a huge variety of ingredients, flavours, colours and textures which meant choosing a winner was very difficult. After the announcement, attendees were lucky enough to be able to try the top 5 entries and we can attest they were all very different but delicious. Congratulations to Angela Bickford Smith who came in 3^rd place, Vanessa Maskell who was 2^nd and Kim Pierpoint, the overall winner who won a dinner for 2 courtesy of the Royal Oak. Thank you to Rob and the staff at the Royal Oak for hosting and Eugene and the Village Stores staff for organising. It has been confirmed that this will be an annual event so the rest of us better start perfecting our recipes!

Farming

The continued wet weather through the autumn and winter has affected the establishment of autumn crops.  Some fields now have a patch work of well established areas combined with patches of brown where plants have rotted having sat in the wet and cold for what seems live forever.

On a more positive note, the mornings and evenings are now starting to draw out and hopefully ground conditions will improve so we can start to think about planting spring crops and replacing anything that has failed during the winter.

Cover crops sown ahead of spring barley to protect the soil surface and hold onto nutrients are now being grazed ahead of planting.  Wheat from last years harvest has been leaving the farm heading to the mills for flour production and malting barley is also leaving for the maltings in east Anglia.

The British White Cattle are currently calving in the sheds by Renegade Brewery. At the time of writing, we have had 2 calves born so far with another 12 expected.

Christmas Trees and Forestry

The 2024 Christmas season was very successful for the estate with record numbers of trees sold. Christmas is a year round job for us and we have already been to fairs across the country sourcing decorations to sell in the barn when it opens in November.

The forestry team have also been out planting trees in the wider woodland. By the time they have finished in March they will have planted a mix of nearly 6000 new hard and softwood saplings.

Community award for the Village Shop

We have always known what an excellent job Eugene and his team do in the village shop, but we were delighted to hear that their contribution to the community has also been recognised by representatives of the Post Office. The shop has been a vital part of the community since the 1600s but Yattendon Estate took over its running and added the Post Office when Edward Iliffe was appointed postmaster in 2014. At the end of January, the team were given a community service award for their contribution to the village and their fantastic customer service for over a decade. Well done to Eugene, Terri, Gloria, Allan and the rest of the team.