A Working Estate
in the Vale
Meadows, orchards, pasture and a kitchen garden, farmed with care for the land and the seasons.
Discover the estateTwelve and a half acres of open Dorset countryside, with long views across the Vale to the hills beyond.
We are building a small, diverse estate: native-breed cattle and sheep on the pasture, heritage fruit in the orchards, vegetables and cut flowers in the walled beds, and wildflower meadows left to hum through the summer.
Meadow, hedge
and open sky
The estate sits on level farmland in the Blackmore Vale, with no near neighbours and long views in every direction.
Three meadows, two orchards, mature hedgerows and native trees give the land its shape. Our work is to farm it well and leave it richer than we found it.
Discover the estate
Native breeds
on grass
We are bringing a small herd of rare and native-breed cattle and a flock of heritage sheep onto the pasture, grazed rotationally and raised slowly on grass.
Bees, chickens and careful grazing all play their part in keeping the meadows healthy.
About the farm
Heritage fruit,
planted for the long view
Our two orchards are planted with traditional West Country apples, pears and plums, underplanted with meadow grasses.
Blossom in spring, fruit in autumn, and juice, cyder and preserves in time.
Explore the orchards
Grown here,
picked this morning
Oak-edged beds, gravel paths and a working potager supply vegetables, salads, herbs and cut flowers through the seasons.
Everything is grown without artificial fertiliser, fed with our own compost.
Visit the kitchen garden“Sunsets at the Zinc Barn are uninterrupted, falling across the meadows from every corner of the land.”An evening on the estate
Seasons on the Estate
What is happening in the fields, orchards and garden.
Planting the hedgerows
Bare-root hawthorn, hazel and field maple go in while the ground is soft.
Blossom in the orchards
Apple and pear blossom, and the first lambs on the pasture.
The meadows in flower
Buttercups, poppies and ox-eye daisies, alive with insects.
Harvest and pressing
Squash, roots and the first fruit from the young orchard trees.