Author: Mike Stanbridge

Today was sunny and great to be pottering.  Really appreciated Lee’s company and good to catch up with Michael, Dad and Reg too.

I was so impressed with the work the gardeners have done to the farmhouse.  They have really opened it up.

I did some mowing, some tidying and reminded myself of the drop kerb on the Redbourn Road for an exciting opportunity.  Looked at possible farm entrances and reviewed the health and safety jobs list (excellent progress).

The painful part at the moment is managing cash as I had been expecting some compensation,  some rent etc.   It makes planning awkward…  Lee is also fighting the good fight on our electricity changes with some real communication challenges with NPN which is creating more stress than it ever should.   Get that done and the grain store can be finished ready for harvest, then we can resurface the road etc.  It’s all a great line of domino’s at the moment.

Anyway, it really is beautiful at the farm at the moment.  Here’s my view as I leave the farm this evening on my  way home.

The mower is now buzzing as the grass is growing.

The glamping site is looking good with tons (and tons) of logs available to segregate tents and edge firepits.

The logs have come from the huge effort from Will and Owen at WillOtrees.  If you’re close to the farm and need a tree surgeon then please do look them up.  They,  as are all the contractors aligned to Lee at the handyman group, are professional, hard working and good fun to work with.

(https://www.instagram.com/willo_trees?igsh=MTltNjA0d2FnYnJubA==). 

The crops are growing well and I caught up with Geoff on Friday while he was spraying with Woody and aligned plans for the  grain store and open barn.   It means that once NPN finally finish their electricity works and we’ve completed the new grain store we can start thinking about what we do next with our open barn.  I’m really looking forward to the coming discussions with Fraser and Alistair about how we can move that (and the rest of the site forward).

As part of my day yesterday I moved Steve and Tobi’s truck and caravan as,  after the tree works, Dad now has an amazingly open garden.  It’s now mown and awaiting gardeners to spruce it up.

We also have dates for part 1 of our house and office refurb too.  Bespoke bookcases, benches and office layout to come.

We also had initial discussions with a possible wedding dress company looking for a shop at the farm as well as embedding our relationship with Phoebe (SASA) and Alex.

The frustrating things of the last week relate to our commercial let and the ongoing planning delays (this time mostly caused by me relating to the complexity of the interaction between our commercial arrangement and business structure).  Hopefully all resolved soon.

We hope that Farrbrew will be opening the bar soon.   When they do please do join me on a sunny Friday evening and I can show you around and explain our plans.

The rain stopped enough to solve a few long standing challenges.   Farrbrew has been very patient with us as we were unable to cover up the electricity trench to a decent standard.  It was so wet we simply couldn’t get any kit close.  Look at the difference now though:

The tree surgeons have been busy too, making safe many old trees around the glamping site, performing long overdue maintenance and improving the appearance of the whole site.

The electricity work has continued with the new plantroom now weatherproof:

I filled the trench and tidied the yard too:

Along the way I also managed to review the brewery soakaway.   Hopefully that long standing headache now has a clear path forward.

There is also some news about glamping.   It’s a real shame that Steve and Tobi won’t be continuing this summer, they made a huge difference to the site,  supported Dad and injected  real energy into the farm.   We thank them and wish them well in their Spanish adventure.

With them leaving I’ve had to think about this season.   We made the hard decision to cancel some bookings in the absence of a management team and did some real soul searching about the viability of the business.   More news on the future to come soon I hope.

The other farm enterprises continue,  the bees are starting to wake up.   The model aircraft are flying and our residential tenants are happy.   Dad has a new mower to play with too and once he’s gained confidence he will be buzzing round with a smile.

The main headache of the moment is the ongoing planning discussion.   Once again it seems like it’s two weeks away,  however it’s felt like that since mid November so we’re hoping for progress.

To summarise,  the crops and business are growing and the sun is starting to shine.  We hope that you will all soon be able to come up to the farm and enjoy a beer in the evening sun.

Digger driving!

I haven’t had the opportunity to do this in so so long.   Geoff kindly lent us his digger so I could fill in the trenches and start to remediate site following the electricity work.

I didn’t get as far or as tidy as I wanted as the rain came down again turning the site squelchy but there is progress and hopefully in the next few weeks things will be put back to normal.

In other news,  we had a great meeting with Ed and Greg from Ceres Rural.  They help us to make sure that we’re reviewing performance and farming budgets throughout the year and do a great job.   We chatted about grain stores & marketing plans, crop growth etc.  It’s pleasing to see that the crops are OK with some thriving even given this sustained wet period.

In other news, the planning permission still hasn’t been submitted yet (www.northhemel.co.uk) but we have progress on the facilitating agreements.

I don’t have plans for the day and then lots happens…

• 3.2 tonnes of crushed concrete shoveled (me, with some skilled JCB work from Dad)
• Mega tree surgery work tidying orchard and front garden (Will and Owen)
• Review of electric work (Lee)
• Delivery of new electricity kiosk (Nathan, James and Lee)
• 2 birthday parties planned (John & Phoebe)
• 1 old friend reconnected (Helen)
• Frontage of brewery improved following excavation (more to come,  sorry Nick)
• Discussions on Events and Glamping plans (Phoebe and Alex)
• Drone pics of barn demolition and SFI fields
• Syncronised Hedge Trimming (Hattie and Eric?)

We’re trying to build towards a new version of the farm,  the housing development is forcing us to look for new income streams and all the above is focused on that.   The Demolition and electricity works makes our residual farming operation more efficient and robust.  The tree surgery improves safety for our guests and starts to display the beautiful listed house.   The road repairs welcome visitors.  The parties and glamping are direct income streams.  All of this built together hopefully gives us a stable business through this summer and beyond.

Rain, rain go away!

Very little can be done in this weather.  I was hoping to use the new mower as a base to get some branches out of the way before the grass starts growing.   That job will need to wait.

Instead it was an admin and tidying day.   Lee and I planned the next jobs for our transformation including:

• New kitchen and bathroom
• My office redecoration
• Soakaway discussions
• Electric plans
• Garden and tree surgery schedule to transform the appearance and simplify maintenance
• Glass repair (oops)

After the health and safety audit I needed to create some agreements with our various on site partners.   AI came to my aid and the first drafts are now out for review.

I also tried to backfill the trench for the electricity cable.  Have a look at the before and after (it was like smearing cold butter,  however instead of a knife I was using a JCB…).

The rest of this post is about reporting on other people’s work and they have been much tidier than me! Firstly the Simms demolition team who have done an amazing job at removing the old technology to create our now huge grain store.

Then into the orchard where the tree surgeons have been busy making safe.  More work to be done but it’s amazing just how much wood has come down.

It’s all a bit bare now!  Much safer for our guests.

Also,  it’s sad to say that we said goodbye to George the cat this week.   21 years old and while small he made a big impression and will be missed.

So so much achieved today!

• New mower delivered (test driven by James our electrician)
• Road repaired (Dad had to dust off his telehandler skills)
• Zoom meeting with bank with some great cashflow mitigation options
• Productive meeting with Farrbrew management with an agreed go-forward plan
• Old farm office cleared
• Office redecoration planned
• Electricity works reviewed (great stuff from James,  Nathan and Graham).

Think these pictures sum up the day!

The office hasn’t really been used since my grandfather passed, I

We uncovered some amazing things:

In slightly frustrating news I gently nudged a pane of glass…  but as usual the handyman group responded awesomely.  Repair is imminent!

Well,  it’s January so less of a starting BANG and more of a fizzle.

Was back at the farm today and the top inch or so is really wet.   It’s hard to believe that beneath that is still really dry.   All the rain we’ve had and it’s still not really soaking in.   That means it’s all running of,  causing chaos and not really doing much good to our crops.

It also means that the drive is getting beaten up again,  rain really kills it, so I know that next time I’m at the farm some shovelling will be needed.   Hopefully I’ll have some help but,  any volunteers?  Hopefully this winter will be the last one for repairs as I’m expecting to surface the drive, before that however I need to finish the demolition and move the electrics, this requires some digging of the farmyard.

So,  today was about setting up for the year.  It’s great to see that James (sparky) has started on the kiosk to allow National Power Networks to build their kiosk and move their termination point.  

This then enables the rest of the old Granary to be cleared and our new grainstore created.   It also means that ALL the electricity supply lines for ALL the farm buildings need redoing.  That means the old spray shed will become a plantroom which means it needs clearing.  This meant clearing the old wearing parts from long sold equipment,  I’m hoping that the scrap man will do a good deal,  however if you have an old dowdswell plough let me know as these points etc are going cheap.

So that was my day, preparing for the activities of the new year and doing some general tidying.

Oh, I also fitted the concrete counterweight to the mf35, uncovered the old IBM pet computer and archimedes, cleared more of the old woodshed…

A good day.

I’ll be back soon,  if you’re interested in seeing or learning more let me know.   Maybe we could do a quick tour…

I love the first picture,  our old tractor looking through the old barn and out to the future.  It felt quite good taking it,  particularly after I’d just managed to work out how to get the 1960’s bucket technology to work (Derek always did it so that knowledge had been lost).

2025 started out really stressful, new tenant’s in the barn,  major cashflow challenges as we juggled business expenses and the Lodge refurbishment.   Help arrived in the form of a payment in relation to the development land but we were skating on thin ice and relying on the goodwill of our suppliers for a fair while (thanks to Tim, Lee, Mercer and Hole, Olivers and Wilkin Chapman for their flexibility).  But we got it done.

Then we managed to look to the future with positivity, Steve and Tobi achieved something wonderful in the glamping,  Neil with the Dog training too.  We also managed a Trust review/launch and a “secret project no 1” meeting.   It was great having a moment to breathe and see what could be.  Then the hamster wheel restarted…

The autumn has been quite manic, approving the development approach, working out plans (and cash) for:

• Granary refurbishment
• Water treatment plant
• Infrastructure (electricity, water, Internet)
• Glamping planning
• Driveway resurface

All that on top of running the business.

I’m pleased to say that I can actually breathe going into the Christmas break now and am not fearful of the challenges that are coming (I really was last year).

So,  what do I expect for 2026?  I’ll admit to being quite wary of the first few months as I’m afraid of the possible backlash from the local community about our planning application.   I hope they are sympathetic as it’s our pragmatic future and not our preferred future.   Beyond that I’m hoping that we can finish all the above in the early part of the year and maybe even start to refurbish the house; That we can get planning for a permanent campsite and that Tobi and Steve return with renewed energy.   I’m hoping that plans for the haybarn can solidify – bakery,  coffee shop,  gym? (I’ll ask for ideas when planning is submitted so you can see the scale of the opportunity).  I’m also excited that “secret project no 1” gathers momentum, thanks for your continued enthusiasm Matt & Jamie.    It’s also amazing to have a potential “secret project no 2”, something I’m equally thrilled about (shhhhh Nick, Alex, Phoebe), it would be another opportunity to support the development of kids,  something my whole family is passionate about.

Separately I’m hoping that we can have a few events with Herts and Essex trail riders.  Once again an opportunity to help open up the countryside to a different demographic and to encourage the development of skills across all ages.

In conclusion, 2025 at the farm came in 3 parts (hard, filled with opportunity then structured).  2026 feels as though the structure will continue,  the changes be consolidated and maybe we can start to see the fruits of all this work?

We (Dad and I) hope that you can all look back at 2025 with a smile, even a wry one,  and wish all of you a prosperous 2026. 

Please do come and visit us and if you do have any questions about what we’re doing or why then just ask.   Suggestions appreciated too.

Three different activities but all covered by the same word…

House planning, a detailed review of the forthcoming outline development application for the farm.   A great report prepared by Alistair and it’s good to know that our requirements have been – predominantly- covered.

Glamping, Alistair was helping me here.   Hopefully an application for the summer will be submitted soon.   A permanent site with 5 large tents, 6 smaller ones along with coffee shop etc.  The interesting thought was that it might be beneficial to planning if we move the old woodshed as it will display the house better… 

Farm planning – some thoughts on how we move forward with a listed barn and also how our hay barn might compliment the forthcoming development.   We’re thinking about a farm shop to serve the new residents but i have no idea where to start to achieve that!

Then the more practical, had a great chat with Nick from Farrbrew about how we’ll move the electricity supply, really great to have a collaborative tenant as the power move will likely cause a little disruption.

At the moment the “masterplan” for the yard looks like this.   It might change tomorrow though.