Author: Mike Stanbridge

Steve and Tobi have rightly dominated the social feed (particularly Facebook) recently with the amazing progress they have made with the tents, fire pits etc.  It’s looking so glamorous!

But the rest of the world continues at pace too.  We’ve pretty much finished the lodge and it looks amazing.  Lee, Darren and team (along with Dan the artist of a plasterer) have transformed the building from something tired and a bit awkward to a real masterpiece.  Stef the fencer has framed the whole property brilliantly too.

I will post the marketing pics here when I get them.  Adam and I spent the day installing the entrance gate and burning some of the wooden rubbish from the refurbishment.  That’s after adding a new security camera…

Beyond the lodge our relationship with the brewery is evolving, they’ve had a rough ride over the last few weeks and our accidental breakage of their electric supply didn’t help.  All now fixed and we’re now on a great path to win together.  I’m really looking forward to the brewery and taproom overflowing with visitors through the summer.  We spent some time preparing the pond for reshaping and regeneration.  Think we’re going to seal it with puddling clay, if anyone has tips on using it it’s appreciated!

The building development progresses too with lawyers now fully engaged evaluating the next phase including sang, tree boundaries and allotments.

We finished our first year of the LLP.  Not the greatest result (likely about a £5k profit) and the results still need to go though the full accounting practice.  We can now however see the future and I’m relieved that the amount of “red” in my cashflow forecast is much reduced.  I’m really grateful to our suppliers in showing us so much trust and I’m truly sorry for the delays in paying.  We have a clear plan now and expect to be debt clear before harvest.  As part of the work with the accounts we have a review milestone planned in the summer to explain both our past and the opportunities into the future to all stakeholders.  Something that will mark the end of the farms remediation and enables us to look forward.

I think the last part is the secret project… We have an envisioning session in late August to put some flesh on the bones and also an investor ready to fund the first few steps.  I’ll drip feed news but this could be a real legacy for the Stanbridge family.

Spring somehow seems more significant this year, reborn actually feels like the right word to describe our situation.

Only 8 years ago we were a self sustaining family farm run by Paul and John with the support of Derek.  It worked very well.  Then came a set of disasters, the combine burnt out and we were rescued by the Simms.  Derek and then Grandpa (John) died.  Hemel Garden Communities felt like a threat to our existence.

5 years of focused work later and with the support of some amazing businesses and individuals we can now look to the future with confidence.  The business is now on a sustainable footing (after a few years of significant losses – farming really is risky). 

This spring we look to really kick-on with our partnership with FarrBrew.  We let the lodge after a major refurbishment and we launch our Glamping site with an exciting Easter weekend event.

We will soon have 5 bell tents on site ready for guests with activities on site and favourable links to the brewery.  All run by the amazing Tobi and Steve.

We really do hope you can visit us soon and see these fresh shoots for the Stanbridge Farm.

No!

Everything we do seems to need a digger!  Refurbishment of a bungalow – digger.  Installing a brewery – digger.  Putting up a tent – digger…

Fortunately we have someone amazingly supportive and skilled neighbours.  Just look what they’ve done to increase the size of the parking at the lodge!

I’m glad February is over!

I enjoyed a great break during the month but from a farm point of view it was hard.

Most of the month for me was dealing with finance, working out legacy liabilities and confirming the finance for the lodge refurbishment.  Cashflow was a real challenge and needed a bit of subsidising in order to meet our commitments.

From a “news” point over view we’ve made some good progress on our secret project. I’m hoping that we might be able to explore this opportunity more broadly and with a glossy brochure soon.  The heating and lighting in the farm meeting (dining) room has been transformed and “D” has made a massive impact on the appearance of the whole enterprise (thanks T&S too).

The lodge continues at pace. Kitchen is now in, most of the plastering done. Bathroom fitted.  Now for windows, electrics, carpets etc.

Had a great conversation with Brian, our local digger driver about creating two parking spaces.  I also hope that Stef Adams rugby coach will be able to do the fencing.  Target rental date is Early April!

The wet weather has held us back for the camping.  The tent and decking is on site but it’s just been too wet to do anything.  Hopefully with the high pressure this week that will change.

The housing “development” continues with SANG being the topic of the day.  I hope we can finalise this chapter of the farm soon and move forward. 

In “fun” news, I proved I can still connect and reverse a tractor and trailer without demolishing a barn (just) and, we created a track for both Go-karts and huskies…

It’s so wet!!!  There is zero point in doing anything on the fields or park so it was a bit of a flat day at the farm today. 

We checked in on the lodge (great progress but no news), agreed next steps on our secret project, worked out the appearance and structure of our first glamping space, loaded some straw, reorganized the “office”, distributed the qr codes, fitted the log splitter, moved the “welcome” gateway tyre (great idea Dean) and had some good discussions about cashflow and financial management.

A quiet day 😉

I don’t think what the government is doing is fair and I do think it is unfairly focused on farmers, but, I don’t share all the same views as the wider protestors.

To start, I don’t think that farming businesses are any more special to their owners, employees families etc than any other business.  I also think that small businesses provide massive employment to the whole country.  I ultimately think that (subject to the below) they should be treated the same.

Where farming is being abused is in the unfair nature of the transition to the same rules.  Every other business owner has known the situation, has likely worked out a succession plan (or is an idiot) and therefore has had the opportunity to manage their inheritance tax exposure.  Farmers aren’t being given this opportunity and it’s that that’s fundamentally wrong.  A “fair” way would be to introduce these rules in 8 years thereby allowing farmers the courtesy to get their house in order prior to being penalised.  This would also have the benefit of farmers having to have the succession planning conversation with their loved ones close to the traditional retirement age and not leave a challenging and often divisive situation to deal with on their death.

I then have two major problems with small (family owned) business inheritance tax. 

1. Should there be an unexpected premature death then it leaves the family not just without their loved one but also in a situation where the business is no longer viable. Causing additional difficulties at the most stressful time.
2. Why deliberately shackle businesses that deliver huge cultural benefits to the country and disrupt their employees income potential “just” because their boss dies?

I want to provide a legacy for my family and my community.  As a family we have built chapels, tended the environment, supported charities and have been a pillar of consistency (compatible to the multi-generational family butchers, bakers etc).  Surely this has some value and shouldn’t be penalised?

I don’t want special treatment, I do however want to be respected for my contribution and treated fairly.

Am so impressed with how this is going.  Under floor heating in the kitchen. A flat insulated floor with walk around fire.  The corridor for the bedrooms is in and the rooms are bigger than I’d hoped.

It’s looking great.

Who can tell me what ERP, MRP, SANG, PICNIC, BNG, Reg 19, expenses Vs. expenditure, Reserved matters, allocation, adoption means?

We go through life with acronyms and role specific terminology defining the context of the debate, determining your knowledge undermining your credibility (don’t use formula when you should be using recipe or BOM).   Using these shortcuts makes professional conversations faster (if everyone knows the nuances of the definition) but makes access harder for laypeople.  It also makes it extremely difficult to negotiate in a professionals world when you are a fundamental cog in their development wheel.

This is where Dad and I found ourselves yesterday, battered by acronyms and tortured by terminology.  I can’t remember the number of times that we needed to ask “what does that mean?” Just to be able to follow the conversation, let alone influence it in a way that suits our best interests.  We were grateful for the patience of all involved in the conversation and couldn’t have navigated it without help from John and Alistair (our agents).  Thank you both.

The discussion related to the forthcoming development and to say that we felt drained afterwards is an understatement.  We have a lot of thinking to do!

“Get to the point of this ramble Mike!” (I think I can hear you saying it anyway).  My point is that under some circumstances acronyms help accelerate discussion but in other circumstances distract from the depth of discussion and cause unnecessary intellectual drain.  I believe that we must always strive to be clear in our communication and make sure that everyone has the same understanding of a word/definition before conversations too far.

So… Can anyone tell me what all the above acronyms mean (I used them all yesterday)?  And do you have any of your own to add to the list of confusion?

We’ve got a big decision to make this week, one that changes the feel of the business permanently.  One that forces emotional responses to be valued financially.  How do you do that? How do you value history, your families identity?

I’ve been pondering this for about a month now as there is a need to have some challenging conversations with our development partner Bloor Homes.  The problem is that I don’t know how to value an emotional tie to certain bits of land.  I don’t know how to value our families identity, consequently I’m going to struggle to negotiate as I don’t have a starting position.  What do I do?

Well, I’ve talked about it a few times with my family and started to determine the questions I want answers to, then while in the shower I tried to work out who of my friends could help, who had been though similar challenges and could help me with reconciling my emotional desires and enable me to turn that into a negotiating position?

I needed someone who had sold some land, or something, that meant something to them, I needed to talk to someone who could understand the emotions and help me determine where my redlines were and their importance.  Amazingly on my recent kitesurfing trip I had met a family who had been on that journey and could simply pick up the phone and talk it though.  A 20 minute phone call has given me so much clarity and I’m so grateful!

So, today’s lesson to me is, as usual about spending time to define the problem.  Thinking about the right people to involve in the conversation, asking good questions and listening to those you trust.

Ok, so occasionally I’m a bit of an idiot.  Occasionally I make a mistake and over reach or forget something.  I’d suggest that most of the time they are genuine mistakes rather than being incompetent…

But, tax always confuses me!

In this blog I’ve likely expressed the recent challenges that the farm has had, I’m not going to explain the numbers this time but can say that we’ve lost reasonable amounts of money for the last two years.  Consequently it didn’t even enter my mind that we might owe the government some money.

3 years ago we made a profit, 3 years!  But because of the way the accounting years line up we need to pay tax on that profit this month.  But, we’ve lost money for the last 2 years, consequently this news comes as an unwelcome surprise!

I have no doubt we will manage and of course we will pay all that is due but this really has taught me a lesson in planning, cashflow and ultimately accruals.  I’m hoping that this is the last nasty surprise I’ll have but have a feeling that there could be more mischievous skeletons waiting to ambush me as I meander past their closets.

Not the way I wanted to start the year… Hopefully good news arrives during the next few weeks so we can close January on a high.