Learning new lessons from India
The former teacher bringing the sub-continent to the Cotswolds
Living by your principles can make profits, as Will and Hilary Chester-Master's organic farm deep in the Cotswolds shows. Not only that, but Abbey Home Farm also keeps a workshop in Rajasthan in business. The couple see themselves as merely caretakers of the land Will's family has farmed for more than 500 years. Both reluctantly agree to pictures, insistent that the farm and lifestyle they’ve nurtured for more than three decades is the true hero of this story.
The couple met in the 1970s and realised they shared a passion for organic food and farming – fuelled by countless trips travelling around India – that would prove the foundation for their 100% organic mantra in the Cotswolds. Despite their original (and modest) goal being to buy a smallholding in Devon with a goat, in 1991 fate and family circumstance intervened and they found themselves in charge of 1,600 acres of arable and grazing land in the south Cotswolds. And so began their journey to a more sustainable way of life.
While most farmers focus on one enterprise, Will and Hilary have gone the other way – introducing hens, pigs, veg, soft fruit, cheese, yoghurt, conference facilities, a children’s nursery and even a project to help disadvantaged teenagers, to augment the original beef and arable supply lines.
Today, much of the food for sale in the café and shop is produced and raised on the farm, with the not insignificant challenge of also growing nearly everything a family needs for a full meal.
“We’re certainly not unique,” admits Hilary. “But when it comes to diversifying with that single aim of being 100% organic we’re probably quite adventurous. It’s a difficult sell with food prices rising, but we feel it’s the right way for the planet."
The Eastern influence
It was an experience in East Africa, before she met Will and regular shared trips to India, that inspired Hilary. She explains: “I was a volunteer English teacher at a children's school. Their dream was to leave their village and make their fortune in the cities. I started to think how simply it's possible to live, how people produce food and how that wouldn’t be possible if all the young people left to chase imagined wealth.”
The flicker of passion for an organic lifestyle grew to a flame as the possibilities of a completely self-sufficient lifestyle opened up.
In the meantime, still driven by the lessons of sustainable living she'd witnessed, Hilary had honed her skill for hand-made leather goods. Returning to the west can diminish healthy lifestyle lessons, but for Hilary it was an epiphany she’d bring to life with Will, who shared her philosophy of trying to live lightly on the earth.
Rich, vibrant colours
The couple have maintained their ties with India throughout by running a textile and furniture shop in Cirencester for 20 years that funded the launch of the farm shop in 1999.
These days, it's dedicated to selling the hand-block printed textiles and linen from the workshop in Rajasthan that she forged links with so many years ago. Its products, joyful with the rich, vibrant decor of the Indian sub-continent, adorn the Abbey Home Farm shop alongside tulips and sunflowers grown 100 yards away. All add to the visual feast.
“Working in and visiting those places underlined the simple but powerful message that sustainability is the way forward,” the mother-of-three and now proud grandmother says. A weathered sign at the entrance to the shop and café – its broad vista overlooking terraces of crops where visitors enjoy sumptuous organic and colourful salads – declares ‘The land is not ours. It belongs to the future and we should leave it in good heart’.
“Everything we do comes back to that passion for living and educating people about the benefits of an organic lifestyle. It’s just within us, which sounds a little bit smug but we’re really not. That’s why neither of us are keen on being front and centre of the story.”
Hilary Chester-Master
Uncomplicated happiness
It’s not just PR. There’s an energy among the 47 full-time employees here, with smiles and friendly chats the main currency. None of the lessons of uncomplicated happiness learned in India have been forgotten, and Hilary adds: “Some of our staff have started doing a four-day week which we believe can bring a better work-life balance and productivity.”
Chaotic and full of energy
The farm’s website welcome message deliberately features no punctuation, with Hilary adding: “It’s chaotic and full of energy because that’s how we like it and as long as we make enough to get by, we’re content.”
flowers cows yurts vegetables cheeses bacon yoghurts wheat soft fruits cream school visits herbs events milk lamb apprentices honey beef courses shop camping oats pork shepherds huts farm project honey walks eggs trainees holiday cottages ham trailer tours barley (cafe) firewood nursery a quick shop coffee (a long shop lunch) a walk organise a workshop a conference a training day a wedding (a celebration meal) come and see where your food comes from thanks to the earth thanks to the farmers and growers the team inside and out thanks to the sun and the rain sit in the woods and be still for a moment
Farms are for feeding
Will says: “Having lots of new enterprises is challenging, labour intensive and financially risky, but we believe farms are for feeding the local population and not for growing one thing to send all over the country or world to benefit the middle man more than the producer.”
When he and Hilary started in 1991, the margins for organic produce were far greater than in today’s highly competitive market, but the couple never once questioned their path. “Farming sustainably without chemicals is what we always wanted to do and we’ve been true to ourselves and our vision,” says Hilary.
“The aim is to be completely self-sufficient and we’re not near that yet, which frustrates us, but we love people to visit and stay and help us spread our message.” And she adds wistfully: “We wanted to replicate that very simple life we’d been part of in Africa and India. It would have been a lot easier if we’d started that smallholding in Devon with a goat… but not half as much fun.”
Two
Boreholes supply groundwater pumped through a ground source heat pump to the shop, café and central residential areas.
11Kw
The energy supplied by each of two turbines at the farm.
25Kw
The amount of energy produced by photovoltaic solar panels providing some of the electricity for the shop and cafe. Solar thermal tubes also feed into the hot water system.
Five things that make the hard work worth it…
Will and Hilary see it as a privilege to look after the woodland, biodiversity, carbon storage and soil protection on the farm… as well as educating future generations.
The Woodland
Will Chester-Master’s passion for organic farming is matched only by his all-consuming love for Swindon Town Football Club. It’s an unusual mix and one that “astounded” Hilary when they met travelling all those years ago. But if he’s only occasionally fulfilled at the County Ground 20 miles away where he’s a season ticket holder, he’s always content in the 215 acres of woodland surrounding this oasis just off the Fosse Way.
The never-ending tasks include weeding, ensuring trails are safe and guaranteeing public access. Time for these tasks are made possible by running a small-scale firewood round and occasional sales of timber to cover costs.
Labour of love
Protection of biodiversity, carbon storage and soil protection are Will's payment for a labour of love that’s as ingrained as his fervour for the local club. “It’s a never-ending job but because we believe we are just looking after the land, it’s one that comes with responsibility,” he says. “There are trees here dating back to 1800, so I feel lucky and privileged to be able to work among them and be their caretaker so that current and future generations can enjoy the special feeling of being surrounded by nature.”
The Farm Project
Run as a Community Interest Company, the Project offers disadvantaged young people from inner city areas the chance to immerse themselves in farm life. Hilary says: “It’s real farm work, from milking cows to feeding pigs and harvesting, to give them maybe their first taste of the countrywide and a better idea of where food comes from.”
Her daughter, Maya, liaises direct with schools around the country to ensure a steady flow of around 30 small-size, week-long residential courses each year. Hilary says: “Some of the schools pay or get local sponsorship for the visits, but in exceptional cases our own shop helps with sponsorship. We have a 95% repeat rate, so it’s clearly getting results.”
She adds: “It’s amazing to see young people who have never been close to nature enjoy it for the first time and watch their confidence, self-esteem, relationship building, teamwork and wellbeing grow. We get as much from it as they do.”
The Farm Nursery
Sixteen children a day spend time out and about on the farm, building fires in woodland camps, exploring the vegetable garden and meeting the animals.
The Ofsted-accredited nursery cares for two to five-year-olds, mainly the children of local people.
Hilary says: “When it’s warm they have their afternoon nap in the woods. Being closer to nature gives them a sense of freedom and perspective that they can’t get in a traditional classroom. It’s wonderful to see their faces as they discover new things.”
Just be… in nature
The couple are “pretty confident” they were the first ever owners of a yurt in the UK more than 26 years ago. Since then, they’ve grown the leisure side of the farm to include seven types of accommodation, from the £8 a night tent pitch through to the luxury of an old Cotswold stone semi-detached cottage surrounded by horses, cows and fields.
Shepherd’s huts and a four yurt eco-camp complete the portfolio, with Hilary stressing that visitors’ personal escape is the main objective of the venture.
“We have to make them work for us and provide an income to pay our staff, but the main point is to give people the opportunity to come to the countryside… and just be,” she says.
“The rentals offer families an opportunity to forget what lies outside the farm for a weekend or longer. And we've just added e-bikes too."
Images: © Madebysonder
