Reducing our Fossil Fuels Dependancy at Holt Farm Cottages

We have been looking at ways to reduce our dependency of fossil fuels.

For various reasons we think that solar panels generating electricity suit our requirements at Holt Farm quite well. The perfect installation site appears to be the Wain House roof [in the foreground of this picture of Holt Farm ] creating enough energy for all four cottages.



At the moment we are gathering together the final bits of information before submitting the listed building consent forms. We were under the impression that this type of panel in a domestic situation was allowed under "permitted developments" from a planning point of view. How wrong we were, we definitely require listed building consent and some of the planners are quite insistent that we need to submit a full planning application.



Since we made our initial enquiries some months ago the Feed In Tariffs have been considerably reduced which reduces the financial rewards. As the panel market experiences a decline in demand it seems likely that the initial cost of the panels will be subject to a considerable reduction. It would seem that high oil prices are here to stay and if the last fifteen months are any guideline the cost of electricity will keep increasing too. So it's still all go on this project.

[Pictures from D Cosford 5dEnergy]

We have also investigated a more substantial investment on Rhydunnog farm where our son Jon runs a three phase cold store using a diesel powered generator. The biggest stumbling block in that case is the cost of bringing in a three phase power supply with lines of adequate size to export any power generated and not required on the farm. The quote from Western Power Distribution was about fifty per cent greater than my expectations!

In time we will report on any progress but that will not be very soon!

A good year for young wild life.

Driving up the track to Holt Farm holiday cottages we see lots of young rabbits and grey squirrels at the moment. Also we have had another visitor and we thank our guests who took the photograph.



The fox is not yet fully grown and seems to have little fear of human beings. She seems to enjoy basking in the sunlight.



This year we had very late hatches of swallows in our farm buildings at Rhydunnog and the young birds only left the nest at the end of September. They will need to grow strong quickly for their migratory flight.

In west Herefordshire we have had several months of low rainfall. Some of the local farmers are struggling for water for their households and their animals. Springs that have never failed previously are now dry. The spring at Holt Farm is very good so we have no concerns about water supply for the holiday cottages or the livestock, like these beautiful Hereford heifers.



Thanks David and family for the photos.

Growing potatoes at Holt Farm

We have organic potatoes growing at Holt Farm. The lifting equipment has all been serviced and any worn parts replaced and the first order for potatoes has been loaded off the farm. Take a look at the harvester in action with the holiday cottages in the background.
Another short clip is taken from the tractor cab so a much closer view.


At Holt Farm we have been busy with guests arriving and leaving the cottages. It is our privilege to welcome visitors from all over the UK, and recently we have had folks from France Belgium and Australia.
Many of the visitors come to walk the really good local footpaths here in the Welsh Borders and some do such long walks that I feel tired listening as they recount their journey. Some climb the Black Mountains near by whilst others head off to the Brecon Beacons for more demanding hikes. [See www.herefordholidays.co.uk/activities.php for downloadable local walks]



Some folk enjoy looking at the local castles, cathedrals and historic churches.
Many visitors enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Escley valley, sitting out in the sun drinking coffee and reading the paper.
All of our visitors enjoy a trip to Hay on Wye with it's old castle and numerous book shops. It also has a good selection of cafes and pubs.
We are very fortunate to live in such an area and talking to our visitors reminds us that we should be more grateful for the place we call home.

Hay making

Earlier this week our son Jon took advantage of the weather and made some small bale hay. As he is an agricultural contractor he has modern well maintained machinery and the bales are collected in the field, lifted onto large trailers,and unloaded in the barn without being man handled. The harvested fields were down by the brook at Rhydunnog Farm.


This is a very civilised way of doing things and a big advance on the way we made hay in the years after baling hay became popular in the nineteen fifties. Some people will regret the loss of friendship and banter that was involved with the old system alongside the hard graft. As farmers we have to adapt to new technology and make sure that our business is competitive in a changing world.
One of the advantages of hay making as compared to silage is that no plastic wrapping is required. The plastic is expensive and we have to pay disposal costs. The plastic is an evironmental nightmare, as it finds its way into streams and rivers. The big blessing of silage making is that it has made harvesting grass possible when the weather has not been dry and sunny enough to make hay.

Fencing in Cu Bunt.

Here on the Welsh border extremities of Herefordshire many of the farms and even the field names are of Welsh origins. Often the Welsh spelling has been lost over the centuries and the pronunciation is probably inaccurate too.

We have been working on a small old orchard called Cu Bunt which is part of Rockfield, near the Escley brook. The horse flies have been very active the last few days, and even though they are not speedy insects they always seem to bite when both hands are busy with the fencing tools!

We have now nearly completed fencing off the stream with steep sides (locally known as a dingle).

The recent rain has made the job of putting in the fence stakes easier, but the steep slopes make for physically demanding days.

I have taken a few photographs to show the areas of bare soil caused by shading from the large trees, and the effects of sheep constantly roaming the areas with no grass. By coppicing the trees and fencing out the livestock we should get grass growth on the bare areas and this will reduce soil particle loss into the streams.

Hopefully we will have photographs in a few months to prove that all the work has been worthwhile.

Soon we will move up to the small orchard at Holt Farm to do some fencing there. Again the land will be undulating but we may see some visitors on the footpath or at the cottages to create "rest periods".

Still more rain please.....but not during Hay Festival

We have been busy fencing along side newly planted hedges. Thank fully all the work planting and watering hedge plants and newly established apple trees seems to have paid off and the survival rate has been very good. I am waiting for tree stakes to arrive in Hay-on-Wye and as soon as they arrive we will stake and guard the apple trees. We have protected them with temporary spiral guards to ward off the rabbits and other creatures that like to eat the tender bark on young trees.

Yesterday we finished fencing off one of the bird-seed plots at Holt Farm, despite a poor initial germination the mixture of seed bearing plants is now thriving. The footpath leading up to the western ridge behind the farm passes the bird seed plot. At the moment it is highly visible for great distances as it includes oil seed rape that has bright yellow flowers.

Erecting the sheep and cattle proof fences is a time consuming job as the fence lines weave alongside the historic hedgerows and natural stream banks. The terrain is undulating and in places access is difficult so we are able to complete less meters in a day than we would on lowland sites.

As a result of the minimal rainfall for several weeks the soil has compacted and the posts take much more effort to drive them into the ground. A positive of the dry spell is that we are able to drive machinery over the land without doing any damage and we are able to work without getting plastered in mud.

The Herefordshire/Welsh Border upland country is looking fantastic at the moment with hedgerows in blossom, orchard blossom and all the magnificent green shades of foliage as different species of plant and tree reach the peak of spring growth.

Next weekend our visitors for the Hay Literary Festival will arrive, hopefully the windy weather will die down and everyone will be able to enjoy all the events that the Festival has to offer.

A Drop More Rain Please !

Over recent weeks we have planted several thousand new hedge plants and quite a few new cider apple trees in our mission to replenish the old orchards. Since the planting occurred we have had no rain until last night when we had 5mm .We have been watering all the plants daily with a small bowser so we have succeeded in keeping most of the plants alive.

All the hedging plants have spiral protection, but we left the young trees unprotected for a few days and the rabbits were grateful of the opportunity to enhance their diet by chewing the bark. We quickly spiralled the trees until some tree guards arrive and stakes from Hay & Brecon Farmers.

The next job is to erect new fences to protect the hedging plants against farm livestock. As the land is undulating and the existing hedgerows far from straight, it will be a time consuming job. A drop more rain will help us enormously!

Meanwhile our April holiday guests have been enjoying Bluebell walks so we've taken a few shots in the orchard alongside the drive at Holt Farm cottages.

Fun and Games in the Christmas Snow!

Christmas was truly white as snow can be this year! Our intrepid guests were not put off by our mentions of snow and bravely headed for the Herefordshire hills with excitement! Before reaching Holt Farm we met up at the Crown Inn and discussed tactics and escorted guests along the long lane to the cottage carparks. In some cases there was much exercise needed to get the slipping and sliding cars to the door so the week worth of provisions could be off loaded! A word to any car manufacturers reading this blog - please put towing eyes in the glove box and not under a weeks supply of festive provisions!

Once safely indoors guests were not disappointed - a week snowed up in a cosy 4 star Barn with underfloor heating and a wood burner, plus fields and hills to walk off any festive overindulgence before racing back indoors to cook up another feast! The photos from our guests are proof indeed of the glorious scenery.