Simon’s News – February 2018 It’s almost March – hard to believe when my last blog contained stories from Christmas and with the sub-zero temperatures outside there’s certainly no sign of spring just yet. We’re hoping for warmer weather over the next couple of weeks as we will ideally need to start applying the first lot of fertilisers to the oil seed rape and the wheat. Cold as it may have been, February was a very busy and exciting month here at Becketts. During the first fortnight, we closed the doors to the restaurant for a fortnight, something we haven’t...

Simon’s News – January 2018 Christmas came and went for another year and was thoroughly enjoyable. Now it is full steam ahead into the New Year! It’s a while since I last wrote my monthly blog and so there’s a fair bit to catch up on. In December my father and I went over to South Africa to visit my son Liam, his wife Eluned and my grandson Reilly. It’s an annual tradition and is always lovely to see them at such a special time of year. Christmas in the Farm Shop and Restaurant were as busy as ever, and...

Simon’s News – November 2017 Christmas is on the horizon and by the time I write next, the guy in the big red suit will be nearly here, or may have in fact already been! The Christmas tree has gone up outside the Farm Shop, an 18ft Norway Spruce from local business Woods Farm. The whole team here at Becketts are gearing up for our busiest time of year, with the Butchers now taking orders for Christmas meats from Caldecott’s Farm, the Bakers baking Christmas Cakes, Mince Pies and Yule Logs galore, the restaurant serving Christmas lunches from this Monday...

Simon’s News – October 2017 We’ve just had a successful week of Halloween fun with our Pumpkin Parlour and Halloween Kitchen events, organised by our fantastic Marketing and Events team. Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year here at Becketts, the staff put in such a great effort ditching their usual day jobs and dressing up as spooky characters and carve over 700 pumpkins throughout the week it really is brilliant. Never dare the Managing Director to do anything either, today I am getting into the spirit of Halloween and will be wearing this ghostly headband all...

Simon’s News – September 2017 I usually start my monthly news with farming updates, however this month I’d like to start with business. I mentioned last month that our Restaurant Manager here at Becketts Farm was celebrating his 50th birthday with a big party. I was honoured at the party to be invited to speak and announced to the room full of Jim’s closest friends and family that I would be delighted for him to join the Board of Directors within this company. Jim has been dedicated to this company for many years and has worked hard to make the...

As we approach the end of August I am pleased to report that all of the cereals are safely gathered in. From our 300 acres of oil seed rape we yielded an average 1.9 tonne per acre, the best output we’ve ever had from the crop. The weather meant that the wheat was not as productive as we had hoped, but we still managed 3.6 tonnes. We also sowed spring barley in a bid to try and control the black grass, this however didn’t prove fruitful at all, with the weather wiping out the crop entirely and breaking the ears....

On the farm the wait is now over and we have begun the harvest. It’s an extremely busy time of year so hats off to the team who help me to see it through. We have already harvested 120 acres (48 hectares) of oil seed rape and have had the chance to use our new grain dryer that I mentioned in my February blog post. This month I had the privilege of judging “Championship Farm” for the Morton in the Marsh Show. I visited three amazing farms in the small, medium and large categories. The competition was tough, and it’s...

The month of June brings lots of fantastic fresh local and British produce into the Farm Shop, including the much anticipated English Strawberries! You really can’t beat them! It makes up for the fact that it will soon see the end of the short-lived Asparagus season. You might just catch the last few bunches in the farm shop if you’re lucky. Following on from my birthday I received some very lovely presents, including my very own “SiMonopoly” board, with the Monopoly board personalised so that the properties around the edge of the board are the Farms we own, our businesses...

May already, and on the farm it’s all about the waiting game now. We’re all planted up, fertiliser sprayed and now we wait, until the harvest. Our new grain store is now finished well in advance of this. The floor is concreted and has been polished so that it is a thing of beauty – it looks like an ice-skating rink! There were 26 loads of concrete laid, polished and expansion cuts made in less than 24 hours! That’s impressive. Following on from my Father’s 87th Birthday last month, this month it was my 60th! It was wonderful to be...

The fields are now canary yellow, with the oil seed rape in full flower. It’s a really beautiful image, and my ultimate highlight of each and every year farming. Truly wonderful! The new grain store has now been constructed fully, all except for a concrete floor which we will be putting in in early May. On the Becketts Farm site, we just enjoyed a brilliant Easter event, with thousands of people attending our new-look event in the marquee. Due to Shirley Aquatics now taking the unit space we have held previous events in, we had to have a rethink. We...