Farmers and their wives are adaptable people. They have to be. A glance back over centuries of agricultural history shows how crops have come and gone (hops were a new crop in the 17th century just as elderflowers are today), farm practices have changed and the land itself has radically altered.

Farmers have always diversified to survive and their wives have always supplemented the family income, traditionally with ‘egg money’ and more recently with full-time jobs that take them away from the farm.

Diversification can take many forms from ostriches to micro-breweries. New crops are being tried, especially for the pharmaceutical industry, but by far and away the greatest diversification taking place today is bringing in tourists, either to rent out converted farm buildings as holiday homes or inviting groups to visit.

Farm open house

‘Open Farm Sunday’ organised by Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) is now nationwide – farms throw open their gates to the general public and although this doesn’t bring participating farmers any revenue, it has helped educate the public and even whetted people’s appetites for farm life.

Through Natural England’s Higher Level Stewardship Scheme and the Welsh equivalent ‘Tir Gofal’, farmers are turning this interest in farming to their advantage. The Rowlands of Mickle Trafford, Cheshire, have done just that.

A few years ago if you had gone along to Grange Farm you would have looked across the gate to the stack yard and seen a herd of black and white Friesians waiting to be milked.

Today the Friesians have gone, sold off six years ago when the Rowlands found that they were losing a penny on every pint of milk they produced. The family have replaced them with a herd of rare breed Red Poll beef cattle and they are delighted to receive visitors.

Huw Rowlands markets the beef himself, selling all cuts of beef, sausages, pies and even ‘Red Poll’ beer from the farm gate. He also came up with the novel idea, supported by the Chester Tourism Office, of a tour of the farm followed by a lunch featuring Red Poll beef at the local pub, The Nag’s Head.

The Rowlands have embraced the Higher Level Stewardship scheme with its commitment to preserving the land and its wildlife. A tour of the farm, which is popular with WIs, includes not only the cattle but the wetlands that have been reinstated to bring in wading birds and the new willow withy beds, the prunings from which go to feed the giraffes at Chester Zoo. Huw also takes everyone around the old water mill that is currently being restored by Natural England.

From dairy to cottages

Converting farm buildings into cottages as holiday homes is nothing new, but for anyone looking at ways to diversify with buildings that are no longer in use, it has the advantage of being tried and tested. Like the Rowlands, Angela and John Foster decided that dairy farming was no longer viable. The Fosters had farmed in the East Riding of Yorkshire at Fieldhouse Farm for five generations, but seven years ago the price of milk was so low they tried growing starflower for use in menopausal drugs. After five years the British weather forced them to give up.

Fortunately they had decided to convert the now redundant dairy and other farm buildings into holiday cottages, which as they are close to the sea and a stone’s throw from the spectacular scenery of Flamborough Head and the safe, sandy beaches of Bridlington, were a success.

Angela, who is a member of Kilham WI, left her full-time job as a special needs teacher and with the help of a government grant they converted the dairy and other buildings into seven self-catering holiday cottages. The application itself was by far the most difficult part of the venture, for it is absolutely crucial to meet the very specific criteria that are set down.

The Fosters asked the Yorkshire Tourist Board to look over their application before they sent it off, even though Angela was used to filling in complex forms as part of her former job. Once it was approved, the work had to be completed within a set period of under a year to fit in with the government’s accountancy system.

But once the holiday cottages were let they breathed new life into the farm. Angela says they’ve never looked back, but success in this as in all things doesn’t just happen. To have been finalists four times in the prestigious Yorkshire Tourist Board Awards in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008 and Yorkshire Agricultural Society prizewinners for diversification and wildlife preservation means you are giving your guests priority by taking time to open up the world of farming to them.

Angela is an active member of Farm Stay UK, which promotes the joys of a holiday on the farm. Another member is Margaret Gray of Peasenhall and Sibton WI. She runs Park Farm in Suffolk as a B&B, something she started in order to supplement the family income 28 years ago. Husband David had taken over the farm tenancy from his parents in 1970 and they were struggling to get out of the debt they’d inherited.

After a particularly bad patch when the landlord tried to evict them, they decided to buy the farm outright. Having sold most of the land to pay for the farm itself they took a long, hard look at the farm buildings and decided to convert them. In 1998 they received an EU grant and converted three of the farm buildings into cottages.

The scheme, which no longer exists, offered varying percentages towards conversion, depending on where you lived. Without the grant they would never have gone ahead with the conversion, but the time and investment have proved more than worthwhile. Two years later they obtained a second grant and transformed another farm building into a cottage suitable for disabled people.

Change of use

Redundant farm buildings have other uses. My family and I have a redundant cowshed and dairy that once housed 40 cows and is now in the process of being turned The Roost, one of the Fosters’ self-catering cottages. into a carpentry workshop. Hugh Griffiths and his business partner took the brave decision of starting up their own bespoke window framing and carpentry business 10 months ago and we were one of their first customers.

At that time Hugh was working out of his father’s garage while looking for a permanent site. He has made good the cowshed by repairing the roof and replacing the gutters. He has also taken out the stalls and levelled the floor so that the various machines progress logically across the space.

Before Hugh undertook all this work we naturally sought the Local Council’s consent for change of use. The process itself is not complicated, but it takes time and requires a visit by the Highways Department to ensure that the entrance to the property is adequate and will not interfere with normal traffic. We also needed a surveyor to check that the barn wasn’t being used as either a nesting or roosting site for barn owls and bats.

The old cowshed, which had silted up over the years with all sorts of rubbish, has a new lease of life. It will bring in a steady income too – my ‘egg money’ you might say.

Planning and grants

You must seek planning permission to change the use of a barn from agriculture to business. Most local authority planning departments are in favour of creating rural employment, but look at your Local Development Plan and the County Structure Plan to see what type of development is being favoured.

Grants, like bubbles, suddenly appear and within a short period of time they disappear. At the moment there is no national scheme. To discover whether or not your area has grants available you should talk to the Economic Development Team at your local council or else get in touch with your Regional Development Agency. Typically grant rates vary between 20–50 per cent of the actual cost.

Natural England has various levels of Environmental Stewardship, an agri-environment scheme that provides funding to farmers and other land managers in England who deliver effective environmental management on their land. Call or email to be put in touch with your regional office.

Further information

• Natural England, Northminster House, Peterborough, PE1 1UA, tel: 0845 6003078, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF), the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warks CV8 2LG, tel: 0247 6413911, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it