Water Water everywhere..

At Woodhayes Farm we are blessed with our own private Spring Water supply. The farm lies below a very large Artesian well containing thousands of gallons of water, consequently there are many springs on the farm. 

Further to the farm diversification into new offices, holiday let and art gallery, we have decided to upgrade all the water system here to cover our additional needs.  

The first phase is to replace the existing metal pipes with new PVC water pipes as we have started to encounter holes and fractures in the pipes caused by rust and old age.  Then we will be putting in a new silt trap to extract sand and silt created from the source of the spring; this has to be cleaned out each year with a manual flushing system. 

At the farm end we are restoring the old 10,500 Litre reservoir, filling in cracks and re-grouting the inside with a waterproof compound. We have also just installed a new 10,000 Litre tank which will double our capacity to 20,500 Litres. 

This November a specialist contractor will bring in a machine to dig a trench for the new PVC water pipe to connect the source of the spring to the reservoirs.

Watch this space for more news and pictures of the new pipes' installation.

New 10,000 Litre black water tank beside the old brick and concrete reservoir built into the ground 

Woodhayes wins 'Best Farm Diversification' award

Woodhayes has scooped the award for 'Best Farm Diversification' at the Devon Farm Business Awards. 

This new awards scheme aims to celebrate the best of Devon Farming. The idea was dreamt up initially by Mary Quicke, a Devon farmer well-known for her award-winning cheeses.  The awards finally came to fruition with the help of the Devon County Agricultural Association together with farming charity, the Addington Fund and sponsored by Stephens Scown solicitors.

Judging took place in the Spring by a panel that came to the farm and asked many searching questions including 'how many hours I spent on a tractor'... 

The inaugural award dinner and ceremony was held at the Westpoint Showground, on 21 May, the night before the Devon County Show opened. Phil Reed, a partner at Stephens Scown, was master of ceremonies. We were up against stiff competition :Wild Beef, Hill Head Farm, Chagford and Lily Farm Vineyard, Budleigh Salterton. We still can't believe we won! The glass trophy and a bottle of champagne were presented by Laura Leigh from the CLA (Country Landowners' Association).

We are thrilled that all the hard work that has gone into the diversification programme at Woodhayes has been officially recognised. Thank you Devon Farm Awards !