FARMING AT  OVERBURY FARMS IN THE COTSWOLDS

At Overbury Farms we grow wheat, barley, feed beans, oil seed rape and grass. Overbury Farms allows other farming businesses to use some of their land and irrigation for growing spring onions, peas and potatoes.

The soils range from thin Cotswold brash towards the summit of Bredon Hill, through to very light sand over-laying gravel below Overbury and Conderton, and heavy lias clay soils south of the Carrant Brook. The farm runs to almost 1000ft on the summit of Bredon Hill and has about 650mm of rain each year.

Our 1100 strong sheep flock is made of up of North Country Mules and some home bred North Country Mules crossed with a Texel ram. We lamb in January and April as we aim to provide lamb for our customers all year round.

The ewes have access to a range of different grazing depending on the time of year. Stubble turnips are used to fatten lambs during the winter months and to keep the ewes outside when there is little other feed available.

The sheep play an important role in the arable rotation, as mobile fertiliser spreaders, returning organic matter to the thin land during the winter months.

FARMING WITH RESPONSIBILITY

We enjoy living and working alongside the wildlife on our farm. We are fortunate to naturally have a wide range of habitats and we make every effort to encourage and sustain a wide range of species.

Some examples of conservation measures are landing strips – bare strips in sewn fields to encourage small birds to “pitch in” and nest and margins around fields encouraging bird life and insects.

COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP

Many of the measures we have in place help us to achieve Countryside Stewardship; the Farm has been part of the Stewardship scheme since 2000.

SHARING OUR COUNTRYSIDE

We enjoy sharing our projects and things we do to farms in an environmentally sensitive way with those who walk on the farm. This is done on the notice board at the entrance to the park, on our LEAF boards round the park and through Jake’s Blog.

We are pleased to support our local ornithologist, John Clarke, with his Spotted Fly Catcher study and he continues to help us monitor our bird life in general. John has written an excellent little book on the Spotted Fly Catcher – for more information Contact the Estate Office 01386 725 111 or  

In 2007 we attained the LEAF Marque accreditation which is renewed annually and this guarantees the customer that the food they are buying has been produced on a farm committed to improving the environment for the benefit of wildlife and the countryside. We undergo a rigorous audit to acheive this status.

We sell lamb and game direct to the public. The majority of our lamb is sold to Sainsbury’s through the Mayhill Lamb Group – and labelled as Cotswold Lamb. Our barley goes to make Carling Lager. We also grow salad potatoes for Cobrey Farms of Ross-on-Wye.