Fowlescombe Farm
Fowlescombe is hidden valley in the South Hams. It has steep sided valleys with spring fed streams running through. High Devon hedges built on banks and many trees make it an idyllic spot to live for us humans and provide shelter to the animals. The farm is famous for its historic ruined buildings, there being a ruined mansion previously inhabited by the Fowel and Kings families, with the property dating back to mediaeval times.
The farm runs to over 400 acres which is based around Fowlescombe, but now includes Lady Down farm nearby. The primary reason for Barbara and I taking up farming a few years ago was to create wild life habitat increase the number of species of native plants and animal life. It soon became apparent that ancient pastures do not just happen - they have to be grazed by both sheep and cattle. So what should we get? We decide to breed pedigree Aberdeen Angus Cattle and rare breeds of sheep. The Angus are run at a very low density and thrive on rough old flower rich pastures, which many other cattle would not like. And they taste great!!. We have rare breed sheep for two main reasons. 1. it seemed like a good idea to help the gene pool, we had 12 rare breed Manx originally (the brown ones below) and now have over a hundred, and we have tripled the number of of minority breed Hebridean sheep. 2. these more primitive sheep are great at scrub clearance, preferring a nice hedge to grass and 3. The taste great - the lady who sold us our original flock asked us for sunday lunch where we had a leg of rare breed lamb, as a condition of sale. She said "if there are not eaten then there is no reason for people to keep them and they will go extinct".
Richard Barker
Fowlescombe opens its doors to visitors regularly for historic, environmental and other visits. See our main web site for full details of the farm, historical connections, environmental work, etc. www.fowlescombe.com
Fowlescombe Farm is FABBL registered, which also entitles the farm to the use of the Red Tractor Logo - click logos below for details.
