Links
www.cottagefarmsomerset.co.uk
Home to the Silvermoor Angora Goat Herdwhich provide the mohair for the Silvermmor range of hats, fine lace shawls, scarves and accessories. We also produce our own range of jams and chutneys from our fruit and veg gardens.
www.WeLoveAlpacas.co.uk
We at Ashdale Farm are using the best genetics available to maintain the quality of our herd. Each year we will release a number of our breeding females for sale. We also have a small number of boys available either as pets or to keep those pesky foxes away from your lambs or chickens and other poultry. We provide full training to all clients.
www.WeLoveChickens.co.uk
We at Ashdale Farm have a selection of POL hybrid chickens for sale at £15 each. All have been bred to lay all year round to provide a regular supply of eggs. We also have day olds that you can bring on yourself.
www.fossehousefarm.co.uk
We provide B&B from just £30 pppn. Fosse House Farm is situated on the Fosseway, amidst garden and farmland of 7 acres. An ideal spot for exploring the many surrounding visitor attractions, a short stopover when travelling southwest, or a comfortable business stop. Guests are welcome to look round our smallholding and view our Berkshire pigs, Golden Guernsey goats, free-range chickens, sheep, rabbit and dogs.
www.southyeofarmwest.co.uk
“At South Yeo Farm West Debbie Kingsley and Andrew Hubbard raise rare and pedigree livestock including: Welsh Mountain Badgerface sheep, both Torwen and Torddu, Berkshire pigs, Pilgrim geese, Aylesbury and Black Indian Runner ducks. We sell livestock, meat boxes, and hatching eggs according to season. We also make bird, owl and bat boxes to order.”
www.smallholdertraining.co.uk
“At South Yeo Farm West we run a range of popular smallholding courses including Introduction to Smallholding weekends, Intermediate Smallholding weekends, Cattle for Beginners, DIY websites for farmers, smallholders and breed societies, and Living with Livestock days. We also develop bespoke training days for individuals and small groups.”
www.baytreerarebreeds.co.uk
We raise rare breed poultry, geese, sheep and pigs on our Gloucestershire smallholding using traditional, small scale management systems. Our livestock is either sold to fellow rare breed enthusiasts or is fattened to be sold as meat. Our web site gives an insight into the breeds that we focus on, the prices of our meat and livestock, details of how to buy from us and a brief, month by month summary of the latest news on our smallholding.
www.iwanttofarm@ecologicalland.coop
Interested in setting up your own biodynamic, organic or permaculture smallholding? We at the Ecological Land Co-operative are looking for tenants for our first three affordable smallholdings for new entrants to ecological agriculture. The three holdings are a mix of sizes (between 6-9 acres each) and are near to the village of Holcombe Rogus in Mid Devon on the border with Somerset. Two holdings are ex-arable and the third is predominately pasture. We will be selling the holdings with a 999-year lease, shared lane access, shared barn, use of PV solar array, natural water supply and on-site biological grey water treatment. They will be sold with a five year temporary planning permission for agricultural occupancy. Plots range from £60,000-£65,000.
Back in November 2008 Mike Hopgood at Somerset Trading Standards recommended the following websites:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk/foodindustry/guidancenotes/
http://www.askcedric.org.uk/business-index.php
http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/business/business.cfm
Calls may also be made to their business advice line – 01823 357261
Somerset Beekeepers Association
Gerald Fisher – Course Tutor – 01458 250700
mailto:gerald@the fishers.eclipse.co.uk
or
Mrs Mary Barnes-Gorell – Secretary – 01747 840466
mailto:marybg@btopenworld.com
www.somersetbeekeepers.org.uk
Taunton Beekeepers Association
Contact Lesley Garner 01823 672119 or mailto:lesley.garner@care4free.net
Green Gardeners
Mid Somerset Organic Gardeners Group
Meeting Venue: Parish Rooms, Somerton starting at 7.30 pm
Sue Sheppard 01458 273455
http://www.greengardeners.org.uk
S O G (Somerset Organic Gardeners) based in Taunton is no longer active.
Taunton Poultry Fanciers
Monthly meetings at Hatch Beauchamp village hall, near Taunton
(10 min drive from Junction 25 off the M5) on a Monday evening starting between 7.30 – 8.00pm
Mr John Fisher – Secretary
Greenway High Street
Blackford Wedmore
Somerset
BS28 4NL
01934 712629
Rare Breeds Survival Trust www.rbst.org.uk
Somerset Support Group
Mrs Rose Gainsborough
34 Somerville Way
Bridgewater
Somerset
Tel: 01278 429279
E-mail: rosegainsborough@hotmail.co.uk
FWAG – Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group
http://www.fwag.org.uk/
South West England Dry Stone Walling Association
Stephen Shaw
Tel: 01458 831357
shawsteve@talktalk.net
www.swedswa.org.uk – their web site which gives details of all courses
Somerset Hedge Group
http://www.somerset-hedgegroup.org.uk/
Did you know….. The Somerset Hedge Group (SHG) was founded to:
Promote good practice in hedge management
To raise awareness & appreciation of the value of hedges to farming & non-farming communities
To increase the conservation of the hedge network across the county
To join this group & receive details of events, training & activities please contact the chairman of the SHG Pete Grainger – info@petegrainger.co.uk or write direct to
Pete at Ivy Cottage, Blagdon Hill, Taunton, Somerset TA3 7SN
Everything Exmoor is a free encyclopaedia, built by the community and business of Exmoor offering information on every aspect of life in the Exmoor National Park. It gathers knowledge of Exmoor in one place and signposts readers to web sites containing more detailed information.
Everything Exmoor www.EverythingExmoor.org.uk is a non-commercial website gathering information about Exmoor and currently running at nearly a million visitors a year – actual figure 900,348 visitors per year. Please feel free to submit pages or photos on any subject related to Exmoor. You can add your business into the free Business Directory via www.everythingexmoor.org.uk/Add_Listing.php
http://www.nationalrural.org – a huge database, part of the National Rural Knowledge Exchange, bringing together rural groups, societies and business support organisations.
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA
The Landsman – this is a free publication available from a number of local outlets (eg Wrantage Mills, the new market centre at Bridgwater, Mole Valley Farmers) which covers topics which could be of interest to smallholders
http://www.Rural-Smallholdings.co.uk – the Online Magazine for smallholders (posted Feb 09)
http://www.southwestfarmer.co.uk – they have recently revamped their website (posted September 2006)
http://www.smallholder.co.uk – Smallholder magazine
http://www.farmradio.org.uk – the Internet Radio Station for farmers and country folk who live and work in the ‘Levels and Moors’ area of Somerset
Livestock:
http://www.blpbooks.co.uk/livestock_organisations.php
Poultry:
http://www.blpbooks.co.uk/poultry_organisations.php
Smallholding:
http://www.blpbooks.co.uk/smallholding_organisations.php
www.firstpasture.co.uk – a new farming and smallholder bookshop – a range of titles from poultry and sheep to growing your own fruit and vegetables. (posted 30 October 2005)
http://www.farmingbooksandvideos.com – Farming Books and Videos Ltd. publish and retail books and DVDs on farming, smallholder and of general rural issues. More than 350 items in stock (posted 14 August 2006)
TRAINING
http://www.themagdalenproject.org.uk – based near Chard, offering courses of interest to smallholders
www.somerset-training.com
OTHER SMALLHOLDER GROUPS
http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk – Rural Smallholdings Magazine
http://www.devonsmallholders.co.uk – Website for DASH
http://www.smallholders.org – Smallholders Online based in Devon
www.lsssc.org.uk – Lincolnshire Smallholder and Self Sufficiency Club – their organiser has recently contacted us by email and draws our attention to http://forum.downsizer.net/ which has many topics of interest to smallholders. She also recommends http://www.acountrylife.com/index.php
(posted 5 July 2006)
http://www.farmstockforums.com – a forum based site where small scale livestock producers can get together to exchange views; ask for help and advertise their stock for sale; free of charge and there are no membership or joining fees (posted Feb 07)
http://www.wholesome-food.org.uk/conference.html
http://www.gofarmer.com – Gofarmer is a non auction site set up a couple of years ago which offers not only the choice to sell direct to other farmers but also the opportunity to sell direct to the general public with a wide choice of goods from livestock to machinery and also meat products, veg boxes to holiday homes, farm B&Bs and even contractors can advertise their services. The site is designed to combine all things rural and make them accessible to all people from all areas be it county to county or even nationwide this includes Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and now even expats in France. (posted September 2006)
http://www.pershore.ac.uk/
www.ecolots.co.uk is a free on-line advertising service for rural products and services which support the environmentally sensitive management of land, trees and wildlife.