Personal Blog of Ellen MacArthur

In Devon last weekend, we also went to visit Blacklake Farm near Ottery St. Mary, a 70-acre organic farm run by Catherine and Nick Broomfield. It was so heartwarming to see the farm and meet the family and hear how they work with nature to grow crops and rear healthy and happy animals. 

They have the best hedges and pastures I have seen for a good while. The grass is varied and established in the ground, and they use age-old methods to care for it. The feed for the animals is all produced on the farm, they use crop rotation and animal rotation together with common sense and knowledge to get the best out of the land and keep it in a healthy, balanced state. Using local breeds of cattle and sheep and selling locally helps them to be as sustainable as possible. The fantastic thing is that even though the farm is relatively small, as a business model it works and although the weather and luck can move the line of profit, they survive well and happily. 

Blacklake Farm had a lovely feeling of contentment about it. It felt homely, warm, and the kind of place you could call in for a cup of tea and stay forever. It seemed perfect in every way, from the beautiful green pastures running down to the nature filled goyle, to the orchard above the road which produced the most beautiful apple juice. The farm must be ancient, with its cob construction and painted walls and kitchen floor worn away over centuries.

It had the most incredible soul. It was a special place, a shared space and the passion with which they shared their knowledge was second to none. If every local child could see how they work and see how they are managing not to destroy all the goodness in the land, but leaving it in the same state today as it was when it was worked as a farm 600 years ago, they would have a better idea of what sustainable living in the future could look like. And as Bertie, Catherine and Nick’s son pointed out, not only are the animals on the farm healthy and happy, but they are also “very tasty!”