A bit more about The Gray Family & Broom House Farm

We live with our 2 children, Emma and William, at Broom House, a windy spot at 750 feet, with fabulous views over the surrounding countryside, when the weather allows!

Broom House is really a livestock farm - although some arable crops such as barley, oats, peas, triticale, lupins, turnips and broad beans are grown - with the aim of producing our own feed for the animals.

We have a herd of beautiful Aberdeen Angus cattle, as well as a large flock of Lleyn sheep and an increasing herd of Saddleback pigs. The aim is to breed all our own replacement animals on the farm, enabling us to improve the quality of our livestock through breeding.

Our animals are reared outside on grass pastures in the summer and in woods and straw barns during the muddiest winter months.

We manage our livestock to the highest standards of welfare, with minimum use of medicines and bought in feeds and in October 2007 we obtained full organic status for the farm. We are also members of the Farm Assured British Beef and Lamb Scheme and the Red Meat Industry Forum

CONSERVATION

The whole farm has been entered into the Countryside Stewardship Scheme with the aim of conserving the landscape and improving conditions for wildlife on the farm. Some examples of our conservation work can be seen around the farm - we have restored hay meadows, sown beetle strips and made wildlife corridors, coppiced hedgerows, planted trees, restored ponds and rebuilt stone walls. Even in the few years that we have been here we have noticed an increase in curlews, brown hares, partridge and lapwing. In 2008 we won the Durham area Tye Conservation Award which is organised by FWAG and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.