Pipley Bottom Farm

Visitors strictly by appointment

Image gallery below-  Depicts some of  our journey to date

History of the family, our farm and a bit about what we plan to do next.....

Our County Parish Holding (CPH) was established in 2010, our husband and wife partnership (trading as 'RIG- Farming' ) have grown year on year since our first 12 acres of arable land was purchased in Bitton, Bristol during 2010.

We were also 'Tenant Farmers' at Bury Hill Farm, Wick , Bristol; until 2015, there we ran a successful agricultural / rural business which included woodland management, tree surgery, land management, hay, straw and haylage manufacture and supply, firewood creation and supply and coppicing services, our livery business serviced 18 horses and we had a working riding school at that time.

What makes us a 'Small Cropping and Mixed Livestock Farm?

Farm Classification in England

Our agricultural holding expanded with a further purchase of 29 acres of arable land and buildings spanning the valley between Upton Cheyney and North Stoke, Bath during 2013-14, this brought our farm (CPH) holding to 42 acres, due to what we do and the physical size of our holding in acres/ hectares, we remain classified in England as a 'Small Mixed Farm' (Type 19 Cropping and Mixed Livestock).

Our current labour requirement is 1.5 -2 FTE (based on the UK determined figures representing 1-FTE= *Working year = 1900 hrs) to continue running the farm as a 'County Parish Holding', we currently already employ a local part time farm hand for our business and have done so since 2021, to assist us in our labours, especially animal husbandry and care for the livestock including the horses.

A small farm classification is also due to the amount of land we own (if we were to consider including rental land to complete our holding (35 further acres for hay) we would be classed as a 'Small to medium cropping and mixed livestock farm').

 Source- UK Farm Classification document- 15th Feb 2022

google search- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/365564/fbs-uk-farmclassification-2014-21oct14.pdf

We remain proud of our growing farm holding, where we continue to expand and offer the aforementioned services

Next Steps

                   We hope to expand our agricultural business (rural enterprise) further over the coming years to include

• Livestock husbandry expansion
• Agricultural horse breeding (Stud and brooding mare services - aimed at the trap and carriage driving sport and market)
• Legbar chicken (or similar rare breed) - (flock of up to 50 birds) with the predominant outputs being eggs and onward sale of birds to responsible others to keep the rare breed alive
• Rare Breed Water fowl- Ducks (flock of up to 5o ducks)
• British Saanen or Golden Guernsey goat breeding with associated product processing (milk and cheese) - herd of up to 50 goats (we currently make goats cheese from locally sourced British Saanen milk today, we do this in small batch runs)
  • Future aspirations are anticipated in tandem with the established  Bagot Goats conservation project.
    • Our hope is to breed our Bagot Does during 2022-23 to bring our numbers up to around 30 Bagots, there on to be maintained at this level for the foreseeable future, first consideration is of dry housing for the kin/kids which we plan to be mobile and transportable to protect the environment and landscape

Supply product range (including diversification products)

• Horse stud cover and mare in foal (associated husbandry services)
• Bagot goats/ breeding onwards sale (strictly controlled due to the conservation value)
  • Bagot Dairy and other by products are at R &D and early stages of development
• British Saanen/ Golden Guernsey Goats/breeding onward sale and dairy products (initially British Saanen Goats milk bought in, we also already do soft cheese all at R&D stages and small scale production during 2022 and beyond)
• Welbar/Legbar Chickens (or similar rare breed) onwards sale of birds and their eggs to the local community- we currently breed Golden Crested Legbars and offer fertilised eggs (all incubated on our own holding)
• WaterFowl rare breeds for conservation and onwards local sale of eggs (fertilised or not)- we currently breed Welsh harlequins and Swedish Blacks and offer fertilised eggs and day olds (all incubated on our own holding)
• Firewood (hard and soft wood mix locally sourced) and kindling (all delivered in  much smaller compact parcels- not bulk or by the cube) this is air seasons under cover, not kiln dried - See price list for dimensions of crate we deliver in
  • Note- We hope to further improve farm efficiency imminently by making better use of all wasted woodland leaves and twigs by processing through a chipper to create bio mass fuel (Micro scale) and bio mass briquette machine in the near future. This will also improve storage issues and seasoning possibilities for our forestry line
• Hay
• Haylage
• Straw
• Dust extracted livestock bedding (chopped and processed rape straw)
• Livestock Grazing and Shepherding (short duration rolling contract)

Current Services- our diverse product mix keeps risk to our rural businesses down

• Livestock grazing (including horses, sheep and goats) -grass keep
• Live animal transportation (Farmer is City and Guilds qualified to transport Goats, Cattle and Sheep, Pigs, Poultry, Horses, Game Birds (distance / duration upto 8 hrs)) 
• Forestry work- Coppicing, hedgerow laying (chainsaw certified)
• Trench digging (own 1.6 tonne excavator)
• Dry stone walling
• Bagot Goats- conservation project (to continue breeding, herd management, conservation grazing, supply of Goat produce and controlled onward sale of livestock
• Welsh Harlequin Duck breeding and sale of eggs (fertilised or not)
• Golden Crested Leg Bar Chicken Breeding and sale of eggs (fertilised or not)
• WILD CAMPING or almost wild camping/glamping (Strictly by appointment- call ahead please)- max of 20 tent pitches at any one time means we are currently license exempt (as we don't operate 365 days per year), but as our successes grow, we aim to retain stewardship through Freedom Camping or Pitch up or similar or through further planning applications to enable low levels of caravans (no more than 2 at any one time)
• Fruit and nut production and sale

  Immediate Future Aspirations

• Expand our County Parish holding to further embrace
• Controlled move from R &D stages to livestock management of Golden Guernsey Goats or Saanen Dairy Goats (Max of 30-50 goats at any one time), to expand our established goat milk dairy enterprise
• Expand on our Legbar Chickens and Welsh Harlequin Duck stock holding, for onwards sale- as a managed conservation project (includes greater supply of chickens day old and fertilised eggs to small holders/backyard owners and eggs to local people) whilst aiming to maintain a maximum of 50 chickens at any one time
• Broaden our marketing strategy to uplift the sales of fertilised eggs for both Chicken and Water Fowl and day old chicks or ducklings
• Rare breed Hackney Horse breeding from own stallion- Expand on Agricultural Equine -Stud Services and broody mare husbandry and foal (Move from Welsh Sections C and D)
• Aim to encourage further growth in the sport of equine trap and carriage driving training, in doing so encouraging people into the countryside
• Agricultural contracting services including hedge cutting, small scale field spraying (Docks, Ragwort, Thistles, Buttercups), field topping, field rolling, flail mowing, landscaping, field drainage
• Further renovation of driving carriages to restore them to their former glory
• Investigate the possibilities of expanding our Wild Camping experience to offer this through all 4 seasons for upto 365 days per year
• Improve/ enhance availability of livestock grazing over further short duration (12 month) contracts with local people
• Embrace the current partnership with Bristol Gin to produce more fruit oriented products alongside Pipley Bottom Farm Sloe Gin
• Forestry work to enhance our Bio mass offering, in particular by creating wood chip or briquettes for various applications including off grid or on grid fuel in smoke controlled areas
  • Further improve farm efficiency, by making better use of all wasted woodland leaves and twigs (processing through a chipper) to create bio mass fuel (Micro scale). This will also improve our limited storage and seasoning possibilities for our forestry lines

Strategic Development

• Tout our Bagot Goats further for their conservation grazing and potential milking prospects (promising results currently show much better results than captured historically)
• Continue to grow the number of British fruit and nut trees in our orchards for longer term sustainability and diversification of product mixes, we are hopeful of taking our conserves and pickles product lines to the next level once our trees bear more fruit.
• Further development of our web presence to enable controlled sustainable expansion
• Work with Raw Melliferra Ltd to help them grow and expand their apiaries for bees and swarm collection/ pest control (Wasps and the like)  across the local vicinity
• Finalise becoming fully licensed as a campsite to enable all year around wild and almost wild camping and almost wild glamping
• Uplift our driving lessons capacity over weekends
• Source a Chipper and Briquetting machine for enhanced 'Bio Mass fuel' supply
• Source more local land for grazing and hay, barley, wheat and straw production
• Enable and source a small baling machine for use on local farms as part of a cooperative project to retain access to small bale hay and straw for local people

Mid term aspirations

• Bee keeping expansion (micro scale) for honey and wax from Pipley Bottom Farm only; with Raw Meliferra Ltd
• Continue to grow the number of British fruit and nut trees in our orchards for longer term sustainability and diversification of product mixes for local people, we are hopeful of taking our conserves and pickles product lines to the next level once our trees mature..
• Encourage organised visits that aim to promote healing and awareness of mental health and well being, by enabling people to be near livestock in a safe and controlled environment
• Further development of our web presence to enable controlled sustainable expansion

                                                                                         Longer term aspirations

• Goats milk, soft cheese, hard cheese, yogurt and ice cream
• Uplift the number of rare livestock breeds held on our main holdings inc Goats, sheep and pigs
• Continue to grow the number of British fruit and nut trees in our orchards for longer term sustainability and diversification of product mixes including pickles and conserves
• Further development of our web presence to enable controlled sustainable expansion

                               More information about these rare breeds and the important conservation work we are doing

•  https://bagotgoats.co.uk
•  http://www.rbst.org.uk/Rare-and-Native-Breeds/Goats/Bagot
•  http://www.rbst.org.uk/Rare-and-Native-Breeds/Poultry/Chickens/Welbar
•  https://www.rbst.org.uk/Rare-and-Native-Breeds/Equine/Hackney-Horse-and-Pony
•  http://www.carriage-driving.com

Connections

Severn Counties Bird Club, Hawk and Owl Trust, RBST, Bagot Goat Society, West of England Falconry Centre- www.westofenglandfalconry.org.uk, Scout association, NFU, Mole Valley Farmers, Bristol Gin, National Trust, Raw Meliferra.

• Free delivery (by appointment- 5 mile radius) for Firewood, Hay and Straw (min ten bales for free delivery), Goats produce and eggs, also via Raw Melliferra Ltd - for 'Pipley Bottom Farm' Bee products.
• Livestock delivery by appointment  (City and Guilds certified- Pigs, Sheep, Goats, Poultry, Game, Horses, Cattle) @ 55p mile (minimum charge £25)

To find us- what 3 words -

• Farm entrance - post box- ///caged.fire.clock
• Farm house itself- ///slim.honey.many
• Wild Camping field- ///misty.songs.vets