When our family took on Fowlescombe Farm in 2018, we inherited a legacy of organic farming 20 years in the making. As its new custodians, our role was one of restoration and evolution, rather than reinvention. Our rural luxury retreat signals an exciting new chapter for Fowlescombe, but the farm remains the heart of the story and the foundation on which everything else rests.

The 500 acre farm is the foundation on which all else is built, from our dining to our decor

The spring opening of Fowlescombe Farm comes at the busiest time of the year for farm manager Rosie and her team. Farming always has its rhythms and this spring is no different.

Lambing begins next week and the maternity ward is open. Pens are bedded and feed buckets lined up as we prepare for the arrival of around 200 new lambs over the next few weeks. The baby goats are already offering much entertainment, and our pigs are back in the woods, where the forest floor gives them a smorgasbord of roots and roughage to get stuck into. We’ll let them have a good snout around, before moving them to pasture next month.

When it comes to cattle, we are already three-quarters of the way through calving. Our Shorthorn calves have arrived in a flurry of red, white and roan, with some particularly beautiful roan heifers born in the last few weeks. This year’s Shorthorn cohort has names beginning with ‘W’: we have a Wisteria, Wendy and Wilma amongst our new arrivals. A dry spring here in Devon means a lack of grass, so we’re relying on last year’s foliage and waiting a while to turn the cows out. The bulls are already in the fields, quietly getting on with things.

The opening of our rural retreat comes as the farm team heads into its busiest season

The ebbs and flows of the farm influence everything we do at the retreat. The two move in step, each shaped by the other. The same hands that tend to our livestock help grow the produce that finds its ways to your plate. The same fields that feed our herd also frame your views and your morning walk. We wanted to create an experience of British farming that wasn’t a performance, but that was real, rooted in incredible heritage, and on a constant journey of regeneration.

The ebbs and flows of the farm influence everything we do