As we soak up the last of summer, things are full steam ahead here at Stourton! From sunflowers to the artisan market and open days to woodland weddings and log deliveries, there’s been plenty happening both out in the fields and behind the scenes in the office. Here’s a little update on what’s coming up soon…
Our Food & Drink Fayre is just around the corner – please join us for a delicious celebration of local food, drink, and artisan produce in the beautiful setting of Stourton Woods.
Make a full day of it with:
Alongside stalls selling artisan food, drink, and gifts to take home, you’ll also find a tempting selection of street food and drink vendors serving fresh flavours to enjoy on the day.
With gentle live music around the roundhouse, the event is all about slowing down, relaxing, and soaking up the atmosphere while discovering some of the best produce our region has to offer
Farm safari spaces are limited and we recommend you book in advance to avoid disappointment! Click here to book your farm safari now.
On Sunday 21st September, we’ll be attending the Walled Garden Baumber Wedding Fair. We’re the only other venue showcasing there, so if you’re considering tying the knot in a woodland setting, do pop by for a chat. We’d love to tell you more about our magical woodland wedding packages, just the other side of the wall!
This year’s couples that have held their weddings here have been blessed with sunshine – perfect for outdoor ceremonies and bell-tent camping beneath the trees. We still have availability for 2026, so if you’d like to start planning your big day, now’s the time to get in touch.
Our venison freezers are fully stocked with everything from:
You can pick some venison up at our Food & Drink Fair on 14th September, at the Food & Drink Festival in Louth on 28th September, or at our final Open Day of the year on Sunday 5th October.
Alternatively you can order directly from us for collection from the farm. To do this please contact Tina on 01507 578236.
Dare we say it – Christmas isn’t too far away, and stocks are limited, so don’t leave it too late!
August has been a busy month for log deliveries. We launched our kiln dried logs at a special rate, and demand has kept us on the road five days a week!
Now that first rush has settled, prices will increase in line with inflation. To make sure your home stays cosy this winter, we recommend ordering online through our website. Alternatively, if you prefer to order by phone, Tina in the office will be happy to help (please note, there’s a small surcharge for phone orders).
Neve, our agricultural placement student, has left us to return to Harper Adams for her final year. It’s been fantastic having her here – she has turned her hand to anything and everything. From corn carting to deer management, log production, grain loading, shovelling & burger making plus school visits, direct sales & wedding set ups – it’s definitely been a varied placement! We wish her all the very best and will hopefully see her back here again soon.
Guy, our delivery dude and al round good egg is has left us this month. We’d like to take the opportunity to thank Guy for all his hard work over the last 6 years and hope that he can enjoy a slower pace of life and see the sights that Norfolk has to offer. We are delighted to welcome Ed Caush to the team to replace him and you will meet him if you order logs and landscaping products from us over the winter months. He has hit the ground running as you have kept us so busy with log deliveries – in fact he’s been so busy we haven’t had the chance to grab a photo of him yet!
The dry weather has continued throughout August and this helped us to finish combining early in the month with little crop to dry in store. However, the dry weather has meant that the cover crops and the oilseed rape that have been drilled have struggled to germinate.
Historically August is, believe it or not, one of the wettest months of the year on average due to occasional very heavy thunderstorm. Our rain gauge on the farm collected 13.8mm of rain this month compared to a long term average of approximately 55mm. The soil is still extremely dry and hard which has made cultivations difficult but through perseverance we have managed to make good progress and with just 50ha of land left to cultivate the team have done extremely well.
For cultivation we have mostly used a set of discs to incorporate the manure that has been spread on some fields as well as a low disturbance subsoiler. The subsoiler lifts the soil without mixing it which relieves compaction via fracturing of the soil profile which the roots of the crops/cover crops can then exploit, helping them to build structure into the soil. Small areas of drainage have also been carried out to help move water off fields in areas that were identified last winter. One of the aims of our regenerative farming journey is to cultivate less land each year and instead use diverse cover crop mixtures to maintain and improve soil structure which as the added advantage of reducing fuel and labour requirements.
As many of you will have seen our sunflower crop has done extremely well due to the dry, sunny year and we are planning to combine these when they are ready, we anticipate this to be late September/early October. A crop that has not enjoyed the dry year is our sugar beet, the yield predictions for this year are not very good and with quite a low price being paid for sugar beet this will not be a profitable crop at all this year.
We also have drilled some legume fallow mixtures and a new herbal ley that will be used to make silage next summer that will feed the deer and cattle in the winter of 26/27. We are always planning a few years ahead with our feed requirements and crop rotations to try and achieve the best outcomes but with so many variables that are out of our control farming can be extremely difficult at times!
As mentioned above, Neve has now left us to return for her final year studies at Harper Adams, as an important member of the team during the past year we wish her all the best for the future, Thanks Neve!
It’s been a dry summer here on the farm, and our deer have been spotted in some unusual spots as we’ve moved them around for fresh grazing. We’re crossing our fingers for some much-needed rain this week to green things up before autumn arrives.
The stags are also beginning to shed the velvet from their antlers – rubbing it off on fences, posts and trees; sharpening up their weapons in preparation for the rut. It’s a fascinating time of year, but it does mean they’ll soon be a little more fiery, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on them!
We’d love to see you at one (or all!) of these events. Keep an eye on our social media for updates, photos, and reminders.
Reared here on the farm, professionally butchered & packaged for us by local butchers and labelled here, we deliver direct to your door in our veni-van across Lincolnshire, freshly frozen venison is also available for delivery nationwide!
More
Our venue, Stourton Woods is at the heart of the historic Stourton Estate, made up of …
More
Our kiln dried logs and woodchip are dried at the farm in Baumber using timber from …
More
Our landscaping products are made from timber from our own and other local Lincolnshire woodlands. Use …
More