April 2022 at Stourton

For us, April was spent busily preparing for the Activity Day, which we hosted on Saturday 30^th April.  It was an absolute pleasure to welcome so many people back to the estate to mark the beginning of the Lincolnshire Wolds Outdoor Festival. We were even lucky enough to enjoy the sunshine on the day! We’ve had lots of positive feedback from the event.

If you’d like to add your own opinions to the feedback we have already received then please complete the survey by following this link.

https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=164941050324

All completed responses received by 30th June 2022 will have the opportunity to be entered into a free prize draw to win a Lincolnshire Food Hamper worth £100.

We’d like to thank the steering group behind the festival for choosing us to kick-off proceedings this year, and as ever, all of our team who worked their socks off to get everything ready for the event and last but by no means least all the visitors who came along.

A selection of photos taken from the day is below.

Guided Walks

As the Outdoor Festival continues there is the opportunity to book onto several guided walks of different lengths that take in the estate and the surrounding areas. There’s even a night walk to enjoy, starting at 8.30pm. The details for the walks are below.  Please book your place on them by emailing the relevant walk leader.

11th May: a 9 mile walk starting at 10am from Stourton Woods – to book email Geoff Newmarch – geoffreynewmarch1@gmail.com

11th May: a 3 mile walk starting at 8.30pm from Stourton Woods – to book email Geoff Newmarch – geoffreynewmarch1@gmail.com

18th May: a 9 mile walk starting at 10am from Stourton Woods – to book email Tony Dean – a.dean3@live.co.uk

25th May: a 9 mile walk starting at 10am from Stourton Woods, to book email Alex Russell – azze32@hotmail.com

Artisan Market on 26^th June – Save the Date!

We will host the first of two Artisan Markets on 26^th June.  You can come along and see a wide selection of Lincolnshire based creatives, food producers, makers and artists showcase their goods.  We will host this event in and around the roundhouse in Stourton Woods.

During the day the wider estate will also be open so you can enjoy a walk, spot the deer, enjoy the woodlands, parkland and lakes as well as having the opportunity to go on a deer safari.

A small parking charge applies (this goes towards maintenance of the grounds), however entry to the venue is free.

We hope to see you here!

If you would like to exhibit at either or both of these markets, please complete the online application form here.

Sunday Open Days – We Are Up And Running!

On 1^st May we hosted our first of our Sunday open days.  We were delighted with the turn out and hope that many more of you will take the opportunity to come and visit us between now and September.

We have put way markers in place indicating the various walking routes around the estate and some of our unique log benches for you to stop and take a breather ‘en route’.

We’d also like to thank GRS Signs in Louth for producing our new car park sign and map for us in double quick time and to such a high standard.

After feedback from the open Sundays we are going to make the first deer safari of the day at 11am bookable.  You can do this from Sunday 8th May up to the end of June online here. There will be another safari at 2pm and further safaris in between subject to demand.

There is no entry fee as such for our Sunday open days.  There is a small car park charge of £4 which goes towards the maintenance and upkeep of the estate. Dogs on leads are also more than welcome to come and enjoy a day out with you too!

Are you looking to update a play area? Then get our Play Chip bags.

Whether you are looking to refresh an existing play area in your garden or commercial play area or are creating a brand new one then look no further than our play chip.

Our play chippings are produced from graded soft roundwood and has been screened, tested and is fully compliant with British Safety Standard Ref BSEN 1177: for Impact Absorbing Playground Surfacing when used to the recommended depth. So it is ideal to lay in your play areas whether in your garden or for commercial use.

There are no additives or waste products used in the production process – simply pure roundwood logs grown and sourced from our own woodlands.

Our play chip bags contain high quality chip in 0.7 cubic metre bags so one bag covers approximately 4 square metres at the recommended depth.

The recommendation is that a depth of between 150-300mm should be used if you are intending to use this as a play surface. If you Take a look at our play chip calculator to see how much you will need for the area you wish to cover.

Delivery is free up to 20 miles from our farm in Lincolnshire.  If you live further away please get in touch to discuss a delivery price.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your requirements.

Estate News

So much time and effort has been put into preparing for our open season with the Activity Day and Sunday open days.  We have been cleaning the roundhouse area from deer so that we can provide a clean, undercover area for exhibitors.  We cleaned the safari tent and set it up to show how it could look as a wedding venue.  Ground preparation has involved weeding, mowing, trimming, filling in holes, re-planing the car park, installing way markers, siting benches around the walking routes and large lake, putting up festoon lighting, cordoning off unsafe areas and tree trimming! This list is still a work in progress, and much like the Forth Road Bridge, is never finished!

Our next large estate project is tackling drainage issue at the bottom of the lake and woods so that the boardwalk and/or wellies are not needed!

Farm Update

Since the last blog we have finished off sowing our sugar beet into largely good but dry and drying conditions. The old crop sugar beet was delivered into Newark beet factory with a day to spare, many thanks to Andrew Read and his team for their excellent service in delivering our beet again.

As has become fairly predictable over the past few years April has been an extremely dry month. This is not helpful in both spring crop establishment and also for fertiliser availability to the crops. Thankfully the majority of our spring crops were sown into a nice amount of moisture so have established well. However the dry weather has been seriously taking its toll on the development of our spring barley crop in particular. Surprisingly but rather pleasingly, our autumn sown crops have not suffered too badly thus far with a recent 5mm of rain hopefully sufficient to perk everything up and increase the availability of applied crop nutrients.

We are now entering a crucial phase for most crops as we look to protect them from any diseases and tidy up any broadleaved weed issues that have arisen. It is a particularly busy time of year for the crop sprayer, always trying to juggle timing applications according to growth stage against the challenges of the weather in order to make best use of the products we apply.

All applications of nitrogen fertiliser are now being finished off, with an application of a slow release sulphur and potash fertiliser to be made to the sugar beet. Attentions then move towards establishment of our rotational over winter bird feed plots which will be going in imminently.

Deer Diary

Our hinds (the ladies) have been in calf since autumn and will soon be ready to give birth. Luckily, red deer, unlike sheep and cows, are very independent in this process, rarely requiring much input from us. To prepare for this exciting time of year we will be splitting them into separate enclosures so that they have some space and privacy. Deer are very adept at keeping their calves well hidden following birth so we will need to keep a keen eye on the long grass and nettle patches.  As soon as we have any news for you we will share some calf photos.