We’re enjoying watching the sunflowers popping out at the moment! We will open the sunflower trail at our Mini Farmers’ Market on Sunday 3rd August – and we plan to keep it open until 4pm on Friday 8th August
Here’s everything you need to know about our Sunflower experience:
The sunflower field is only accessible via our main entrance gate in our woodland car park.
This is a family-friendly event in a beautiful countryside setting – perfect for capturing summer memories. There’s no need to book – just turn up and enjoy the blooms!
Once in the field there will be trails marked through the field of sunflowers. You can enjoy the trails at your leisure taking photos along the way. Well behaved dogs on leads are also more than welcome to come and enjoy the sunflower experience with you too!
Please note that our usual self-guided walking routes (Red & Blue) will be closed for this event.
For more information please click here.
On Sunday 3rd August, as well as opening the sunflower field we are hosting a Mini Farmers Market.
The following will be available to buy on the day:
Our famous farm safaris will be running shuttles to she sunflower field on the day – however they may well take a detour so that you can see the deer and our Angus cows (if they haven’t escaped again!) all whilst finding out about how we do things here on the estate.
To find out more please click here.
Looking a little further ahead, we’re delighted to host the Lincolnshire Makers’ Summer Artisan Market on Sunday 17th August.
With over 90 talented local creatives, artists and food producers, it’s going to be a fantastic day. Held in the Roundhouse in the woods, with views over the red deer parkland, you’ll find everything from cheeses and chutneys, to metalwork and macarons, leather to liqueurs – and plenty more!
These events are so much more than just a fabulous market, you can really make a day of it with:
PLUS a great selection of quality hot food & drink vendors on site so you can enjoy food to eat whilst shopping!
With relaxed music playing throughout the day, it is an event for you to relax and soak up the atmosphere.
For more information please click here.
We want the couples who celebrate here to be able to have the day of their dreams and encourage all our couples to choose whichever suppliers they wish for food, music, celebrant services, photography and flowers.
We recently welcomed Hannah and Claire who had many of their family and friends involved in their day – from the celebrant ceremony to decor and styling as well as the cake, such lovely personal touches which made the day so unique to them.
If you or someone you know is looking for a wedding venue then we have pulled together a Woodland Wedding Package that can help as a jumping off point for planning their day.
If you’d like to talk to us about any aspect of our wedding service, or want to come for a look around and a chat then please con’t hesitate to contact us.
Behind the scenes, we’ve been hard at work kiln drying logs, ready to start log deliveries again in August.
On a more bittersweet note, our brilliant delivery driver, Guy is retiring at the end of August. We’re very grateful for all his humour & hard work over the last 7 years and we wish him a very happy (and well-earned) retirement. Interviews are currently underway for his replacement, so we hope to have some good news to share on that front soon.
We recently welcomed students from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Alford for an educational visit. Jamie particularly enjoyed demonstrating subsoiling… not so long ago he was at the school!
On the wider estate, the team’s been busy mowing the arboretum, open areas, verges, and trails. We want everything looking its best for our visitors, especially with the mini farmers’ market and summer events just around the corner.
Due to the dry spring and hot early summer we began harvest at the start of July – approximately two weeks earlier than usual. We started with the winter barley and so far the results have been mixed. The yields (number of tonnes of grain produced per acre) have been better on our heavier land as this retains the moisture better, whilst our light, sandier land has dried out too quickly in the heat and dry weather which means that the barley plants haven’t performed as well.
We then moved on to spring barley and are pleased to say the quality has held up well and, after a little drying in the store, will be suitable for malting. We have baled all of our barley straw which is swapped for cattle muck from local farms. This will be spread on the fields before we drill next year’s crop and provides a wide mix of nutrient to benefit the soil and the growing crops. This also reduces our reliance on chemical fertilizer, win-win!
Wheat is the next crop to harvest and from our assessment of the crops as they stand in the field will have some mixed yields. We are growing a mixture of feed wheat and some soft wheats that have the potential to go for biscuit making. We plan to drill more milling wheat for next year, which will go for bread making. This wheat is potentially more profitable than the feed and soft wheats but has to make the grade from a quality point of view, therefore requires more TLC to ensure it reaches its quality potential.
Shortly after the crop has been harvested we begin to cultivate the fields. Cultivation helps to relieve any soil compaction and makes the soil easier to drill. We will soon be planting over-winter bird food, cover crops and Oilseed Rape. It is important to get cover crops planted as early as possible so they have the opportunity to grow for longer before winter hits and growth slows. The more established the plants are the more biomass they build and the more benefit they do for the soil quality.
There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes during harvest and we have to work all hours, day and night whilst the weather lets us. We’d like to thank the harvest team here at Stourton for all their work so far, not just in harvesting but also for the machinery maintenance, breakdown repairs and harvest teas that are brought to the field to keep us going!
We’ve now finished deer calving for the year and we’ve just moved the herd onto some fresh grazing. We’re very grateful for the recent rain, it’s done wonders for the grass and should keep our deer well-fed for a little while longer.
The rain has also worked its magic on our herbal ley silage, which is looking very colourful at the moment. We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get a few more bales off it before the end of the summer too.
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!
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