September 2019 at Stourton

Autumn Festival – a huge thank you!

Wow – what a day we had on Saturday 14^th September with our third Autumn Festival.  We had planned more stalls and live music for this year’s event, hoping to make it bigger and better than the previous year, hoping for a few more visitors. So at 10am, with the sun shining on us (after a pretty disappointing year of cancelled events) and our fingers crossed we opened the gates and hoped for the best. And you didn’t disappoint, you arrived in your droves! So our first thank you is to everyone who came along to the day and the night time events.  There was such a buzz on site and it was a genuine pleasure to see you, your families and your dogs having such a great time.  The live music throughout the day and into the evening helped to create a very special atmosphere.   We’d also like to thank everyone who has contacted us since, whether directly or via social media to leave some lovely reviews. It is very much appreciated.

We’d like to thank our musical performers, stall holders, food providers and demonstrators for booking to attend, many for their 3^rd year, some for their first time. The event was made very special by your wonderful wares and the warm welcome you helped us to extend to our visitors. Perhaps next year we might need a couple more food stands to help to ease the demand and queuing times!

We would like to thank the First Manby Scouts for their voluntary assistance on the day with car parking and other logistics. We hope you enjoy the peace when you return for your camp-out in October & you raised some much needed funds with your walking quiz on the day!

And last, but by no means least a huge thank you to the Stourton Estates team and extended ‘family’ for all your support in the run up to the day and on the day itself. Many reviewers mentioned what a ‘warm welcome’ they received and that is down to your help and enthusiasm.  So whether you were helping to build bale castles, wrangling with the layout of the stall holders or managing the ‘real’ coffee bar and logistics onto site for set up, thank you very much! We couldn’t do it without you!

So onwards with the planning of Autumn Festival 2020, we hope you enjoy this fantastic selection of professional photos captured on the day by Lisa Dales Photography!

Forthcoming Events

We still have some great events planned in 2019 that we would love you to come and enjoy.

LOL In the Woods – Saturday 28^th September

We are excited to be working with Comedy Hotspot to bring you a fantastic comedy night here in the Safari Tent in Stourton Woods. Four of the comedy circuits best UK Headliners…. all on the one bill and with a sprinkle of Comedy Hotspot magic, we turn the Safari Tent into one of the best comedy venues in Lincolnshire for the night.

Acts booked for the night are

• Joe Rowntree – as seen on SKY One’s Brainiac; Science Abuse and DAVE’s One Night Stand
• Nick Page – as seen on Britain’s Got Talent
• Geoff Boyz – As seen on the BBC, ITV, C4, C5 STV and many more
• Pete Phillipson – “Fantastically funny, fast paced, observational routines”

Locally produced food and a fully licensed bar is onsite for you to make a night of it!

Gates open at 7pm leaving you plenty of time to grab something to eat and drink before the first act starts at 8pm.  You need to book early, as these shows sell out fast.

Buy Your Tickets direct from Comedy Hotspot here or with cash, from Stourton Estates Farm Office at Top Yard Farm, Baumber.

Strictly over 18’s only and ticket Ts and Cs apply.

Pumpkin Sunday Funday – Sunday 20^th October

Kick off half term with our Open Day themed with pumpkins – we will also be running Deer Rut Safaris on Sunday 20th October.

As well as enjoying our Pumpkin Trail around the arboretum, you can try your hand at some circus skills, hosted by Party Workshops.  You can also enjoy a fully guided tour on the Tractor & Trailer around the Stourton Estate through the woodland and into the deer enclosure to see our herd of Red Deer on one of our famous Deer Safaris.

This is a lovely experience for the whole family to enjoy the autumn colours, get up close and personal with the Red Deer before going to the aboretum to juggle or find your way along the pumpkin trail.  We will also be serving light refreshments, soup, rolls, teas, coffees and home-made cakes from the safari tent.

Well behaved dogs on leads are more than welcome to peruse the Pumpkin Trail.

Entry to the estate for the day is free of charge, however the deer rut safaris are chargeable. The Deer Rut Safaris are limited in number so booking is essential; they will last just under an hour.  Adults are £6 each and children over 2 are £4 each. Infants under 2 are free of charge, but must sit on knees.

Enchanted Lit Woodland Walk– Friday 1^st and Saturday 2^nd November

Following the success of last year’s event we are extending the length of Enchanted Lit Woodland Walk and running it over two nights this year.

You can come to enjoy the natural beauty of the arboretum in the evening with some very special coloured illuminations creating an enchanted lit woodland walk to wander along. A variety of coloured lights will bring the trees to life with atmospheric sounds and music within this very special venue.  New for this year we are introducing some fire and LED dancers plus some extra special effects so if you came along last year it will be a different and enhanced experience.

At the end of the trail you have the opportunity to enjoy the ambiance of the flickering flames around the fire pits whilst you have a hot drink or toast marshmallows on our smaller separate BBQ grills!

A greater selection of refreshments and a licensed bar will also be available with additional seating in the safari tent where you can cosy up around the log burner indoors and extend your time here.

The gates open from 5pm – 9.30pm, don’t forget to bring your torch!

This event is perfect for those who are seeking an alternative to a traditional fireworks display at this time of year and is perfectly suited to small children and those with additional needs. Well behaved dogs on leads are also more than welcome to enjoy the peace and beauty of this night time event.

Early bird tickets are available to purchase online for the event for the next 4 weeks (up to 20^th October) at last year’s prices of £6 for adults and £4 for children.  You can pay on the gate on the night however both online and gate prices will increase to £7 for adults and £5 for children after 20^th October.

Keep warm in the chilly winter months with our very own Kiln Dried Logs

Are you stocked up on logs for the chilly winter months? Our kiln dried logs, all hardwood varieties, are fantastic quality, super dry & graded (to remove dust, sticks etc) before being kiln dried at the farm at Baumber.

The firewood logs are sold in builders’ bags sized at approx 0.7 cubic metres.  Our logs are cut to around 10 inches/25 cm.

We offer great value bulk discounts for delivery of more than one bag of logs and delivery within a 20 mile radius of the farm is free of charge. Please click here to find out more or to place your order.

On the Farm

Since the last newsletter we’ve been incredibly busy with both harvest and landwork. This harvest we have worked in collaboration with a nearby farmer which has gone very well.  We completed harvest here on the 5^th September; the weather was frustrating at times but thanks to the hard work of our team here and our contractors we finished in good time.

While wheat harvest was progressing Ken was busy establishing next years’ Oilseed Rape crop. Unfortunately since this was sown the recent dry weather, coupled with a migration of cabbage stem flea beetle have meant the crop is really struggling to grow and establish itself. Land-work ahead of the winter wheat and barley crop is now almost complete. We will most likely be drilling the winter barley towards the end of the month, with wheat will going in during October.

We have just started our ‘final’ harvest of the year; the first of our sugar beet has just been lifted and will be delivered to the factory this week – this will continue intermittently until February/ early March.

Also planned for this month is a small amount of land drainage which will be carried out by Sheltons Drainage. While crops need a certain amount of water to grow, an excess of water can cause major soil structure and fertility issues. As such, a great deal of our land is ‘underdrained’. We lay perforated pipes at around 2.5-3.5 feet deep and cover them with gravel before pushing soil back over the top. This allows any excess water to drain away more quickly than it otherwise would, creating a better soil moisture balance for the crops in a wet time.

Deer Diary

It’s a busy time on the estate with the deer at this time of year with de-antlering the young stags and worming the herd to ensure that they are safe and healthy over the winter months.

We also have some exciting news – a new stag who we have called Nelson!  As you probably appreciate we do need to bring in new blood lines and ‘rotate’ our stag so that we don’t get any problems with inter-breeding.  So our new fella has made the journey onto the estate and is currently making himself at home with the ladies – as you can see he’s quite a character, sticking his tongue out at the camera!

After de-antlering we will have some mini sets of antlers for sale and also the smaller ones which we will make into dog chews – these will be available from the farm office or at our open day on Sunday 20^th October.

 We look forward to seeing you soon

Helen & Antony