How it all began: In 1976 two couples decided to find a suitable location for establishing a home and two rural businesses - - bespoke hand weaving and vegetable growing. We were lucky to find a completely derelict property next to a run-down farm, and being young, inexperienced and ambitious we scraped all our money together, took out a big mortgage, and bought the two properties which became known as Radford Mill Farm. All of the buildings were in a severe state of disrepair and tumbling down; the Ordnance Survey map described them as "Derelict"
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1986 to 2003: Sue became the Farm manager. Activities at the Farm grew year by year and we found ourselves out in front of the organic produce industry. It was easy to sell everything we could produce, and our production increased every year. We started a home delivery service and developed a box scheme several years before that phrase was invented. We were producing Jersey yoghurt in six flavours well before Yeo Valley scooped the market. We raised organic Norfolk black and bronze turkeys for Christmas and we always sold out - - no-one else was selling these back in the day.. Our sales of everything in Bristol continued to grow; we delivered lamb, beef, pork and ham at Christmas time and throughout the year. After six and a half years of excellent growing Phil took two years off to work in Laos advising the government on fruit growing. Phil would return to the Farm a couple of weeks before Christmas each year to help pluck the turkeys. We opened "Jenny's Path" in 2001, at the time it was the first rural footpath in the district accessible by wheelchairs for about 400 metres. We planted several hundred broadleaf trees, hosted people with varying mental and physical ailments, and Mark organised an activities business with dozens of weekend workshops, and an annual "Extravaganza" festival in the summer. Iain Cotton rented some barn space and he's still here after 20 years, carving beautiful letters in stone.
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2019 to 2021: Tibor brought 10 beehives to the Farm and by the end of 2019 we had several hundred jars of Radford Mill honey. During the winter 2019-20 we started more than 300 oak trees from our own acorns; they will be ready for planting out in two years, along with some ash, elm, beech, birch, Scots pine and others. We create some tree plantations every year, using corners of fields and some of the north-facing slopes that are not the best for grass and hay. The Mill received its under-floor water heating pipes, soon to be powered by either a wood-fired boiler or by a ground source heat pump that magically will use the ice-cold river as the primary source for the heat. About 50 kw of solar panels are planned for our least productive south-facing slope, called Mill Tyning; this was the field where we first sowed wheat on long straw all those years ago. We'll graze sheep under the solar panels, and possibly our two horses will prance around the perimeter. Because Covid-19 caused most of our events to be postponed or cancelled we used the time to rebuild the footbridge that spans the river, reinforce the railway embankment in way of the racetrack, and expand our vegetable cultivation. Trevor re-pointed the Piggery back wall, and Duncan and James upgraded all of our electrics and gas installations. Steven built better fencing all over the Farm and Jan installed many new gates and compost heaps. Adam and Josh cleared hundreds of metres of overgrown hedges and filled our woodsheds with firewood. "Forest" the ram sired 14 lambs that are bouncing all over the fields and the kids enjoyed giving them all names. One sad note is that the alders that have lined the riverbanks for the last 100 years or so are succumbing to a fungal disease, so our riverside landscape is drastically changing as we bring down at least 20 tall trees each year. We started a vegetable delivery service again, primarily focusing on the nearby villages within about three miles of the Farm. Our Farm Shop in Bristol also started a box delivery scheme in that city. The mild but wet winter and very hot Spring of 2020 gave many of the growing things an early boost, and we expanded our crops of spinach, kale, salads, potatoes, onions, squash and apples. Even the walnut and cherry trees seemed keen to produce fruits. And Hannah produced baby no. 1 early last year - - little Maiya arrived a few months before baby Bhodi who was born in the big yellow school bus.
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This year and next: Our two regular music festivals in 2021 turned into three events in 2022, as Jack came forward with a new festival called Somerset Jazz. Each of these were fantastic successes; about 400 people for two and a half days was the highlight in September 2021. We held our annual Harvest Festival in October 2022, and we've decided to make this an even bigger event for next year. Who knows what else will happen? Watch this space.