Fast learners!

Emma and Jon Hillier have relished the challenge of their first smallholding

New smallholders Emma and Jon Hillier have jumped in at the deep end with livestock. After little more than a year they have Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep, Red Ruby cattle from Devon and Mangalitza pigs…originally from Hungary!

Emma, a secondary school teacher, and Jon, a property developer took on Farrantshayes Farm in East Devon in August 2016. It was a run down former commercial farm, which had originally gone on the market with 178 acres.

“We had dismissed it totally – too much land and way too expensive,” says Emma. “But when it came back on the market with 24 acres (the rest of the land has been sold off ) it suddenly became possible. We had initially been looking for a house with just a few acres for me to keep my elderly horse at home and maybe dabble in keeping livestock for the first time. Even 24 acres was more than we had ever thought about – and the farm came with many outbuildings to service the original, much larger business. At the viewing I just held my head in my hands and said to Jon ‘It’s amazing – but what on earth are we going to do with all these outbuildings?’

The answer didn’t take long to present itself. The couple were approached by a pair of local sheep farmers with a flock of pedigree Lleyns and Kerry Hills who were happy to use some grazing land and spare shed to lamb in. A knowledgable local dairy farmer moved his heifers into some of the bigger sheds for the winter. “Regularly having people on site who have been working with livestock all their lives is so reassuring,” says Jon. “We have learnt so much from sharing the farm with more experienced people; as newcomers to keeping animals it’s a great way of learning.”