About Us
Originally from Hampshire we worked overseas in Hong Kong for 14 years and with our Children grown up , we thought it was time to move to Devon and build an eco haven for nature and also to provide friends family and visitors to Devon somewhere environmentally friendly to stay.
We bought this 30 Acre farm with a barn and 3 cottages which were built from Cobb (Mud) approx 450 years ago. We have renovated the 3 cottages and our main house to be energy efficient, cosy warm havens that will last for another 500 years !
Cobb Buildings are a natural environmentally friendly method of building and are cool in the summer and warm in the winter , to further insulate them we used a natural lime render with small particles of cork mixed in ,we installed modern insulation under the stone floors and put in a shared ground array and Ground source heat pump providing underfloor heating and hot water to the 3 cottages and a separate Ground source heat pump serving our house.
Electrical Plant Room - Micro Grid, Solar, Battery & 22Kw EV charging point
We have Installed a micro grid that serves the farm using 30kw of Solar panels on the barn roof , 30kw of battery storage plus a 3 phase tie to the Grid so we can export our surplus energy in the summer, sadly in the winter we have to buy some electricity in - one day we will have a small wind turbine the size of a small oak tree to solve this problem of winter electricity. Although we can not yet afford an electric vehicle ourselves yet we have installed a 22kw fast charger so any EV driving guests can relax when they get here knowing they will be fully charged and ready to explore Devon
Water
Our water trickles down through a new underground pipe from a well further up our land into our water plant room, where it is filtered and passed through a UV light that works better than Chlorine , meaning safer lovely tasting water and it makes a lovely cup of tea !
Food Forest
We have planted the first canopy layer of a 2 1/2 Acre food forest - it is still early days , but one day it will feed up to 15 people , using tree based food crops with no ploughing , pesticides or fertilisers, the only work required will be harvesting
New Woodland
We have planted 1500 Oak and Hazel trees to expand our natural woodland area, it also provides a lovely campsite for friends and family - it has two composting toilets and a wood burning shower. In the summer Roe deer raise they're young in the long grass between the trees.
Re-Wilding
We have left approx 5 Acres to nature - we have already seen a large increase in invertebrates , small and large mammals , grass snakes and the birds of prey love to hunt across it ! Oak trees , Willow and Hazel are self seeding
Orchards
We have planted a small orchard with Cider Apples , Eating apples , Plum , Walnut , Commercial cropping Hazelnut , Pear , Cherry etc
All of the planting is new and doesn't look very impressive yet - but future generations of humans and our fellow earthlings will thrive with free food from trees that are sequestering carbon!
Our Farm is a haven for nature , we have small amounts of everything - Roe Deer , Foxes , Badgers , Stouts , Field Mice, Voles , Owls , Bats , Birds of prey, Dragon Flies , rabbits ,wild bees , everything seems to be in balance !
We have very little light pollution , so on a cloudless evening the stars are amazing.
We hope you enjoy Devon and what it has to offer and relax knowing that your holiday is helping not hurting our planet.
