Article from Hampstead & Highgate Gazette

AS FERN Britton's perky voiceover informs you, the owners of Holwell Estate have taken a £2million gamble creating a sustainable farm on Dartmoor.

Last year, risktakers, Philippa and Sebastian Hughes - the subject of reality TV documentary Forgotton Farm - brought this 1901 "model farm" built by Lord Chief Justice Eve into the 21st century.

The couple realised tourists and foodies, and perhaps foodie tourists, were the crop with the highest yield. Mum-of-two, Philippa admits, the livestock, ducks, chickens, saddleback pigs and a herd of Dartmoor ponies at Holwell, constitute "hobby farming".

The real income comes from the guests who pay £1,000 plus a week to stay in the luxury holiday cottages tastefully created out of a cluster of granite barns and stables.After years owning a string of hotels, the Hughes' are old hands at the hospitality business. And it shows in the superb added value they offer their guests. Dog beds and towels for pooch owners, a meal in the Aga for tired new arrivals, bottles of wine, or a fridgeful of breakfast supplies, are all available on request.
Guests are also invited to collect their own eggs from the coop and can buy meat - all raised at Holwell or neighbouring farms to cook in the cottages' range ovens.

The couple are a powerhouse of energy and ideas with future plans to install a sauna, soft play area and offer pony rides across the moor. But more importantly, the Hughes' are contributing to the adaptation and survival of Dartmoor's ancient farming community. Innovative ideas such as leasing out their derelict walled garden to a local vegetable and herb grower with insufficient land; (the produce will be available to guests) starting up a farmers' market in the nearby village of Widecombe, and operating a van selling locally butchered meat to hotels, b&b's and businesses as far afield as Exeter are generating new income streams for struggling local producers. "Farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to survive," says Philippa, who feels strongly that Britain's urban-centric government have done little to support rural communities."But if the animals disappear and the land is not grazed then Dartmoor will return to scrub. Farmers have to diversify simply to stay in existence and they have to find other markets for their produce." Philippa, whose husband was brought up on a Dartmoor farm, believes continuing to farm England's disappearing native breeds is doing their bit for biodiversity and securing "the future of farming". As a former horse breeder she is also playing her part in cotinuing the pure bloodlines of Dartmoor's signature ponies who roam across the moor.

"There is a real hunger, not necessarily for organic but healthy food that's traceable - but it has to be convenient. Our animals only have to travel a few miles down the hill to the abbatoir in Ashburton. In the past farmers may have sold a whole or half animal direct, but you have to be realistc, people want small cuts and joints. The only route to survival is working together with tourism to make sure that food outlets supply local food."

When the Hughes' bought Holwell in 2004 there had been no animals on the land for two decades.They were looking for a family home near their hotel, the Holne Chase at Ashburton.But they fell in love with the estate and its stunning views of hound, honeybag and rippon tors. "When we bought the place we hadn't even seen inside the main house it was a complete flyer, a huge risk. No-one had farmed animals here for 20 years, it wasn't viable, yet it had so much potential." That potential was to offer those views, and the chance to stay inside the Dartmoor National Park among some of Britain's wildest, most stunning scenery, as a tourist draw. After a day tramping across the moor, or exploring the boulder-strewn rivers in the area, the Hughes' feel their guests need a spot of luxury.

They have converted the former pig sty and stables into ultra-comfy cottages with exposed beams and stone walls, a wood-burning stove in every sitting room, Habitat crockery, fluffy white towels, vast comfy chunky oak beds and large baths with hot water on demand. The Hughes' have ensured that Holwell is child-friendly with high chairs and cots supplied, and Philippa hopes that urban youngsters' contact with animals will increase their understanding of where food comes from. Our 18 month-old Joe certainly loved his daily visit to Holwell's pigs, horses and chickens, as well as riding on one of two toy tractors left for guests, and helping his dad bring in the (free) logs for the fire.

Our week at Holwell was super relaxed. Blessed with some crisp, sunny February days we would breakfast on the farm's sausages while gazing out at the remarkable views of the tors. Our day trips were never more than an hour's drive away but took in rolling scenery, great food, and a few tourist attractions. One day we bought WI jams in the pretty riverside market town of Tavistock after visiting the quirky Dartmoor Prison museum at Princetown where the lags' homemade tattoo guns were among the odd items on display. On a glorious sunny Sunday morning we strolled around Catholic Buckfast abbey and bought a noggin of their famously potent tonic wine. To please the little one, we spent a day exploring the beaches, soft play centres and arcades of Torquay. And we even managed to climb one of the easily accessible tors before taking a walk in the glorious grounds of Holne Chase hotel.

Most evenings we would buy veg, meat and home baked cakes from the local farm shop near Bovey Tracey for delicious dinners.
For us cramped, stressed out city dwellers, it was food for the soul and the stomach.