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Stewardship

Stewardship

 

Newton St Cyres has been our home for 14 generations, so we truly appreciate the importance of the ancient environment that is Home Farm.

A simple ethos shapes life at Quicke's:

“Farm like you’re going to live forever”.

Half-hidden across our estate are a fascinating spread of archaeological features, including earthworks, barrows and building remains, as well as pre-historic crop marks. To protect these for future generations, we have reverted large areas of arable land to permanent grassland, and we're working closely with Natural England's Higher Stewardship Scheme to make sure we're doing our very best for the wildlife around us too. We have protected over 200 acres of arable and grassland under the scheme.

Home Farm includes approximately 1000 acres of grassland. In the region of 250 acres is permanent pasture. Hedgerows and ditches provide shelter and food for many key species of farmland birds, insects and mammals. They are incredibly important for the plants they contain and can provide important corridors for wildlife movement. Our hedgerows and ditches are a living part of our history and provide a record of our use of the countryside over the centuries.

Our ancient orchards, some of which are hundreds of years old, offer a vital refuge for fungi, mosses, lichens, wildflowers, insects, birds and mammals. These depend on a mosaic of habitats including fruit trees, scrub, hedgerows, ponds and permanent pasture. We have planted heritage apple trees in our old orchards to replace those that have died, to preserve these habitats and strengthen the historic planting pattern.

The quiet waters of the River Creedy at Home Farm are one of the last remaining havens for the White Clawed Crayfish in Devon. By creating species-rich buffer strips at the margins of our land, we're helping to protect watercourses like this, enhancing them as habitats for lesser-spotted locals like the crayfish. The same strips now run alongside many of our woodlands, too. Under the scheme we will create 2500m of species rich buffer strips to protect and create wildlife habitats.

Our farm is also home to over 40 Skylark plots perfect for nesting sites. The numbers of Skylarks in the UK have halved since the 1970s so we're lucky to have a large number of these beautiful endangered birds at Home Farm.

Here at Home Farm we believe in creating a diverse landscape that produces nourishing food through a sustainable business, in harmony with nature.

We regularly host school and other group visits for tours of the farm. If you are community or school group and are interested in visiting Home Farm please fill in your details below.

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