Redeveloping redundant farm buildings in East Anglia

The redevelopment and exploitation of farm property has been a crucial part of the restructuring of UK farming in the past few years either to make an income contribution from rents or to generate revenue through sales to fund further business development.

This is especially true in East Anglia. Sue Allington, AMC Regional Agricultural Manager for the East (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire) has seen a number of farmers in her region take advantage of the immediate opportunities which revolve around the change of use of existing farm buildings.

“Whilst land purchase remains the number one reason why farmers borrow from AMC, in the last two years there has been less land on the market and we have seen a significant increase in the number of farmers and rural business wanting to borrow for building improvements,” said Sue.

“On the whole, these proposals are from farmers wanting to create an additional income stream by making the best use of redundant farm buildings, and recognising that diversification into non-agricultural activities is vital to the continuing viability of their farm enterprise.

“Certainly in Norfolk and Suffolk applications have generally been to convert redundant, traditional buildings into holiday lets, whilst further west in my region applications are more likely to be for commercial development,” said Sue.

Converting redundant farm buildings into holiday lets was the diversification route chosen by Norfolk farmers, David and Joanna Burroughs, who together with David’s sister Margaret and her husband Graham, trade under the name of E S Burroughs & Son. It is just over a year since they approached AMC for a substantial loan to convert a large barn, an adjacent cattle shed and a smaller granary store. Their business plan was well thought-out and AMC were very happy to support this venture. Their success is now very evident in the cluster of six barns, each sleeping six/seven people, that have been created from the sympathetic conversion of those farm buildings into what is now Wheatacre Hall Barns.

Wheatacre Hall Barns

The 1,100 acre Wheatacre Farm has been in the Burroughs family for three generations. Traditionally dairy and arable farmers they have a pedigree milking herd of 150 cows. All milk is supplied to the local farmer-owned Marybelle Dairy. Arable crops grown on the farm include wheat, barley, sugar beet, oilseed rape, peas and maize. In addition there are 10,000 free range laying hens on the farm.

“We took a long hard look at our business in 2005 and knew that to secure the future of the farm for our children we needed to find a further income stream. We had a number of farm buildings we were not using which were rapidly deteriorating, and our location was good,” said Jo Burroughs.

“All-in-all holiday cottages seemed the natural next step for us. We wanted to borrow around £800,000. After shopping around we applied to AMC for a mortgage to fund the project, which is when we first met Sue Allington. She was extremely helpful and overall we have been very impressed with both the service and very competitive rates on offer from AMC.

“Building work started in September 2006 and the first four barns were completed by spring 2007 and opened on 1 April. Two further barns opened on 1 June. The cottages were all full in August and overall bookings have been steady and well ahead of target. With weekly rates in high season ranging from £870 to £950 this is now a very important income stream.

“This has been nothing but good for the farm. Whilst this was a big investment, it provides a steady income which has really helped our overall cash flow,” said Jo.

See: www.wheatacrehallbarns.co.uk