Mike Smith lived his whole life on the farm, only leaving it for holidays. He ran it as it had always been; a mixed farm with a cow dairy at the heart, raising calves for beef and including arable on the more forgiving land. The farm expanded its land area over time, taking on neighbouring fields at Villa Farm, floodplain meadows at Coombe Hill, and two blocks of land in Sandhurst. Mike loved nature and always gave it space, whether in the large untrimmed hedgerows, or the thistles left at edges of the fields for butterflies and goldfinches. He, like his father before him, “had a way with cows”; he would nurture and care for them and especially look after any poorly ones. 

We sadly lost Mike in 2022. His passing has left a big hole in our lives, but his influence on the farm lives on. It is not just the baler twine holding together gates and fences, but the love of farming and nature that he has passed on