Our favourite quote “The best things in life aren’t things”
Tim – or ‘Farmer’ Tim as all the children call him… adores his animals, his farm and his veggie patch and is passionate about the environment…brought up on a dairy farm is Sussex…did the uni thing then lived York for 5 years working as an agronomist… jumped ship, donned beard and sandals and travelled in South America incognito for 18 months, then onward to Africa and Madagascar via some fairly dubious journeys on Aeroflot ! Landed in Cornwall in 1993 to run a farm with Valerie in mid Cornwall…
Valerie- well, she loves chocolate oranges, really enjoys cooking on her Aga and she is the admin and creative behind the business which actually means having to do paperwork which she doesn’t like and write things, which she does like.There is nothing she doesn’t know about bringing up boys ( having had three of them )….. but she is still trying to get the hang of bringing up girls. She is a board member of the Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project (CoaST), is a school governor, helps on various tourism advisory boards and does consultancy for tourism business, and in her spare time is happy to just sit…. and be…..
Our kids are Ollie, Adam,Will and Lowenna… all the boys have now moved on with their lives away from here. But we still have Lowenna at home when she isn’t out windsurfing or riding.
History of the business of Pollaughan Farm Cottages
1998. The change we’d made was to sell the 300 year-old mid-Cornwall farm we’d run for 12 years. It was no longer viable, and although we had no choice but to jump ship, there was no rescue vessel alongside on to which we might all leap. Instead, for the next two years, we trod water, waited for a direction to suggest itself and had another child, Lowenna.
Direction arrived in the unlikely shape of a run-down 22 acre small-holding, complete with a large farmhouse and lots of redundant cattle sheds. With Tim having just taken a new job, Valerie was left both to run the project (transforming the buildings) and market the business (holiday cottages) until it was affordable for Tim to return full-time.
Everything grew – as it were – organically. No blueprint existed; and even if it had we’d probably have drawn a new one on the back then shredded it for bedding for the pygmy goats. To mix farming with a holiday business was always our aim, and that’s how it’s turned out. We market the business ourselves; average occupancy is 42 weeks per year, we have bookings for up to two years ahead and repeat business runs at around 70%.
We have friendly farm animals for children to get up close and friendly with, there is an all weather tennis court and a giant trampoline as well as a wonderfully peaceful wildlife lake and nature area.
Things that matter and things we’ve learned …
… That first and foremost the business has to be environmentally sustainable and that it should complement the farm. That if you really pay attention to detail, if you look at what you do through your visitors’ eyes, if you make sure what you offer is not just accessible to all but relaxing too, then you’re well on the way to sending guests home with a glow so strong it’s still warm when they come back next year.
We actively encourage local purchasing, too. Visitors get to pick their own veg from our patch, we promote and make recycling easy, use energy- and water- saving measures and support and advertise the benefits of using local transport, like the great ferry rides around the river. And while we love our visitors to lap up the local beauty we’re also keen to show them – with wildlife and tree-planting projects and daily animal-feeding for children – that things which matter take time and effort to get right.
We’ve also learned that although it’s scary to stand at the foot of a learning curve so upright it could pass for a greasy pole, it is possible to turn that gradient into a stiff but enjoyable uphill walk. Neither did we know we could raise money, hold our nerve, manage a building project and still retain (most of the time) a sense of humour. Oh, plus of course there’s the visitor-management, marketing, website-building, catering and raising four children. All while not letting your sanity slip through your fingers like sand.
Even on a really bad day …
