UP! - North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The North Wessex Downs owesmuch of its character to farming –over the years it has enhanced andprotected the area’s landscape.The unassuming exterior of afarm near Hungerford, Berkshire,gives nothing away of itscelebrated past, and the eventswhich changed British agriculturalprocesses forever, thanks largelyto a man named Jethro Tull.On the A338 about three miles out ofHungerford on the way to Salisburyyou’ll see, on the left-hand side of theroad, a neat farm sign saying ‘Prosperous HomeFarm’. That’s all it is – a farm sign. There’s nothingabout it that signifies the vital part ProsperousHome Farm has played in the history of farming.It was the test bed where one Jethro Tulldeveloped the very first horse-drawn seed drilland the horse hoe. His name is linked with ‘Turnip’Townshend, more formally known as 2nd ViscountCharles Townshend of Raynham, Norfolk; ‘Turnip’because he popularised the use of root cropsin crop rotations. He, Jethro Tull and a handfulof other pioneers at that time in the 18th century,revolutionised British agriculture.Today’s Prosperous Home Farm is a delightfulspot, 300 acres of rolling Berkshire countryside, thehome to a herd of pedigree Guernsey cows, themilk from which is sold off the farm either as milk,unpasteurised blue cheese, yoghurt, crème fraicheor cream. The farm has a stall at several farmers’markets and anyone can call in at the farmyard tomake a purchase. If there is no-one about to takeyour money, an honesty box provides a mute butpersuasive reminder.Prosperous Home Farm is bisected by severalfootpaths. In the autumn walkers have a goodchance of seeing a modern seed drill – a directdescendant of Jethro Tull’s invention – forgingacross chocolate-brown fields behind a tractor thepower of which would have been unimaginable inJethro Tull’s day.In the spring, the legacy of this agricultural writer,farmer and barrister is plain to see as rows of greenTullingthe landfingers poke through the soil. Before Jethro Tull, cropswere broadcast by hand from shallow baskets. Someseeds or grains remained on the surface, others weretoo close together to allow the efficient eradicationof weeds. His unique invention, however, buriedevery seed in its proper space and allowed thepassing of a horse hoe between the rows.Both the farm and the herd of Guernseys aremanaged by Mr Derek Moody for the farm owners,Mr and Mrs Rod Kent. Acting as herdsman to 130-140 cattle (around 85 in-milk cows, the restfollowers) is usually regarded as a full-time job, butworkers into the cream, yoghurt, and crème fraicheon which Prosperous Home Farm has built itsenviable reputation.It is obvious that Mr Kent, the owner, regardshimself as custodian of his patch of countryside.Thefarmstead is as neat as a new pin and the road thatthreads through the farm is better surfaced andmaintained than any country lane. Hedges, fencesand buildings are ‘all up together’ and MountProsperous, the big house, looks over a manicuredlawn that only narrowly misses being a small field.It would be nice to be able to report that JethroIn the spring, the legacy of this agriculturalwriter, farmer and barrister is plain to see asrows of green fingers poke through the soilDerek Moody runs the farm too – with the help ofan assistant-cum-tractor driver – and has done sofor the past 26 years. He grows 20 acres of foragemaize, 20 acres of malting barley – the spentgrains return to the farm for cattle feed –, 45 acresof wheat and 215 acres of grass of which 60 acresis down to three-year leys.The cows return a very respectable average of1,000gal on a diet comprising a mix of grass andmaize silage plus caustic-treated home-grownwheat that is fed just once a day.Derek Moody’s day starts at 5am. Milking thecows through a 5/10 herringbone parlour (5/10means five milking machines serving 10 stalls)takes two-and-a-half hours. By midday all of thatmorning’s milk has been turned by three dairyAbove: Derek Moody, manager of Prosperous Home Farm,near Hungerford, Berkshire with some of the farm’s herdof pedigree Guernseys. They yield an average of about4,500 litres of milk that is sold directly off the farm ascream, yoghurt, cheese, crème fraiche and full-cream milk.Left: This is replica of Jethro Tull’s original drill made byReading University the BBC television programme ‘Whatthe Stuarts did for us’, fronted by Adam Hart-Davies.Tull lived in that big house or that he spent hisentire life at Prosperous Home Farm. In fact he wasborn in Upper Basildon, Berkshire in 1674. In 1699he was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn but neverpracticed. Instead he married and began farmingon his father’s land at Howbery, Crowmarsh Giffordnear Wallingford. It was there, in about 1701, thathe invented and perfected his seed drill and beganexperimenting with his new system of sowing indrills or rows.In 1709 he and his family moved to ProsperousHome Farm. From 1711 to 1714 he travelled inFrance and Italy studying how continental farmersused farmyard manure and how they tilled theirvarious soils. He returned to Prosperous HomeFarm to continue his experiments. He died in 1741.It is thought by some historians that his housewas located at the far end of the lawn. There’snothing there now, but the spot would make anideal setting for a statue of the great man. He’dlook very impressive from the windows of MountProsperous and he’d be able to gaze out over theNorth Wessex Downs countryside that owes himso much.20 UP! ON THE NORTH WESSEX DOWNS