Autumn 2023

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Whatever you want to store... ...for whatever reason – business, house sale and purchase not coinciding, travelling, house building work, paperwork overload or just “decluttering” to sell your house more quickly – we offer a friendly and flexible service in Cranbrook. With competitive rates, secure storage all on one level and hassle free 24/7 access, contact us now! New Units Available Now, due to extending our facility! 01580 713231 www.barn-store.co.uk HEN HOUSE POULTRY Quality Point of Lay Chickens Excellent choice available, fully vaccinated, laying lovely fresh eggs in a variety of shell colours Holistic tree care to the highest standard Country living at its best! www.henhousepoultry.co.uk 01622 843649 (Sutton Valence) Storage Containers available to rent near Cranbrook. Contact 07525 237390 07515 101486 www.lsrtreesurgery.co.uk 36 The Cake • Autumn 2023
FARMING & AGRICULTURE Farm Succession and Change I was sad to discover that Dove Farm no longer sells soft fruit. The farmer has retired and, with no-one wanting to take it on, the trees have all been grubbed out. This led me to a discussion with Nigel Wickham, who farms at Hartley, about farm succession over generations. Many years ago, great estates were created by wealthy individuals who had made money in business. The estates had tenant farmers who were the backbone of food supply. Over time these estates decayed and farms were sold off to sitting tenants, enabling them to start their own dynasties, which in turn decayed. Death duties were the destroyers of estates. As a farming community, we are at a point of change in land ownership, driven by shopping habits, machine farming and the housing market. Supermarkets are now the go-to place to shop, giving them huge financial clout helped in no small part by the British obsession for cheap food. Supply chains have been reorganised – small abattoirs have been closed (and sold for housing, such as in Lamberhurst) – small farms find it hard to compete with large farms who can meet the volume demands of supermarkets. Large farms can be profitable by being very efficient, using capital intensive modern machines that need large (square!) fields and skilled operatives. A farmer can sell 10 acres for housing and buy 1000 acres of grade 1 farming land to make a large productive farm, or a wealthy individual can invest in farmland to protect their wealth from death duties and create a new estate. However, our beautiful countryside is not grade 1 land, nor is it conducive to large square fields – there are too many hills and ghylls. When the next generation no longer wants to carry on farming, perhaps by going to university and finding other interests, the farms are sold or farmed under contract. Hereabouts the land use may change, being contract farmed, perhaps becoming a solar farm or become part of new, large estates funded by money from business carrying on traditional mixed farming. Small farming should be profitable by growing niche, high-value crops such as soft fruit: cherries, blackcurrants, raspberries, strawberries. However, these need pickers, who are increasingly difficult to recruit, particularly from abroad. The cycle continues. The Cake • Autumn 2023 37
Page 1 and 2: Tasty local stories, published by C
Page 3 and 4: WELCOME Published by Cranbrook and
Page 5 and 6: directory A list of useful contacts
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Page 9 and 10: DEVELOPMENT NEWS Community and Medi
Page 11 and 12: LOCAL NEWS Cranbrook Windmill Updat
Page 13 and 14: FEATURE Community Assets Survey pub
Page 15 and 16: EVENT NEWS Knebworth - what a band!
Page 17 and 18: The Cake • Summer 2023 17
Page 19 and 20: Cranbrook and District Age Concern
Page 21 and 22: FEATURE Heroes of the Night Have yo
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Page 25 and 26: Cold Feet for one of Churchill’s
Page 27 and 28: OPEN DAY Wednesday 12 th October
Page 29 and 30: Kids' Corner Colour me in GETTY IMA
Page 31 and 32: LOCAL HISTORY MUSEUM MATTERS CRANBR
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Page 39 and 40: LEGAL ADVICE Ask our Friendly Exper
Page 41 and 42: I N D E P E N D E N T B A T H R O O
Page 43 and 44: KEEPING YOUR CHILD’S FEET HEALTHY

Autumn 2023

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