eco friendly strawbale farmhouse in the beautiful south hams area of devon
Cuckoo Farm is a 45 acre smallholding nestling in the South Devon countryside, close to the beautiful beaches at Bantham and Burgh Island, and the sailing town of Salcombe. It adjoins Andrews Wood a 100 acre Devon Wildlife Trust nature reserve. Dartmoor is about 20 minutes by car and Transition town Totnes about 12 miles.
our vision... putting the heart back into this land
We (the Jenkins family,) moved here in late September 2014 from Hertfordshire, where we run a family owned shop in Hitchin, Harvest Moon, selling fair trade gifts, furnishings and clothes and natural health products (its still there and is in its 30th year. In 2020 we opened a similar shop in Kingsbridge about 7 miles from the farm, also called Harvest Moon.)
We have met many challenges since arriving here. Whilst having a big vision for the farm we are fortunately content with small steps. After all we truly believe that SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL!
The farmhouse was completed by local people just before we moved here. It was built from straw bale, cob, oak framed, with a traditional thatched roof, We have had to do several repairs including rebuilding straw walls, cladding and reroofing with slate, rebuilding a chimney and siting drainage. We are pleased to say the house is now watertight and cosy! Our heating and hot water are supplied by solar power, pellet and wood burning stoves, our water comes from our own borehole. We have about 15 acres of 22 year old broad leaf woodland, 25 acres of permanent pasture including a meadow and a small orchard. In 2023 we planted a further 1500 trees to continue the wildlife corridor around the farm.
The land here was previously used for a fairly large scale poultry business and the sites of the hen houses and range had been left in very poor condition, highly compacted and covered in rubbish. We are still working hard to remove/recycle the rubbish, replace topsoil and natural drainage and bring the hedges back by traditionally laying them to provide windbreaks and natural fencing for animals, using the wood for our energy source. Just rehanging the gates in a traditional way is time consuming. We manage the farm with an eye to sustainability and hope to be as self sufficient as possible, so future projects will be to increase our kitchen garden and grow herbs and plants that will enable our animals to self medicate. We have reintroduced a dozen hens and have Emily the pet pot belly pig.
We have a flock of Jacobs sheep and spin their fleece up to double knit and chunky yarns, colour sorting and also dying with local plants dyes grown and used by our friends at Dartington.
We brought with us our 3 Fjord horses, ant took on 3 ponies left here as they were too old or poorly to move on. Over the ten years the herd has changed with the loss through old age of Silver, Millie and Solveig and the arrival of Polly, Jake, Flo and Holly. The horses and ponies are the herd which we use to teach Equine Assisted Learning and Therapy.
We care passionately about the land and we work with The Avon Valley Project to manage the land and increase biodiversity.
We have met many challenges since arriving here. Whilst having a big vision for the farm we are fortunately content with small steps. After all we truly believe that SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL!
The farmhouse was completed by local people just before we moved here. It was built from straw bale, cob, oak framed, with a traditional thatched roof, We have had to do several repairs including rebuilding straw walls, cladding and reroofing with slate, rebuilding a chimney and siting drainage. We are pleased to say the house is now watertight and cosy! Our heating and hot water are supplied by solar power, pellet and wood burning stoves, our water comes from our own borehole. We have about 15 acres of 22 year old broad leaf woodland, 25 acres of permanent pasture including a meadow and a small orchard. In 2023 we planted a further 1500 trees to continue the wildlife corridor around the farm.
The land here was previously used for a fairly large scale poultry business and the sites of the hen houses and range had been left in very poor condition, highly compacted and covered in rubbish. We are still working hard to remove/recycle the rubbish, replace topsoil and natural drainage and bring the hedges back by traditionally laying them to provide windbreaks and natural fencing for animals, using the wood for our energy source. Just rehanging the gates in a traditional way is time consuming. We manage the farm with an eye to sustainability and hope to be as self sufficient as possible, so future projects will be to increase our kitchen garden and grow herbs and plants that will enable our animals to self medicate. We have reintroduced a dozen hens and have Emily the pet pot belly pig.
We have a flock of Jacobs sheep and spin their fleece up to double knit and chunky yarns, colour sorting and also dying with local plants dyes grown and used by our friends at Dartington.
We brought with us our 3 Fjord horses, ant took on 3 ponies left here as they were too old or poorly to move on. Over the ten years the herd has changed with the loss through old age of Silver, Millie and Solveig and the arrival of Polly, Jake, Flo and Holly. The horses and ponies are the herd which we use to teach Equine Assisted Learning and Therapy.
We care passionately about the land and we work with The Avon Valley Project to manage the land and increase biodiversity.
