Our Story
This is the Turchington Farm team, comprising of Andrew and Melanie Kneebone. Then there is Leanne, Andrew and daughter Hayley Barriball. Just down the road lives Granny Vera, Martin, Megan and their children Elouise, Sophia, Poppy and Alexander Kneebone. Everyone does their share to make things work!
The farm comprises of 210 acres of mainly grassland growing beef, sheep and a menagerie of other animals kept for social purposes, basically they make us laugh or drive us mad. The farm is right on the Devon and Cornwall border, with a mile of the river Tamar on the land that’s how close it is.
The family have farmed here since 1901 so are 4th, 5th and 6th generation famers, the 6th being all the little young farmers that have come along.
The farm runs a cattle herd of about 150 made up of 60-70 breeding cows, bulls and young stock. These are primarily Hereford X, but there are a few odd breeds dotted about as well. The sheep flock is in the process of being built back up to about 200 in the next few years. It comprises of Texel mule ewes on Texel rams to get a good conformation of lamb at the end. However, some changes are being made to incorporate Texel Llyen ewes on a Llyen ram to see if a good cross bred breeding ewe can be produced.
There is also the start of an eclectic collection of other animals as well, chickens, pigs, ducks, goats, guinea pigs, cats with the view of having more in the future. These are mainly to reintroduce the fun back into farming. Everything seems to have gotten all too serious which when working with animals seems wrong. It is fun though to see what animals we will have by the end of each year.
The aim is to produce meat in the most ethically and sustainable way possible, happy farmers equals a happy farm hence the funny animals.
Meet The Family
Andrew & Melanie Kneebone
We have lived here 35 years, moving in shortly after we were married in 1986. Our children Leanne and Martin have grown up here and have chosen to stay close by. So close that Leanne still lives in the end of the farmhouse, with her family; husband, Andrew and daughter Hayley. Martin lives just a mile down the lane with his wife, Megan and children, Ella, Sophia, Poppy and Xander.
We have seen many changes in the industry including all the challenges such as the BSE crisis, foot and mouth and more recently TB. We have always tried to move with the times, and now particularly with regards to regenerating the farm to improve its ability to become a sustainable business, without the input of government subsidies anymore.
Leanne & Andrew
Leanne has been on the farm her whole life and taken an active role since 2007 when her grandfather died suddenly. She did an Honours Degree in Rural Business Management graduating with a 2:1 in 2012 just before she got married.
As a wedding gift to each other we bought a cow. This was the start to our farming journey together. We joined Andrew and Melanie in the farming partnership in June 2019. Andrew continues to work on other farms as a farm worker as he has his whole working life, whilst Leanne sees herself more of the farm consultant now always reading, listening and learning to new ideas within the sector in order to help us move the business forward.
Martin & Megan
Martin & Megan live on the farm just down the lane. Martin has his own building business which comes in handy for all the odd jobs that always need doing as well as new projects that come along.
Megan runs her own successful online crafting business – Click here – and is in charge of creating our merchandise such as key rings, medals for our farm tours and wooden signs we may need.
Sophia, Elouise, Alexander, Poppy & Hayley
These are the mini farmers all living an active and exciting life on the farm. They enjoy summers running bare foot down by the river and chasing the chickens to give them hugs.
Hayley started her very own business in 2021 doing farm tours over the holidays, these proved to be very successful and she has new plans for the future.
