Overbury Blog

A brilliant opportunity has arisen for an experienced and knowledgeable Head Gardener to join us at a private country estate at Overbury on the edge of the Cotswolds.  

  It has been a busy summer for our buildings team as they work to complete the renovations of an early 20th Century stone cottage in Overbury. A lovely detached 3 bedroom cottage, set in the heart of the village, with a large garden and beautiful views across the Park, is being modernised and transformed into a fabulous family...

"On one of the hottest days of the year Overbury Staff took 5 mins out of the office and were given the opportunity to learn a but more about different types of fire extinguishers and see what they were like to use,first hand.It was a great training exercise.We hope we never have to use them but it's helpful to know how to use them...

There are just 4 days left (expires on Monday 11th December 2017) to check out Farmer Jake showing JB how we use Drones at Overbury on CBeebies ‘Down on the Farm’.

Click here to watch now.

There is so much public awareness of the perceived issues with Glyphostate at the moment even though 3300 studies have shown it to be a very benign chemical when used correctly in the field.  With any potential restriction on its use being enforced on us I wanted to have a look at an alternative method of killing a cover crop before we plant our harvestable, or cash crop, into the field.  To me a cover crop can only enhance the soil and the wider environment.  It shields the soil from rain, reducing runoff and erosion; it feeds the soil biology with carbohydrates and encourages the development of below ground microbial populations; provides winter feed for our sheep; increases soil organic matter to hold more nutrients and water - it’s a no brainier for the farm and the wider environment.

For the last 3 years we have been experimenting with companion crops in our oilseed rape fields, that is growing more than one species of plant together.  The companions are mainly based around legumes to try and increase the amount of atmospheric nitrogen that we can capture and then make available to our farming system, and why wouldn’t we?  The atmosphere is 76% nitrogen, yet our cereal and brassica plants cannot use any of it.  But legumes can-and they do it very quickly. 

Our lovely villages are not just home to beautiful houses, but also home to some beautiful and practical work spaces too.

We started this years autumn drilling (planting) right up on the top of Bredon Hill with winter malting barley. The seeds were planted into the chopped residue (straw) of the previous crop (spring barley) and rolled in.

Residents of Overbury and Conderton are reaping the rewards of signing up to SeSaME Oil Buying Club in more ways than one.

We are finally approaching the end of Harvest 2017.

We had been waiting for some more sunshine and so, between the showers, we have managed to harvest all the Linseed.  The harvested seeds should hopefully be used by other farmers next spring to plant in their fields.