Meet the farming family whose 'old-fashioned' Yorkshire Wolds campsite is environmentally friendly

Field House Farm at Tibthorpe is still a farming enterprise with a herd of Aberdeen Angus-cross-Shorthorn cattle, hens and a DIY livery for 12 horses, but it is their Field House Camping site and soon to be added coffee shop combined with an eco and environmental approach, including solar power, that is inching Jonathan closer to his dream of Field House being sustainable for his family in the years to come.

“We already know about the beauty and tranquillity of this area,” said Jonathan. “But the recommendation from Dixe Wills was quite something. We’ve had fantastic reviews since we opened the campsite just two years ago and one of my favourites is that ‘Field House Farm is a blend of old-fashioned camping with young ideas, built on environmentally friendly concepts.’ That sums it up perfectly.

“I still spend a lot of time farming, but I now get a lot of pleasure from being on the campsite explaining the agricultural side to our visitors. We have chickens next to the campsite where they can collect their own eggs straight out of the coop, we have donkeys and horses.

“The Wolds are wonderful and we are trying to do our bit to make them a destination and not just a scenic drive through to the coast. The A166 is a fantastic route.

“We are passionate about the Wolds and equally passionate about the environment and future sustainability. I have an electric car, we have electric charging points, solar panels. It’s all about sustainability and every single customer bar none has bought into what we’re doing and totally agrees with it.

“For some it may be the first time they have tried composting toilets and outside showers. We are certainly getting the feedback that visitors are taking something away with them as ideas or that they just feel happy about being here.

Jonathan and Juli moved to Field House Farm with their daughters Poppy and Daisy fourteen years ago and Jonathan sees their change in emphasis since the pandemic first hit as a way in which they can all remain on the farm.

“I’m still doing some AI work for a few Limousin cattle breeders and Juli works for Lord Halifax’s estate, but this new venture of the camping site and coffee shop, along with the livery is built around sustainability and it is something that interests all the family.

“We’ve predominantly been an agricultural business and we are now going into sustainable leisure but with the twist of still an agricultural tie.

“I think everybody looked at what they were doing when Covid hit and we certainly thought about doing something different. We know we live in a fantastic place with good views and we just had to figure out how we could make that work.

“We’re utilising a three-acre site that we used to graze cows on. We cut it, levelled it and now it’s an increasingly popular campsite. We built some showers, initially in woodland and hired some toilets for first year. Last year we built composting toilets made out of recycled material that we found on the farm. We have built and designed everything ourselves and now we have a 40-pitch campsite for camper vans and tents which is totally off-grid.

The solar power that the farm generates came prior to the camping and Jonathan said it is proving its worth and will do so even further with the launch of the coffee shop, which will have several unique features.

“We invested in solar about eight years ago and have 50 KW of solar energy on the shed. We didn’t get the best tariff when we installed it but as things have changed over the last six months it’s now a big plus for the farm and means we are pretty much sustainable on our visitor side for the 8-9 months that we are open.

“The coffee shop really excites me. As well as our campsite customers we are on the Coast-to-Coast route from Morecambe to Bridlington and The Wold Rangers Way, which means we get lots of walkers, cyclists and runners.

“We are converting what was a straw shed. It’s quite a size and will be quite a unique design as we are also putting in a cycle park so that people who come on bikes to the coffee shop can park them inside.

“People spend a lot of money on their bikes and they are understandably not keen on leaving them outside, I’m not either.

Jonathan said that the coffee shop, the livery and perhaps other new ventures will all be the domain of Poppy and Daisy.

“We’re working closely with two local roasteries. Daisy works in hospitality as well as being at college at Bishop Burton and has been on a couple of barista courses. It will be quality coffee, bakery products and sandwiches initially and we will grow from there.

“We are aiming to produce as much as we can on-site and we are going to source produce from local producers. The coffee shop and livery is where the girls come in. I can build it, and Daisy is quite passionate about the coffee.

“The girls are both very accomplished riders. Poppy used to do British Eventing and Daisy does showjumping. They do a little bit of teaching for young girls who have ponies in the yard, we have a schooling area and they will organise a hack once a week. We have a permissive path that joins directly on to our land that joins a bridleway, so riders can go hacking without any need to go on to roads.

“Poppy is into her fitness and is studying for her degree at York, so we could end up having yoga classes too. It will all add to the wellbeing offering that we have here as an environmentally and eco-friendly centre. We want it all to be a good vibe.

Jonathan said going back in time a little was contributing to the campsite’s success.

“We put in a pretty basic play area but the real winner has been that I put sticks in for den building. All the kids want to do is go and build a den. That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to get back to.

“We settled on a native breed of cattle because we feel it is more sustainable. It’s about feeding them easier, managing them easier and demonstrating what we’re doing and why we do it.

The site opens again at Easter and bookings are being taken on www.fieldhousecamping.co.uk