Tablehurst Farm

3 apprentice places - 2 vacancies available Sept  2010!

Contact:  Steffi Rivera, Tablehurst Farm, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5DP
Tel: Steffi Rivera   07889 583 829     or Peter Brown    07803 932 283
Email: tablehurst_farm@talk21.com


Tablehurst Farm:

Tablehurst Farm is a 200ha mixed biodynamic farm in the heart of the Sussex Weald. An apprenticeship here would offer an exceptionally broad range of experience and learning for any would-be farmer; we have 55 Sussex beef cows and their followers, 170 ewes, 15 sows and their progeny, a weekly throughput of about 180 table birds plus turkeys for Christmas, about 40ha of cereals for feed and milling for flour and a vegetable enterprise including three polytunnels. (The farm also subcontracts 8ha to an orchard enterprise, which is run by a Dutch couple).

As the farm does not use contractors but uses its own machinery for silage making and everything else, a lot of experience can be gained in this area and so an aptitude to machinery would be helpful. The farm now rarely ploughs but uses a minimum tillage system, developed by a biodynamic farm in Germany, which just tills the top two inches of soil.

Apprentices will work in the different enterprises, over the two years, learning and gaining experience. They will do this alongside the farmers and gardeners responsible for these areas; Steffi for the cattle and sheep, Ellie for the pigs, Robin for the poultry, David for the arable and tractors and machinery, Rob the garden and polytunnels and Peter where he is needed. We work very much as a team, also eating breakfast and lunch together each day. There can be up to 25 people sitting down to lunch, including the shop staff, three apprentices and our three residents with learning difficulties.

Most of the farm produce is sold through the farm shop, where somebody particularly interested would have the opportunity to learn some butchery and meat processing skills from our butcher’s shop staff. We process one beef animal, 4 or 5 pigs and lambs and 180 chickens every week.

This is also a farm which has been pioneering a form of ‘Community Supported Agriculture’ and has forged some strong links with its local community and consumer base. For more on the farm and some photos please look on tablehurstandplawhatch.co.uk which is the website of the co-op. Previous newsletters can also be found there.

The farm is able to take 3 apprentices, who usually start in September but who can start at any time if there is a space available. We have recently converted a farm building into three beautiful rooms with ensuite bathrooms and a shared kitchen with money raised by our local community.
Due to the fact that the land we farm is on two sides of the village of Forest Row we do regularly have to take cars and tractors on the road. We therefore have found it necessary that an apprentice must have a driving license when he or she comes.